The Joy of Babies and Being a Mom

As I was looking through my blog posts, I realized that I didn't have many pictures of our baby Kiley on here, so I thought I would add some pics of our littlest girl today. She was born on May 26th, so she is 4 months old now. She is such a happy baby and I have really enjoyed having a little baby again - I think even more than the first two, I have to admit. I think the main reason for that is that the more babies you have, the easier it gets and the less you stress out about every little thing. It does help tremendously that she is a great sleeper!

I have noticed myself holding her a little longer recently after feeding her and kissing her cheeks more. I think that's because I look at my other two daughters who are growing up so fast and I know that Kiley will not be little for very much longer. It goes by way too fast!

I know I'm not the best photographer, but here are some recent pictures of Kiley. She loves her "rainforest" swing (and so do I!). She takes many of her naps there during the day while I am doing stuff around the house.

Lately, Kiley has been reaching and grabbing onto her toes. It is quite entertaining to watch her try to get them and pull them up to her face. She is starting to explore a little more what's around her and is close to rolling over.

I wish I was this flexible!

Kiley has been such a joy and I am so grateful to have her in our family. I truly love being a mom and although it's challenging and hard and frustrating some days (okay - every day!), there are sweet moments and "tender mercies" that make it all worth it and help me get through every day. I think that is why babies start smiling when they're two months old. We are exhausted and worn out and then all of a sudden our baby smiles back at us and melts our heart and we forget all of the sleeplessness and worries. And then they start sleeping better and we start feeling like a "normal" person again and motherhood gets a little bit easier.
If you haven't read the poem below called "Before I was a Mom", I highly recommend it. It brought tears to my eyes the first time I read it and it explained so many feelings that I have had myself about being a mom. I hope you all have a nice day and give your babies a few extra kisses today.

Before I was a Mom

My Mom sent me a copy of this poem a few weeks ago. I thought it depicted motherhood very well. I'm sure many of you can relate.

"Before I was a Mom"

Before I was a Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin .
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom -
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom -
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love,
the heartache,the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

Preschool

Tues. of this week (Sept. 2nd) was Avery's first day of preschool. She has been begging me to go ever since I told her about it three weeks ago. Instead of paying for her to go to a traditional preschool, a group of moms and I decided to do a Joy School program where we each trade off doing the preschool at our house. Since there are eight kids in her class, we only have to teach every eight weeks, so we get a long break in between.

This is Avery with one of her best friends, Kayla Riggs. I forgot my camera, but thanks to another mom there, she snapped a picture of the girls together. They gave each other a big hug when they saw each other. It was really cute!

This was today (Thurs.) before Avery's second day of preschool. Today they learned about up and down and painted and played outside and colored pictures. She had so much fun. And although you can't see the front of her backpack, it of course has princesses on it, which she loves. It wasn't my first pick, but she's 4, so whatever. Anyway, preschool has been fun and I don't have to host it until Halloween, so that's even better! It's a great way to do preschool by the way. If any of you mom are interested, let me know and I can tell you about the book we are using for it. It has a lot of fun stuff in it!