Miscellaneous Pictures from June

Karly Rose - 5 Months Old!

This baby is just too stinking cute. If there's one thing she is not lacking, it is attention. She is still the coolest thing around our house to play with (by both mom and siblings alike). Everyone adores her and I can't get enough kissing on those luscious cheeks.

She is so incredibly expressive and social. She loves to get people's attention and holds eye contact so good. And then, of course, there are always tons of smiles to go along with it.

She is just now starting to roll over from her tummy to her back, but not yet the other way around. She usually just has to let out a squawk or two and one of her siblings comes and rolls her over the way she wants to go.

Nobody can stand to hear her cry, myself included, so fortunately for us she is a very happy and content baby. And also, fortunately for me, when the times come where she is starting to get fussy, instantly she will have someone in her face making crazy noises or shaking a toy to try to get her to be happy. Most the time it actually works.

She is an awesome car baby. She never cries in her car seat which is a perk because being the fourth baby, she definitely spends more time there than any of her siblings.

Still no teeth!

She is getting some rice cereal sometimes, but isn't too much of a fan.

She gets me up to nurse her around 4am, but fortunately she goes right back to sleep. I've still been swaddling her to put her to sleep, but lately she is starting to get an arm out and pull the blanket up to her face to cuddle it.

I just adore her so much. She is the cutest. This baby was meant to be mine and I'm so grateful every day that I have her. She completes our family, and completes me.

She is so fun. I just can't get enough.

Mothering...

It's a Sunday night, the kids are all in bed and Brad is at a High Council meeting at the stake center.  The house is quiet and it's given me some time to reflect and refresh.  My heart is just so full of gratitude and amazement at the life I live. Ever since I was a tiny girl, I have loved babies. I had one doll in particular that I just loved. That baby went everywhere with me, I loved her so much, and in my mind, she was real and it was my responsibility to take care of her.  I always wanted to be a mommy, of that I knew for certain. I couldn't wait to have real babies to take care of.

What I didn't understand then though, was that some days mothering is really hard. It's a lot of work that goes unappreciated most times. It's a job that doesn't have measurable achievements and praise. And in my stage of mothering, with four very small ones, it's a job with lots of crying, lots of mess, lots of unpredictability, and constant demands.  Through mothering, I've definitely learned what some of my strengths and weaknesses are, and I'm given many experiences daily to work on those!

Despite those things though, there is nothing else I'd rather be doing.  There are four babies who look to me for everything, who love me unconditionally, and who want my attention, love, and affection constantly.  On some of those rough days, I have to remind myself that they won't always want to follow me around from room to room in the house - they won't always want me to read them a story, or hold them, or sing them a song. The days are long, but the years are short and it will be different so quickly.

Each time a tiny hand holds mine I'm reminded that they will outgrow that desire. That thought breaks my heart!  I catch myself sometimes looking forward to the future when they are older and we can do different things, but I know there is so much about this young phase that I will miss terribly. 

They love me and want to be with me constantly, and I am fully aware that I need to soak that in now so I remind myself daily that I need to appreciate what's good, and not focus too much on what's not good.

I read an article recently that I loved, and that really resonated with me.  I can't paraphrase, so I'll just post some of the parts I loved most so I can reflect on them again:

"Why being a mom is enough"

I’m talking about simply being a mom.

I’m talking about getting up in the morning, slapping your face with water, looking in the mirror, sighing, brushing your teeth (maybe), and picking up that toddler and wandering into the kitchen and pouring cereal in bowls, rinsing dishes, kissing the top of their head, and waiting for your coffee to brew.

There isn’t much glamour.

There is you. You giving of yourself. Minute, by minute, by minute, by minute until those hours add up to create a day which adds up to create a week which adds up to create a month which adds up to create years which add up to create a life. A beautiful life filled with ordinary enough mom moments.

Somehow in this mixed up media world of things to do and places to go and dreams to follow the beauty of simply being a mother is completely lost.

Being a mom is enough.

It’s enough, I say.

