All In

There are days when stay-at-home-motherhood just 'clicks'; I'm engaged in our activities and have the energy and enthusiasm to make it fun. I'm "all in". Last Thursday was one of those days.

(It is worth noting that these days are often directly-related to my having had a solid night of sleep...or close enough to one...and there being a decent amount of sunshine. Go figure!)

On Thursday, the girls and I went to the zoo, and it was so wonderful to get out of the house just for fun. Not running errands with any sense of purpose, not even meeting friends for a play date. Those are good things; outings that I crave and so enjoy. But, the times that the girls and I go out "just for fun", just for us, are rare. Although they will, no doubt, increase as the days become warmer and it gets increasingly easier to be out and about with Brennan. I hope that's the case!

But, on that day, I got to just be with my daughters.
Really be with them.
Focusing on them.
Enjoying them.

The three of us are together a lot. But, there are distractions at home...things to do, things to think about: the load loads of laundry needing to be done, the photos I should be editing, what dinner prep I can do during lunchtime, even wondering where I last placed my coffee cup, because goodness knows I'm going to need to finish that off.... There is a monotony to being here daily, and as unbelievably wonderful as it is to stay home with my children day in and day out, there's a danger in taking this privilege for granted. I realized again last week that, for being with the girls so much, I'm not always intentional about being fully-present with them and focused on my time with Emerson and Brennan.


I want to be.

And, they deserve for me to be. 

Motherhood is a calling. It certainly is mine, and I've never questioned if I'm making the right choice to stay home with my girls. But, some days are long & hard and feel every bit like the very real work that it is. But, then there are days like Thursday, that remind me just how much I can delight in this job of mine...just how much I should...and just how precious it is when I truly do.