Monkeying around...

I love my life! Oh, of course I have days that aren't so amazingly wonderful, moments where I am not the perfect parent that I want to be, but all in all...my life is incredible. Sometimes I think about who I am and where I am in my life, well I think about it alot :) And, everytime I think about it I still can't believe that I have been given an opportunity to help mold, encourage, and love with everything I am 5 little people that I have been blessed with. How incredible is that! Is it really possible that this is my life? Is it really possible that this is my responsibility. Man that is immense when I think about it.

And then I think...yeah sure it's a huge responsibility, but even more so it is an honor, a precious privilege and I am so grateful that it is mine all of it! The good, the bad, the fun and the O*M*G* I am so overwhelmed, what do I do parts.

I have learned so much from my children. I have learned that love has no limits. I have learned that my patience has definite limits, but that they are stretchy :) I have learned to slow down and enjoy life, and my children have helped me to find my inner child that had somehow hidden itself from me.

I have learned that it is possible to be a loving mother and a friend to these little people. I have learned that being a good mother is what makes me their friend and not the other way around. I have learned and still do everyday that making good parenting choices is so much more difficult for me than I ever thought it could be. Not having been raised by parents who made good parenting choices themselves, I didn't have those ideals and choices to draw upon. But they did leave me knowing how I never want to be, and in some strange way I am grateful for that too.

I have learned that I have made bad choices when I thought they were good and right! I have learned that learning from those mistakes and choosing to try and never make them again is the best apology I could ever give my family. And most of all I have learned that I never seem to stop learning and that the people I love the most play a huge part in that learning. For all the lessons good and bad that I have learned in the last 13years (the parenting years)of my life have been the best, the hardest and yet still the sweetest.

I hope I instill that this learning about oneself is the key to never becoming complacent. I hope that I instill that respect for another person and there choices is so very important. And I hope that I never forget it either! The more I learn the more I love and the more I am grateful! Thank you my sweet blessings, thank you so very much!