Lydia. Easter Sunday. 2011.

At Target this week, Lydia rode in the cart and sang, “I love Mommy! I love Mommy!” at the top of her lungs.

She still says “hurted” and “bited“.

She gets chocolate peanut butter spread on her cheek and doesn’t notice for hours.

She carries her bunny, Flopsy to the store, sleeps with her and considers her a best friend.

She says, “Hoo-normous” instead of “enormous” or “humongous”.

When she hangs out with Evan, they hold hands unashamedly.

And this time next year? I have a feeling it will be different. My little girl will still be herself, but she’ll be six with a year of kindergarten under her belt. I can sense this next season in our life but I can’t see it yet. It’s blocked. Like a big thick black wall. But as we journey toward it, I know it’s about to make everything different.

Even though I sound mournful, I’m not. Just wistful. I’ve always said my heart grows with my children, so I’m not sad to see them grow.

But five? I think I’m going to miss it.

I’m Going To Miss Five is a post from: ohamanda.com

source: manjaris creation

Spring is Here!

One day this week, the kids and I laid on the back porch and drank in the spring weather. The sky was blue, the temperature was 74 and nicely breezy, the birds were singing, the creek was dancing and the grass was green. Every year I am surprised at how much the Spring invigorates me. I never realize how much winter has damped my spirits until I get the first whiff of Spring!

The second this Spring hit, we started gardening. Now, not big gardening. In fact, I would not even consider myself a gardener. But I love having my kids play in the dirt and watch things grow. I want them to see their food come from a plant they buried in the dirt. I want them to feel the slowness of growth and the dirtiness of maturation.

{read my full post at Motherhood Your Way…}

Little Seeds is a post from: ohamanda.com

Sometimes I just get in a motherhood funk. The blues. The blahs. The I-can’t-do-anything-right kinda feeling.

All day long I can feel words swirling through my head, “Their behavior is your fault! Why can’t you get the house clean?! You have ruined them! What are you doing? Why can’t you get him under control?”

Am I the only one?

I had no idea how hard parenting was going to be. I thought as I grew with my kids’ physical needs, I’d grow into parenting. I thought I’d get a few good parenting successes under my belt and then those same ideas would work again. I figured I’d be able to build on my successes and kind of get a one up on my kids.

{Read my full post at Motherhood Your Way…}

Motherhood Is Hard is a post from: ohamanda.com