13 years and counting...a look back at my motherhood years

I have been thinking back about being a mother and these are the things that really have touched my life so far.

*Corinna's entrance- I gained 75 pounds and she would not come out, no wonder...she was 10 pounds of pure love. A week later we were visiting my parents and Corinna was tired and needed to be rocked to sleep. My mother commented on how much weight I had lost (50 pounds and counting) and not thirty seconds later I sat in her brand new rocking chair and rocked three times when the entire back snapped in half sending Corinna and I backwards head over heels.

1 year later- Bryan's entrance-He was the first baby born in the hospital and was followed within twenty four hours by 18 more children. He has always been a leader.

1 year later- Molly's entrance- Now, by this time I already knew this was my last baby. 3 c-sections in three years is never a good thing. While I was 6 months along I required surgery to remove a pesky gall bladder. Never a good thing. She came out not breathing, but soon the pediatrician got her lungs going and although she had fluid left in her lungs she was a fighter and was as healthy as healthy can be. When i held her in my arms for the first time the words came to my head: "This is my trial in life."

Through three babies in diapers at once, chicken pox, holding their hot little bodies against my chest as they get what little rest they could as I rocked them. There was cleaning and and non-stop laundry. There was non-stop diaper rashes, potty training, doctors visits, surgeries,scrapes, bruises, shots, bathing, feeding, crying, frustration, pain and all while my husband traveled three weeks out of the month while I raised them. There were late nights of praying there would be enough money to make through another week and enough sanity to make it there as well. There were nights of sitting in the hospital watching while my baby laid helplessly in the hospital bed looking so frail and so tiny.

There was laughter, giggles, hugs, kisses, playing, sillyness, kids covered in ketchup, kids covered in flour, kids sneaking and eating a brother's first birthday cake while he opens his presents, learning to walk, playing with friends, water balloon fights, art classes, soccer games, cheerleading, holidays, vacations, traveling, concerts, smiling, girl's night out, chick flicks,games and just being together.

Through all of the ups and the downs, the goods the bads, there was my small family. Sometimes together, sometimes apart, but always in my heart. I am so grateful as I look back remembering everything I have been blessed to experience. yes, i feel blessed even in the bad times. I have learned so much and become a more patient and stronger woman. All the good and all the bad has made me who I am. So, when I wake up in the morning on Mother's Day and my three pretty cool kids come to scream: "Happy Mother's Day!" to wake me up I will remember it all and be thankful that I have these beautiful spirits in my life for time and all eternity.