Motherhood

You know how being away from your loved ones sometimes brings you closer to them? Last week I was away at TLA in Houston for the week while Jerry was the Mama...Although I talked to my babies every night before they went to bed (I have to talk to Ethan about his day, it's our special daily ritual), I longed to see them and hold them and I really missed our special bedtime rituals. I swear that Carson grew an inch or two while I was away and all of the sudden what used to be "his" word for "airplane" suddenly became "airplane", plain and clear. I missed listening to him describe the sky in "his" words. I missed him pointing to each of us and saying our names, "Mama," "Papa,", "Bruba (brother)," and "Jucha (Rusha)." I missed Ethan asking me about my day and about my kids at school. I missed looking at them in their eyes and telling them to have sweet dreams and that I would see them in the morning. I just plain missed them!

Being away from them made me realize how important the simple everyday rituals are to me...how much motherhood really means to me. Sometimes, I take for granted that they are children and will grow up so quickly. I do so by spending too much time working and worrying about getting everything "just so"...it's time to live my life for them and not for work. (Thanks, Kelli...)

Ice Day

Last night I told my husband, "I really don't think we need to worry about an ice storm" as the temperature was only in the low 30's and there wasn't a drop of precipitation falling from the sky....then around 10 PM it started....not a monsoon or anything, but serious rainfall. Needless to say, as my husband trekked across the parking lot from his office (which is only a few hundred feet from our crummy apartment) winter wonders made him lose his balance a bit...slipping and sliding! Hmmm....maybe we won't have school tomorrow, at least that's what I hoped for. I'd say around 5 AM I got the call....one that made me jump out of bed for fear that it was a family emergency or something, but much to my relief (as you NEVER want to wake up to one of those calls), it was our automated voice messaging system informing me that I could sleep in a little longer than normal and lounge in my jammies all day if I so choose....And here I am, not still in my jammies, but definitely lounging! I thought about working a bit, but then I reminded myself that the days of having no schedule and being able to enjoy free time with my beautiful kids is a rarity, so I skipped the work for today. So, what have we done today? We woke up later than normal (including my husband), had a bite for breakfast, gloated that the kids and I got to stay home while Jerry still had to work (was that mean?), Ethan and I worked on a beautiful picture (one of those old color by number ones), we all laid in my bed and read stories, checked the email, worked on the new blog, had lunch, took cat naps, caught up with my parents via the phone, and now we are about to watch "Hook" (for the bizillionth time!)....so who wouldn't be envious of us (besides Jerry)?

Thank God for ice days!

Okay, Kelli....I am officially a blogger! ;)