5 Months

It certainly goes faster the 4th time around.......especially with tending to 3 others at the same time. I just realized today that Little Lids is 5 months old and that sounded so old to me. She had a doctor's appointment on Monday and she weighs 12.5 pounds. That may not sound like a lot, but she is ginormous to us. She has chipmunk cheeks! The kids and I just got a wild hair to give her some baby food today and she loved it! She ate it up. I love those big eyes!

We've had a couple of productive weeks of homeschooling. We're branching out the second half of this year and Twinkle Toes is studying Spanish and Ancient History along with the basics of math, language, spelling, grammar, etc. Tomorrow we go on a field trip to the fire station with the homeschoolers. In April we're signing up for swimming lessons.

It is starting to feel like spring to me (in my mind at least) so today when I woke up to snow that foiled all my mental images of what really should be happening.....birds chirping, tulips blooming, etc.

I've been reading several books by the author Sally Clarkson, the one right now is entitled, "The Mission of Motherhood." I love this book! It is such an encouraging book for stay at home moms and supportive of that decision and its importance. All too often in society today it's easy to feel like the role of "Mom" is kind of a second-class job. It's something people do if they aren't accomplished enough in the world to do something better. I've embraced the role as mother and how vitally important it is to bring my children up in righteousness, so it's nice to hear that echoed by someone else. In her words, "When women are not encouraged to embrace motherhood with a whole heart, as an occupation worthy of a full life's devotion, a part of the basic design of our femininity is devalued. Women were designed to nuture, to provide a life-giving environment in the home-to provide a center of life for all who live there. No longer do we have the moral support of a culture that applauds what we are doing-or even the practical support of other women in our neighborhood. In a cultural sense, we have all but lost the right to focus wholeheartedly on creating a home."

So amidst the baby barf, spit up, smelling like breastmilk all day, cleaning up messes, tending 4 chaotic little chitlins, I try to relish the moments of teaching, encourage with a soft voice, inspire to greatness and godliness, encourage kindness and remember this is my path of learning as well as theirs. Never have I been more challenged in my own self as when pursuing the role of mother to my children.