Sharing family pictures and insights into this phase of a family of 10!
I’m finally settling back into the swing of things after a bit of a break for Christmas and New Year’s. Even though blogging has been this AMAZING outlet for me the past few years (and a wonderful excuse to escape to my office every afternoon when kids are driving me crazy), being your own boss can be exhausting! I have to give myself permission to take a break sometimes and remind my children that I can learn to have fun too. It’s a struggle for my type A personality.
Before completely closing the book on 2018 I wanted to share our family pictures that were taken a few months ago and just reflect on what life has been like with 8 kids! It’s also good to bask in the calm before the storm of having another baby in 3 months; that is, if my house can ever be considered calm…
When I reread Alice’s birth story the other day, I remembered how hard of an adjustment having our 8th child was for me. I mean, I know everyone else I knew expected me to be overwhelmed, but I was really enjoying the handle I had on life at the time! Bringing another new baby into the mix really threw me for a loop.
I guess it was just a good reminder to be kind and gentle to myself in every phase of life, but especially in one as life-altering as bringing a new baby into the family. We women, particularly moms, tend to forget to have grace with ourselves (and each other) and often have really high expectations.
I think women are actually designed that way on purpose: it takes a lot of mental, physical and emotional capacity to run a household, grow a baby, nurture another human and put dinner on the table every. flipping. day.
I hope this can be a reminder to us all that it’s always better to reflect on all the amazing things we ARE doing instead of the mountains we haven’t yet climbed. Because if I know anything about women, it’s that we can do pretty much whatever the heck we put our minds to…but that doesn’t mean we HAVE to!
We can just choose to be content with who we are and what we’re doing RIGHT NOW. Not dwell on what didn’t get done last year (or last laundry cycle) or stress about all the schoolwork our kids will fall behind on next month or the fitness plan we should be doing. But rather to rejoice in the beautiful humans we are right in this moment and how far we’ve come already.
We moms (and dads) are amazing! And so are our kids! And life is a miracle!
Let’s just sit back and enjoy it a little more this year.
No Comments