A nice little sweet spot

The sweet spot…. We seem to have hit one. I feel like we have not been in a sweet spot since the twins were about 6 months old. You know before they were mobile and can get into a ton of mischief. When kids are 0-6 months they still like to be held they eat mostly bottles and they mostly just stay in one spot. No issues, you can go places and even though you have to pack up your whole house to be prepared you can relax. And if you are in my family someone is always willing to hold or feed or change a baby.

7-months to 2.5 years old is what I refer to as the lost years. You have so many things you have to do for them they are not potty trained and they are mobile and get into EVERYTHING. Going outside is more work than its worth and with twins they scatter in opposite directions. Three on one is so hard handle in big open spaces. I would often find myself skipping outside time because the work was just too much for me.

When the twins turned 3 and Grayson was 6 it felt like we had a small breakthrough. They knew how to stand to get sunscreen put on. They loved to play outside and while it was still hard to keep all three contained sometimes it felt a little bit easier. We have a small playground close to our house that is not used very often and so we would go there for an hour or so right before lunch get some energy out and then come home eat and off to nap time it was. That felt so much more manageable but I still had “safe zones”.

Now that they are 4 and Grayson is 7 its like a whole other world, I live in. I put the sunscreen on them and just send them out the door. They know their boundaries they use their imaginations and they just play. It gives me a little bit of time in the house to bust some things out alone. Then I head out and join them outside. They play, I read and then do a few tings outside. Its just nice.

The other night we decided to do s’mores after dinner. Now last year that would have been a little bit more planning and a shorter deal. This year well we just decided to do it on a whim and then after the s’mores we ended up playing  baseball outside and hanging out there until dark because one late bedtime finally doesn’t throw them off for a week. It does now ensure a little bit later of a wake-up time which I will always take.

Truth is they still whine and there are times where I make them come back in the house because they cannot get along to save their life and I’m done being a referee. I get more knocks on the front door that a Band-Aid is needed or the fact that they want xyz toy out there and oh can you grab us water too! However, I will take all of that over having to chase down a kid who is about the shove a stick up the other ones nose or the kid that like to just climb everything and jump off. Sure, Charlotte did just get decked in the face with a golf club the other day and I had to take those away for a day but I have come to the realization that those things are unavoidable with 3 kids. She is perfectly fine and let me tell you she milked the swollen face to its full capacity, asking for extra snuggles and popsicles along with extra dessert that night because “it just makes this feel better mommy”. Sure, it does baby girl.

I was reading outside while they were playing and in my book it said don’t forget to remember you only pass by here once and wow did that hit me right in the gut. I do only get this day with them once and so we will have that popsicle and play outside too late and go to bed without a shower because we decided to go get icecream at the last second. Sleepovers will always win and so will pool days with peanut butter sandwiches for dinner because we stayed swimming just 20 more mins. I’m soaking this sweet spot all in because I know it will shift and change again. I’m taking in every silly word they say, every little giggle they let out and I’m holding onto the hugs and kisses I get.

Don’t get me wrong I miss those babies snuggles and that sweet after bath baby smell. But let me tell you what 4 &7 years old have a just as sweet after bath smell and their snuggles are just as awsome because now they look up at you and say “I love you mama”, or “today was the funnest most bestest day ever for the whole life of this family” I promised them yesterday that even when they are 20 I will be asking to smell their head and hug them tight after they get out of the shower because they will always be sweet little babies to me and I just want to truly enjoy every sweet spot we find.