Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,

Thursday, April 24, 2014

To The Mama With All Littles

First thing I want to tell you is you can do it!!! :) I am sitting her for the first time all day and hoping I can get through this post. Right now everyone is happy and satisfied and the littlest is asleep. You see I have 10 kids but I have older ones now. It wasn't always like that though and today reminded me just how things were when I didn't have older ones. Having older ones ARE a blessing but also sometimes you really miss out. So here are some things I wished someone would of told me AND that I wished I would of listened to.

- Enjoy them!! Plain and simple. They grow up. I know when you have a bunch of littles it never seems like they will be anything but little but it really happens fast. It is true. My "babies" , my first born twin sons, turned 17 in March! IT does happen in the blink of a eye. One thing I kept hearing when I had just littles is the housework will wait and to enjoy them but all I could see was the dirty laundry, dirty babies, and dirty house. I have some regrets about not just enjoying them.

-Having older ones is a HUGE blessing but also adds more. Yes, I finished the sentence. They just add more everything. I know how to parent little ones, parenting older ones is HARD work. Letting go some is HARD!  So, again enjoy this time with only littles because there will be a season where you add older ones in the mix and for me that has been so.much.harder. I love my teens and it is not that the teen years are this hard time that it is made out to be but it is a time where you are preparing them to go out into the world and that is scary. Plus they have their own problems, questions, and need a different kind of attention.

-Littles can help more than I ever imagined. They are smart and absorbed tons. But don't expect a ton out of them. :) One minute they are all ready to help , the next not so much. But do teach as a family we work together and it is important to help. MAKE IT FUN! They will cooperate a lot more if it doesn't really seem like work. Encourage them also. This is something I am working on for everyone in my home. Instead of barking orders, encourage them when they do something right.

-Littles are fun and innocent. Sit back and just watch them play. Take pictures, lots of pictures. You will love looking back at the silly things they did. I wished I had more pics of some of my older ones. I also wished I would of slowed down and just talked with them and just watched them. So slow down, I know it is hard in this fast pace society but it will be so worth it.

-Lastly, I understand in our society little ones are not looked on for much . But they are the future. They are little souls you are hopefully raising up for the glory of the Lord. That is HUGE in my book!

******I hope this is not filled with huge errors and that it makes sense. My 2 year old was sitting her singing while I was trying to type this. But I took my advice and didn't tell him to stop and just listened.