Balance

Life is full of ups and downs.  A giant roller coaster of emotion and experience.  Sometimes you really are hanging on for dear life, doing whatever you can get to get you through to the next day, or even just to the next moment.  I still remember getting a text from my sweet friend Tara telling me that she was expecting her first.  Oh, the joy of Motherhood!  So, I looked down at my screaming toddlers lying on their backs, arms and legs flailing, took a video and sent it to her with my full congratulations.

And other times, you can just roll with it.  I have to say, it's a good thing Addie's not the first, because we roll with a lot around here.  When I need a hand, there's always someone willing.  Caden is especially helpful.  One day I really needed someone to feed Addie for me and Caden was my desparate volunteer.  So, of course, I wedged him between a few pillows, propped Addie on top, propped the bottle on the very top, and wallah...  A few minutes later, I hear, "she's done!"  I come into the living room and find Caden worming his way out from under Addie, who is arched over with the bottle dangling (full) off of the side of her mouth.  But, man, I needed those few minutes.

And Liv is always looking out for her.  On the way home from Addie's two week doctor's appointment, Liv had her sucker in hand and I gave the typical lecture: No food for baby, she's too small (blah blah blah in toddler terms). So, of course, Addie had a sticky blue face when we got home.

And Addie never gets lonely.  She doesn't have the chance, really.  If she's unfortunate enough to be left sitting on the ground, someone is sure to rescue her.  Or sit on her.  Or lay across her.  Or pick her up and move her to her new home.  Once, while I was in the bathroom, Olivia thought it would be funny to roll Addie under the coffee table and then lay her own body in front to block my view.  That was a frustrating, and quite frankly, confusing, few minutes until I found her.

But Elias and Isaac are truly helpful and have made it possible, on many nights, for us to even have dinner on the table.  They are so loving and helpful.  They even love her so much they have, on occasion, been known to wrestle it out over who gets to hold her.  Last man standing wins.

Wrestle-mania.  Please don't judge.

But this picture really just says it all.

It really is the small, sweet moments that carry you through- keep you going and balance out the rougher times.  Like when your adorable little two year old son comes and sits next to you after a particularly tiring day and starts playing with your hair.  And it feels so good that you ignore the horrible smell coming from him.  And then you look over at his shirt and see big brown smears across the front, done with those same, cute, chubby fingers that are currently wrapped in your hair.  Like I said.  Sweet moments to balance out the revoltingly nauseating ones.  And sometimes, they're packaged in the same moment.  For their own sake, it's a good thing they're cute.