Thirteen Weeks

Well, my time as a temporary stay at home mom is coming to an end.  I am so very thankful that I got to spend the last thirteen weeks with my girls, a full five weeks longer than I was able to stay at home when Kate was born. I think God knew I really needed this time with my girls, and it couldn't have worked out more perfectly for me. With the vacation time that I'd saved up, the parental leave time that my work gave me, and the fact that my time overlapped with some holidays, these last thirteen weeks have been so great.  Definitely not relaxing, but I sure got in some good quality time with both Kate and Karsten.

It has been so fun seeing Karsten roll over for the first time, smile at me, coo and laugh! And even more fun has been seeing Kate and Karsten start to interact with each other.  Kate loves being a big sister, and is a pretty bossy one!  She loves to sing to Karsten when she gets worked up, and often that will quiet Karsten's cries.  Karsten also rewards Kate with the biggest smiles, even bigger than the smiles she gives Mommy or Daddy!  I love the fact that I haven't "missed out" on any of her firsts, yet.

And though I'm so EXTREMELY thankful for these past thirteen weeks, they have flown by even faster than I imagined.  And now, they're over.

So Monday morning, bright and early, I'll be back in the office at my other job (you know, the one other than MOM).  I know I'll miss my two girls terribly, but I can't deny that I'm looking forward to having some conversations that involve something other than:

"Do you need to go potty?"

"Please don't touch your sister's face."

"Are you pretending to be a puppy again?"

"Please don't touch your sister's face."

"Are you playing dead again?"

"Please don't touch your sister's face."

"Thanks for being my helper! Can you throw this diaper away?"

"What is that in your mouth?"

"Did you really just draw on the wall AGAIN?"

Oh, and don't let me forget - "Please don't touch your sister's face!!"
(Can you tell what we've had trouble with?)

In the last thirteen weeks, I've said so many things that I would have NEVER thought would come out of my mouth.  We have used 45 gallons of hand sanitizer.  We've gotten about 5 total hours of sleep.  I've lost my patience plenty of times, raised my voice more than I care to admit, and gotten frustrated on many occasions.  But don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed this time.  A lot.  And it has been pretty stinking rewarding.  Especially when some of the things that I've been hearing back consist of:

"I love you Mommy."

"Mommy, can I have a hug/kiss?"

"Awww... Karsten's so cute!  Aren't you, Sweetheart?"

"Mommy, will you cuddle with me?"

"You're my favorite Mommy!" (Which she gets from me, because I tell her she's my favorite Kate!)

"Look, Mom! Karsten's wiggling! She's so funny."

Or, when Kate, Karsten and I are walking somewhere, and Kate looks at me and says "We're all sisters!"  Ha!  Then she corrects herself and says "We're all girls!"

But my VERY favorite is, of course (again):

"Mommy, I love you!"

I'm going to miss these two sweet girls each and every day, but I know they are being loved on and spoiled by their Nana and are in great hand!  And, come 5pm, I'll look forward to getting home and spending the evening with them before getting up the next day and doing the work thing all over again!

So, to round this all out, here is thirteen weeks of sweetness. I'd appreciate your prayers this week as we figure out our new normal and try to navigate some type of scheduled chaos in our family.

Oh, and pray that Karsten sleeps.  Or even that she just wakes up once a night.  This mama needs some sleep.