thankful for normal

{Photo credit: Logan Henry}

Today started like any old regular Thursday. The boys all slept till the light was green (!!!), we crawled out of bed and went to snuggle on the couch, watching Jake & The Neverland Pirates.  

(Anyone else wake up to watch that, only to have the blasted theme song stuck in your head all.day.long??? Yo-ho here we go... Sorry, I digress...)

{Photo credit: Jack Sawyer}

Josh fed the boys while I showered, and then he left for work.  

It was slushy rain/snow with a nasty sideways wind.  

On mornings like this I feel especially grateful to be a stay-at-home mom with nowhere to go!

Wyatt lately has been very interactive, and it seems he is loving me as much as daddy, which is quite welcome!  He talks our way through anything we're doing ("fan on", "light off", "change diaper"), and is just becoming such a little boy.

He can climb up and play at the table with his brothers.  He has mastered the stairs.  He can jump on the trampoline. And he can say, "I love you."  

He is growing not just developmentally, but also physically.  I recently had to buy him new socks and size 2T pants.  I can hardly believe that he is going to turn two in June.

Throughout the morning, I found myself enjoying the boys.  

Watching as Jack stood on his tip toes to reach a box in the pantry; laughing as Logan told me that I married Josh because he shot me in the heart (a Cupid reference); and loving Wyatt as he brought yet another board book to me and asked directly, "Read?" while backing slowly into my lap.  

Josh came home at lunch and we promised tonight, tonight, we would go to bed early.  Last night it was after midnight and we have paid the price all day.  

I sleepily laid Wyatt down for his nap, cherishing his sweet voice making requests, "Sunshine" and "Row-row boat" and "Itsy Spider".  Giving him eskimo kisses on his soft, pink nose as I laid him in his crib.  Holding the handle just so as I exited to keep it from waking him.

Then I did school with Logan & Jack, reading about frogs, teaching the sound "D" makes and writing numbers 11-20.  They are retaining so much information each day, I am constantly amazed.

Yesterday, on a whim, I requested that they try to write their entire names 

(first and last) independently on their math sheets. 

And.they.did.it.

C-U-N-N-I-N-G-H-A-M. 

The whole thing, nary an error. 

I literally started crying.  

I am just so proud to be their mom. 

So humbled by their abilities. 

So awed by the blessing they are.

Most nights I have regrets from the day. 

Moments I wish I had handled differently, time I wish I would have spent otherwise.  So tonight when I finished rocking Wyatt to sleep, one of my favorite parts of the day, and I had the urge to climb in bed with Logan and rub his back, I did it.  

I slid into his cozy flannel sheets, his head tucked into my neck, smelling his hair, and tickled his back how he likes.  We moved this way and that, eventually settling into a comfortable position, where he fell asleep in my arms like when he was my baby.  

I laid there, praying, thinking, and being grateful.  I found myself thinking, I am so grateful for normal.  I am so grateful that I changed diapers, picked up toys in the playroom and made dinner for my family today.

I know that one day we will look back on these days, when our children were young and we will see how precious this time was. How fleeting.  And just like I hate my  nightly regrets, I know I will hate looking back if I wish things had been different.  

So everyday I am striving to make the most of today.

And to be thankful for normal.

If you're careful... if you're aware... normal can actually be quite magical.