There's No Place Like Home

Since this past weekend was a three day weekend, I took the opportunity to drive (with Eva) down to Houston and spend a few days with my friend Allison. We had a wonderful time talking and spending time together. Eva, however, did not have a wonderful time. She fussed and fussed and was cranky all weekend. She refused to sleep for longer than a few minutes at a time unless the tv was on with the sound up. It took me a while to figure out what was wrong. She missed her sisters and brother. She missed the constant noise. She missed the attention. When we got home, I handed her to Kylie and Eva's face lit up :) Then Jack got to hold her and she smiled and smiled. I got pictures of that one ~





Sometimes I feel bad that my kids don't get more individual attention. With five small children, their one-on-one time with me and Rob is limited. Eva's only two months old and yet she already has developed enough love for her siblings that she doesn't like being away from them, even for a few days. I can understand. I loved spending time with Allison :) It was wonderful though to walk in the door and be greeted by "MOMMY!!!!" (Jack), "Mommymommymommymommymommy!!!" (Beth, who in her exuberance ran right past me), "MOM!!! You're home!!!" (Megan), "MOM!!! You're home - can I see Eva???" (Kylie), and "I'm so glad you're home!" (Rob, who did a great job and practically cleaned the whole house while I was gone). I love being a mom and wife :)

On Tuesday, Beth, Jack, Eva and I went grocery shopping. Jack and Beth sat in a "car cart" (a cart with a car in front for kids to ride in) and Eva was in a carrier on my chest. Since we went during the day, there were a lot of older shoppers at the grocery store. We got a lot of smiles. One lady came up to me and said "Enjoy them while you can. My babies are 60 and 56 and man, I miss them!" I am so lucky to have each of my little ones! Rob had a meeting tonight, so I made dinner, had the kids help set the table, then got everyone's plates ready and ate dinner with Eva and Jack on my lap. Yes, dinner was lukewarm by the time we finished and I didn't exactly get time to enjoy any of the food, but I think back to nine years ago, when we were pregnant with Megan, but didn't know it, and think how lucky I am to have a room full of children :) I wouldn't trade it for the world :)


Finally, a picture of Eva and I doing homework ~