Welcome to all!
Before you come in, I want you to know,
that this is A House Where Children Live.
I will not apologize for the
toys on the floor,
the books unshelved,
or all the little handprints on the windows and walls.
Children here are living, learning, and loving.
I may be a housewife,
but I am also a living, learning, and loving momma.
If you want to see my house in perfect order,
come back in 18 years.

Sincerely,
HappyMama

My 3yo loves bugs. He catches the crickets in our basement without hesitation and throws them outside for me. Tonight I was sitting outside watching the boys play in the gorgeous nearly-autumn weather when he walks over to me and thrusts his hand in my face, saying “look, mom!” and in the process drops a daddy-long-leg spider on my knee. It was a good thing I didn’t drop the baby when I jumped up.

“Oh my, you caught another spider.” (translate: that’s so, so gross.)
“Drop it in the pool, and see if it can swim.” (translate: I hope it can’t.)

It can’t, but Joey is there to save the day. He plays with it a while longer, and then decides it might like to be put down in the grass. Unfortunately for the spider, by the time of his release, he has lost one of his legs, which remains behind in the palm of my sons hand. “Look, mom, the leg is still moving!” It was. It continued to move for another, oh, 4 seconds. It was really weird. And interesting. But still so, so gross.

For the first time, we have an infant who doesn’t suffer from reflux, and is therefore a good sleeper. Friends have told me in the past that their babies were sleeping 4 & 5 hour stretches, and I was alternately disbelieving or insanely jealous. Now I believe them. Katie sleeps so well. (Hubby says she gets her sleepiness from me.) When she is finally ready to get up in the morning and I carry her out of our room, the boys smother her with hugs, kisses, and cries of “good morning!” and then they are off running and playing again.

I’m a very blessed mommy.

1, stare into her beautiful face,
2, close my eyes and nod off, or
3, continue nursing while I go make sure the 3yo is not trying to give the ferret another hair-cut

Baby falls asleep nursing. Do I:

1, sit and hold her, knowing how fast she’ll grow,
2, lay her down, put on a video for the boys, and take a nap, or
3, go scrub the 6 layers of goop underneath the kitchen table

All the kids are tucked in for the night and finally sleeping. Do I:

1, go immediately to sleep,
2, take a much-needed shower, or
3, realize that I’m dreaming. It’s actually 7am and time to start another day!