"some days (& nights) are hard..."

Some days (like yesterday) I feel like a bad momma. Some nights (like last night) I wonder: will all my children's childhood memories revolve around me being an impatient momma, a critical momma, or a perfectionist momma? This makes me cry & is especially poignant when I am checking on the children after they have fallen asleep. . . so precious, so beautiful, so peaceful...

(taken by Joey during our last slumber party of break...)

So my little ones, tomorrow is a new day & I am going to try (again) to be better. . . I will stop what I am doing & look into your eyes when you want to tell me something. I will let the innocent messes slide (but not the naughty-know-better ones). I will focus when you are telling me the names of your future 12 children, when you are showing the outfit that you want to wear on your next play-date (even though we have none on the calendar), & when you want me to sit with you during a Franklin episode that we have seen 100 times before (I will- wearing a smile knowing that YOU love it). I promise I will hug you more & correct you less...

(Lucy slept over too...)