Two weeks in

How is it possible to LOVE someone so much whom you had never met only two weeks before?! Its hard to believe that this sweet bundle of cuteness that we adore was not yet apart of our lives 14 days ago. Well... he was, I was lugging him around and feeling it, but we had not laid eyes upon him. We hadn't smelled him, held his little hand, looked into his blue eyes, snuggled his tiny body or rubbed our hands around his soft head.  We loved him but did not know him like we do now.

The beautiful thing about having multiple children is the way your heart grows the instant each new one arrives. Its like that scene from the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. My heart has grown 5 sizes since first becoming a mother. The night I delivered Mikey I lay quietly in my hospital bed in the dim light admiring his perfect features and I felt a new wing of my heart sprouting! I could feel a whole new section of my heart that hadn't existed before growing just for him. My fifth child. It is the best feeling in the world.

So, the love is definitely there. It comes naturally. And gets stronger by the day I'd say.

What doesn't come naturally and what I'm wishing I could do is clone myself! Wow. Being a wife and mother to five is tough!  We really could use 6 of me. One, to keep up on the house, laundry, dishes, grocery shopping and meals during the day then spend time with Tyler in the evenings. Two, to take care of Ashley - helping put rubber-bands in her hair, fix the computer, help her with piano. Three, to hold Claire the way she wants to be held these days. To read with her, play play-do with her, go on walks to the park. My fourth and fifth self would be for the boys. Helping them with homework, throwing the football and rough-housing the way they crave, getting them to scouts and music and practice. My sixth self would then be for Mikey. He too seems like he needs a full-time mom. Nursing every couple hours, diaper changes, spit-up that equals a bath and of course we need our naps and cuddle-time.  How I spend and split my time right now is a big deal.

Since I don't have more than one of me I try to be as engaging with whomever I am with at any given moment as I can be. I try to be present and intentional. I'm trying to set the baby down more now when he sleeps so that I can be a mother the way I normally am to the other kids. And I am trying to make the most of evenings to talk to and engage with my husband. A late night show and good snack after the kids have gone to bed seems to be working well for both of us.

After this life I may ask our creator why he didn't decide to have every mother sprout a new arm during the 9 months she was gestating. If we can't clone ourselves we certainly could use an additional arm per each additional child! I actually daydream about it because by now I'd have seven to use! Picture me in the mornings getting the kids off to school. I'd have two arms to hold (and nurse) the baby, one coming off my left side to pour cereal, two coming of my right to be packing lunches, one of my chest to be signing agendas and the last from my back brushing teeth and combing hair. It'd be fantastic! :)

So, with all that said, I am in love and we are blessed. I am spread thin, sleepy and overwhelmed at times. But we've been through this a time or two or five before and we know how it goes. Life settles in soon enough and each of us are better - more patient, more serving, more selfless - than before. And those qualities, while tough to develop, do bring lasting joy.