Happier times

Literally taken about 5 seconds apart...

This is such a hard age. For the parents, with out question, yes. But more so for the toddlers themselves. Audrey is almost 2 years old, and I think between age 1.5-3 is the most amount of changes, learning and growth that their little brains go through at such a rapid speed. That is not scientific at ALL, just my personal opinion. Audrey literally goes from being a sweet, pleasant, well-mannered, totally verbal and smiley girl to the complete opposite...screaming, waving her hands frantically and yelling baby babbles usually accompanied by throwing herself onto the floor or doing something intentionally wrong while staring you down in the process of doing it. It is exhausting. For both she and I.

Some days I wish someone would make me take a nap.

Her meltdowns usually occur if she's hungry or really tired. On a good day we have one meltdown. Ellie on the other hand is at stage where she does not necessarily require as much personal attention as Audrey does. She needs to be changed, fed and held. Only problem is I cannot hold her all day long like I wish I could, and like I used to with Audrey. Therefore, little Ellie dear has done a lot of crying lately due to the fact that I have had to put her down so much lately and tend to the toddler needs.

So what it comes down to is...balancing two children is hard!!!! :) I have so much respect for all those good attentive Mom's out there with multiple children...let alone having multiples (twins,trips..). I love being a Mommy to my two little girls 98% of the time. I have a lot of patience and enjoy being super silly....but wow, that 2% (or more on some days...), that are so difficult are truly exhausting. Physically & mentally. And my spirituality tends to increase with how much assistance I need to rely on from God to be the Mother to Ellie & Audrey He has called me to be. Truly the hardest job there will ever be. But on the flip side, so many beautiful precious memories are being created all the time... and I Love knowing that.

Today, both girls took turns crying their little eyes out. At times they were both crying, but that's life lately. It was the almost constant crying all day long coming from one of them that is the reason for this post. I have seen some very sad faces today, so I thought I would go through some recent pictures I've taken to remind myself how happy it does get around here...despite how today went. All of these pictures were taken within the last 2 weeks or so... Already I'm smiling at the possibility, the hope, the prayer! that tomorrow may look something like this........ :)