Dandelions Are My Roses

    I never would have expected to be the mother of 3 boys, but here I am caught in the middle and I love it. For the past few months nearly every time we go on our weekly grocery adventure with the boys, my husband helps the boys pick out flowers for mommy. For most people this would not be such a big deal. The flowers they usually pick are the daisy clumps dyed bright colors like purple, green, and blue. To me it is a silly childhood dream come true. When I was younger and I would dream of my future, I would always think to myself how wonderful it would be to have the kind of man in my life to buy me flowers. In my dreams I would have a special place for my fresh flowers every week. Now as I take a look at my beautiful and crazy life I see not one man to buy me flowers but 4 wonderful loves that treat me so well.

    So in learning that getting mommy flowers makes her happy my oldest two have taken up bringing mommy "flowers" while they play in the backyard. You can only imagine my excitement when the little chubby hand brings green sticky stem with a fuzzy yellow flower on the end. I would truly like to know a mother out there who does not smile each time her precious child brings her a dandelion. Now my middle child has not quite grasped the understanding of "flower" but is never to be outdone by his older brother, he brings to me in his tiny hand a large clump of green something. His gift comes with a special surprise. Not only did I get a non-flowering, green bouquet, but dangling at the end is the very dirt it was pulled out of. Who cares there is absolutely no flower attached and it is dragging a mess into my clean kitchen. It all fades away when they say "I buy mommy flowers!"

    In all of this, I have to thank my wonderful husband. For teaching our children the value of a woman. That protecting her and serving her in a Godly way will bring more than they could imagine. You are by best friend. And I love raising our boys together. My prince. And thank you for teaching me that dandelions are my roses.

Good job mommy, you did it!

So I was told being a mommy is a rewarding and wonderful experience, so that means no challenges right? (insert sinister laugh) Raising a two year old, a one year old, and an infant is a non stop, always moving, someone's needing, poopy diaper changing kind of life. So I find myself searching out the simple things in the messy chaos.

Here's the story I'm going through one of those crazy non-stop, poopy diaper, mommy I need you days and I can tell my two year old is noticing the stress on mommy's face. It could have been the fact that I was catching a flying football while holding the baby and folding a mountain of clothes and texting my wonderful husband how amazing he is (gotta keep the fire burnin') and saving the one year old from his attempted leap off the kitchen table, or maybe he can just sense these things. Either way he felt it was his duty to make mommy feel better. So here we are in the middle of it all and he asks mommy for some turkey and cheese, I quickly reply (in a tone of pure frustration) "yes son, I can drop everything I am doing and get you some turkey and cheese" As I turn around to pass off the treat to his smiling face and outstretched chubby little hand he replies with all his excitement "great job mommy, you did it!" And the world melts. "thank you son"

I realize every day how wonderful life is with my three little princes, and I am thankful in all of it to be the princess in the middle.