"There are FOUR of you!"

It was funny the other day. I had all the kids with me and took them for a quick trip to Walmart. So in I go. Baby Max was in his car seat on top of the basket, Uly in the other part of the basket (containment is key when you have four!) and the girls held hands and stayed by my side. Four against one makes shopping a workout both physically and emotionally because you end up going in so many different directions. One kid can run away and when I get them back, I turn around and can't find another. I have mini heart attacks the whole time with each escape they make. The littlest ones think that hiding in the clothes racks and playing hide-n-seek is the bizz-omb. It's just part of childhood I guess. I remember being a kid and doing the very same thing until I heard my name being called on the loud speaker of the store to come find my parents, or more commonly, me crying my eyes out trying to find them myself. So yeah, that's what my middle two were doing while I was trying to quickly find some cheap dance pants for my oldest daughter's dance class that she had that evening. And for some weird reason, I LET my son OUT of the cart because he wanted to get out. That's not a very good reason. I blame it on my sleep deprivation from being up through the night with two babies while being sick myself. It can cloud my decisions. Ha! Anyways, he was loose and felt a sense of freedom that gave my heart a boost of adrenaline every time he ran about with his sister. My 2 month old was fussing every time his binkie came out of his mouth and he kept kicking his blanket off and on to the floor like a gajillion times to where strangers were trying to help me out. So while my oldest was trying on clothes in the dressing room, I was trying to keep a binkie in the baby's mouth, while picking up the same blanket over and over, and the other two were running between the bra aisles playing and pulling bras down. 

So finally this Mama was done and done and I scooped up babies to leave. More blanket dropping and babies fussing and falalalala. 

We made it out and got to the van. My 2 year old had dropped a deuce in his diaper and needed to be changed. So as I'm changing him on the floor of the van, the girls are in the back being loud and playing/fighting. I found myself saying the same things a million times over. As I'm putting sanitizer on their hands once they are all strapped down and in their seats I said,

"All of you, look at my face. I should not have to repeat myself over and over to get you guys to listen to me!"

Then I hold up four fingers and say,

"THERE ARE FOUR OF YOU!!!"

And then I heard myself saying that out loud and started laughing so hard! Then they all started laughing and all was well again. Oh geez. Yes. There are four of them and I'm so thankful there are! Mommyhood can make it hard to hide your crazy some days BUT what a gift and honor it is to raise such precious ones. Each one of my kids are unique and amazing and were perfectly formed in my womb. That still blows my mind. Each a miracle. Each mine. Each such a gift that I never ever want to take for granted. Four is a great number. I'm blessed to have one let alone four! They're like warm cookies… Why have one when you can have four! ;0)

I'm learning more and more with every kiddo that comes my way that you HAVE to laugh. A LOT. Laugh at yourself. Laugh at them. Laugh at the situation. Just laugh. Life is funny. And you have to let the little stuff go and not get too caught up in the silly stuff that, in the long run, doesn't really matter anyways. If you don't, then you end up missing out on all the sweet moments in-between the crazy. Like tonight, for example. Ulysses was very quiet, which every parent knows is a dangerous sign. We found him laying on the carpet with a permanent sharpie pen and pen marks ALL over his body and the carpet. As I was cleaning up the carpet with foam cleaner, my three older kids were all on the bed watching me and oohing and ahhing at the foaming aspect of it all. My 4 year old said, "This is SO cool! Can I have this for my birthday?! I wanna do this!" I mean, how cute and sweet is that?! I want to ENJOY these fleeting moments of my kiddos because someday soon these will all be moments and memories that I miss.  

Anyhoo, just some mommy thoughts.

lovelove,

abs