Tuesday, August 18, 2009

No idea


Okay, so let's review...
I have been married for 10.5 years. Greg and I had every intention of being child-free for the first 4-5 years. During our first year of marriage, we found out that we were pregnant with Emily. Two years later, we had Kaleb. You wouldn't believe how many people said, "Oh, you have a girl and a boy...you're all set!"
But we were pretty sure we wanted another one. It took eight months of trying to get pregnant with Avery. (Weird, when you consider how easily I've gotten pregnant with the other four...but it was definitely God's timing...we wouldn't have moved to Richmond if I got pregnant when I wanted to...)
...Anyway, we figured we'd eventually, not right away, have another baby that could be close in age to Avery (she and Kaleb are over four years apart). However, when she was nine months old, I found out I was pregnant with Levi. I had major anxiety before I gave birth to him. How was I going to manage two children that were 17 months apart? He was definitely to be my last baby.
It was just as scary as I thought it would be. Homeschooling still happened, but barely. Then, when he was five months old, SURPRISE! Another baby...a good surprise, but still, HOLY COW!

So here we are, Nadia is six weeks old (as of tomorrow), Levi is fifteen months old, Avery will be three in a few months, and we've got Kaleb (almost 7) and Emily (9).

Life is an absolute whirlwind...probably exactly what you'd imagine it is.
I have had several moms of 1-2 kids ask, "How do you do it?"

My answer..."I have no idea..."

It's definitely the grace of God. It is a miracle that I get any sleep at all, that my floors have been mopped in the past week, and that my kids are all fed. But thankfully, that's all (sort of) happening.

I never even liked babysitting as a teenager.

But can you imagine the transfer of love that I get to experience on a daily basis?
From the peace of nursing a newborn and her brand-new smiles, to my "big kids" hugging me and thanking me for some surprise, I am blessed. And, at the end of a crazy day, I also get to share life with an amazing husband.

We are in survival mode. It will fly by for that reason. And even though it's nuts and I have no idea how we're doing it, I hope I can embrace as many moments as I can.

I love my babies. ALL of them.

2 comments:

Tina said...

:)

Julie said...

Yeah! Love it Heather! You are an encouragement!