The Best Part Of Parenting

I am a very busy Mama. I have a lot to take care of in a day. Between laundry, trying to keep the house clean, cooking, shopping, homeschooling, and providing the care my children need, I sometimes wake up ready for a nap.

So much of what I do would go faster without the kids. I'll admit, sometimes I get annoyed with their needing me. I don't want to stop halfway through cleaning up the kitchen to sit down and nurse the baby. Can't he see I'm busy?

But when I step back and think about it, those times I stop to nurse him are the breaks in my day. Those are the moments that I get to look into his eyes, talk to him, and remind him that I'm his Mama, and I'm going to take care of him.

Though I'd rather have grown-up conversation at the dinner table, I'm going to do Mad Libs. The kids get so excited at the silly stories they can make up. While they're learning parts of speech, they don't even notice that they've just eaten a whole piece of fish!

At night, when I'd like to curl up with whatever book I'm reading, I'm going to sing "We're marching to bed" with Ciaran and Quinn. I'm going to take them to the potty, help them brush their teeth, read them a story, and sing our good-night song. Then, I'm going to kiss them both, and hope I only have to send Ciaran back to bed 12 times tonight instead of 24.

When I'm done with that, I'm going to have Piper and Bridget curl up in bed with me to read their latest favorite. We're going to cuddle and warm our feet up on each other. Then they're going to ask to sleep with me, and I'm going to send them off to brush their teeth before I tuck them in.

After that, if I'm lucky, maybe Reagan will sit with me and watch an episode of Big Bang Theory, the current show he's decided is cool enough to watch with his mom.

My day doesn't have a lot of "me" time. And, while sometimes it bothers me, I mostly like it this way. It's not that I wouldn't like to have more, but one day they aren't going to be here anymore, and I won't be able to get this time back. When they're all grown and way past the days where curling up with their mom to read Junie B. Jones sounds good, I want them to remember the time we spent together, and the things that we did. More than just the big things. I want them to remember all our little daily rituals.

For me, the best parts of parenting are busy. They take time. But the look on my kids' faces when they snuggle down next to me for some quality time, makes it worth it. There will be a lot more "me" time later. And when I have it, I'll probably want the busy back.