What you see........

What you see is me wearing cute, spring dresses to work.

What you don’t see is me trying on all of my dress pants to find that none of them fit and knowing there is truly no time for me to do anything about it right now.

What you see is a precious, curly-headed two-year old who is as sharp as a tack.

What you don’t see is her throwing another tantrum or me losing my patience with her for failing to remember her potty again! You don’t see my sadness when she says, “Mommy, I want to hold you!” and I can’t hold her because one of her brothers is screaming.

What you see are twin boys who are as cute as can be and growing every day!

What you don’t see is me falling asleep as I’m feeding one of them in the middle of the night. And me truly praying for the day when they will both sleep all night! You don’t see my worry that they don’t know how much I love and care for them.

What you see is an organized household.

What you don’t see is the tremendous help I get from my husband, my mom and dad, my mother and father-in-law, and other family members. You also don’t see the things I have to “let go”.

What you see is a mom and a wife who “has it all together”.

What you don’t see are the tears of worry and stress. You don’t hear the countless pep talks I give myself and others give me. You don’t see the offense I run to stay one step ahead of the next dilemma, problem or issue. You don’t (yet) see the gray hairs that have started sprouting on my crown.

If you look really closely at my life and my family, you will see a woman (who still can’t believe she’s old enough to be married and have three children) trying her VERY best day in and day out to be a high-quality person, wife, mom and friend. If you listen really closely, you will hear me asking God multiple times a day to bless me in those endeavors.

Brothers!!

My heart on the couch...

Two Easter Pics...

This first picture is our family of 5 dressed and ready to go to church on Easter Sunday morning. This was the boys' first trip to church, and they did great! Reid was awake for most of the service while Chase mostly slept. R held Chase and I held Reid. At one point, C wanted to be held too, so while standing and singing, I held them BOTH! Whew! Arm workout! And just a bit of advice for folks...When you see a tired looking mommy and daddy with many small children, don't say, "Gosh, you've got your hands full!" or "Bless your heart!" Say something more encouraging like, "What a beautiful family!" or "God has truly blessed you!" Thanks!

This picture CRACKS me up (pun totally intended!) While hunting eggs this afternoon, C couldn't keep her pants up! I snapped the picture just in time to catch a glimpse of the Minnie Mouse undies! He he! Such a cutie!

Nap mat!

Big Sister C is starting preschool on April 6th! The kids take a nap in the afternoon, so she needed a nap mat. I looked online and found MANY that were over $100! The bedding on her real bed at home didn't cost that much, so I wasn't about to spend that much on a nap mat! Seriously! SO I did some looking on Etsy.com and found a nap mat that was much more affordable BUT it was in a zebra print that wasn't really our style. I wanted something a little more classic that will last us a couple of years. I sent a message to the seller to see if she'd be interested in doing a custom nap mat for us. She sent me a message back almost immediately and was really awesome to work with. I told her what I was looking for and here is what she came up with for us...

Needless to say, C LOVES it and thinks she has to nap on it every day when she is at home. It is super-soft, classic and machine washable. AND it didn't break the bank!

Check out the Etsy shop here!

Announcement

I mailed the boys' birth announcement last Monday, so I think they've had time to reach their destinations. Angela @ Paisley Prints did an awesome job with them and was super easy to work with!!

Today was a hard day. Not complaining. Just documenting. I had all three children at home all day by myself. That in and of itself isn't a HUGE deal. BUT Chase had an insatiable hunger all day and was only content when he was being held. And Big Sister C is potty training and needs lots of monitoring and reminders to avoid accidents. And when I'm not looking, the dogs drink out of her little potty. SICK! And Big Sister C is also TWO. And she acts like it at inopportune moments throughout the day. Reid was a good boy today and was easy-going for the most part. It didn't help things that I was up with the boys from 4:00-5:45 this morning and then up with C at 7. So in reality, I got up at 4 and never really got good and back to sleep. There was no rest for the weary today. Thankfully, Daddy came home at lunch to check on us. He held Chase while I fixed lunch for me and C. He gave me a pep talk, a hug and some reassurance. I am thankful for his support.

I am thankful for my kids. I still can't believe I have 3! I just wish it wasn't so hard to care for them. It wouldn't be so hard, but I'm a perfectionist. Mom reminded me that me on a bad day is better than some folks on a good day. I just want to do a good job. I want everyone to have their needs met, and with three little ones depending on ME and only ME it is just hard. I wish I didn't get stressed or tired. I wish this was super-easy. But it isn't.

SO I made it through the day. R is home now and has given me a break. We had a non-healthy dinner. Just add it to the list of reasons I won't get the mom of the year award!

Here are a few pics of my little sweeties. C is a snow-bunny in our backyard a week ago. The pics of the boys were taken by me and sweet Lauren during an impromptu photo shoot last week. These are two that I didn't use on their birth announcement but are really cute anyway.