Sometimes we want to look to those big things and use them as a grade for success. We look at the cool science fair projects where our child got the blue ribbon. But, honestly, we miss the hours of interacting and holding glue sticks and looking up things and laughing side by side. We want the trips to Disney or American Girl Doll and discount the time spent in the backyard. The bar of success and joy and happiness gets pushed so high by culture that the little things, the enough mom moments, are lost.

Do you know what matters?

This. (Picture of a mother cradling a child)

Little things.

Like stopping my crazy busy mom and work agenda to look at the graphic design she made on the computer and really looking at it and trying to appreciate her talents. It’s about me taking thirty minutes to play cards at the table with them and not checking email constantly on my phone. Email can wait thirty minutes. They cannot. It’s in not worrying so much about the laundry and instead just letting that go and being thankful for a family to do laundry for. Just being there. Cooking together. Laughing. Giving of myself in the simple things.

Mom things.

The things that don’t get celebrated on Pinterest that much. They’re the just a mom things that I write about and celebrate. They’re the things that most people probably won’t see.

They don’t see you stand in the bathroom and gather your resolve every morning. They don’t see those of you who mother alone without much support. They don’t see the trips to the car back and forth and back and forth. They don’t see you counting to ten a dozen times before noon. They don’t see you look at the bank account and sigh and try to figure out how to make three meals with what’s left in your pantry. They don’t see you walking into the principals office, doctor’s office, friend’s house and defending your child.

They don’t see bandages placed on knees. Kisses on foreheads at night. Pillows pushed just the right way and blankets tucked to the perfect demands. Laundry folded and folded and folded. Tears that sting your eyes as your keep going. Dinners prepped over the stove. Times of laughter over silly things. Hair brushed and pulled back into pony tails. Prayers over wandering teens. Prayers over little babes. Nights spent sleeping in a chair holding a sick child. Days where the house is a wreck but you’re reading books. The brave smile on your face when you’re weary.

Those things matter.

Those things are the little things that add up and and up and up.

I say those things are enough.

Don’t be weary, dear mother, in trying to keep up with a supermom agenda.

There is no supermom, really – that whole supermom who has everything together is just a fallacy. There are real moms. Real, authentic moms who admit that they don’t have it all together but keep on fighting. Scared and tired moms who keep fighting. Moms who are overwhelmed by keeping up with littles all day long. Moms like you and me who sometimes feel lost in a world of outward accomplishments.

A mother isn’t based on external perfection. A mother is the person, the woman, just like you. The woman with little ones in her care that she loves, and sometimes wonders how she loves them because they’re driving her batty, but still she does. She fights, gives, prays, works, and doesn’t give up even when she wants to throw in the towel.

That’s you. Today. Tomorrow. Yesterday.

I say that is enough. 

It is more than enough.

You are amazing.

Books and more books!

We love books around here! 

Not pictured.... mom, who also does a whole lot of reading while surrounded by children. :)

Summer fun with Grandma and Grandpa

One of the best things about summer is that there is no school schedule that holds us back from heading down to grandma and grandpa's house for the whole day. Grandma usually has some crazy projects she gets all the kids excited about, and we play with cousins, play games, feed the animals,  and make big messes.  We go down excited for the adventures, and head home at dark - dirty and worn out. It's the best.

Father's Day

We love Father's Day and the opportunity it is to celebrate the amazing daddy of our family. We are all so grateful for Brad and the amazing father he is. He definitely brings the fun and magic into our house on a regular basis. The moment he comes home from work he is approached by the kids with some game options, or something fun to do together. He quickly changes into his cozy clothes and gets involved in the play. I'm so grateful for his physical and emotional presence with our kids. We are all very blessed by him.

This year we got him some fun summer stuff, like a new slip 'n slide and some yummy treats. I also made him a video of the kids. It ended up being one of the gifts I have been most excited to give him. The song is about slowing down time and it plays several video clips of the kids and it's just such a sweet reminder how quickly it is all passing by.

I'm so grateful for my family. I'm so blessed.

Karly and Eliza Pickett

Cute baby friends!!

I love having a baby at the same time as my closest friends. It's the best, and so fun to watch our kids grow up together.

My Four Greatest Blessings

What a bunch of adorable kids!! How did I get so lucky to call these four mine?!