Looking Back & Forward | a series of pictures and words

They bring out the best in me.

{We celebrated 10 years of marriage this summer.}

Yesterday I was in charge of pickup from Lego Nanobot Camp at high noon and the littles & I had an appointment to visit their new school at 10. When we left the school at 11 I thought it would be smarter to just run an errand while we waited for camp to finish instead of driving back home.

{A trip to the zoo with all three boys. They kept trying to get as close as they could to the animals.}

So after we loaded crazy amounts of dollars of diapers into our cart I let Owen run around the aisles of toys at Babies R Us. I love this age where he is perfectly content to look and play at the store and 9 times out of 10 has no desire to bring the toys home.

{Loved seeing Garrett take the lead with Owen at the zoo. This is definitely his place.}

I remember spending a good hour once a week or so with Garrett in the aisles of Target doing the same thing. Back then I just thought that Garrett was extremely content with the things he had and was so proud of my great parenting. Now I realize its just the age where there seems to be a disconnect that the toys at the store can actually go home.

{The 4th of July at the club. This is so very Owen.}

When I asked Owen if he wanted Mickey Mouse (a DVD) for the car he was passionate about his "No!". However seeing that not only 20 minutes before he was asking for Mickey Mouse in the car and I was trying to explain that we only had Elmo I snuck it in the cart further justifying the purchase with the $25 gift card I had in my wallet.

{Me in all my mama glory with Travis. As tired as I was here I feel like I was beaming.}

Later I would very much appreciate my decision to nurse Travis in the Mother's Room at Babies R Us instead of squeezing in another errand.

{My first meal out with all three by myself.}

On our way home from camp the boys were h.u.n.g.r.y. and requested a Whataburger. Unfortunately instead of heading to the one closest to our house I picked the one in the most efficient spot relative to our drive. Yeah, me and the rest of the lunch crowd.

{Sweet baby Travis right around the time he really started smiling.}

The drive through line was at least 10 deep and knowing Travis I knew that before we even ordered he would be hysterical. So I picked the lesser of two evils and accomodated the boys request to eat inside.

{These chunky legs get me everytime.}

So that is how I walked into a Whataburger full of men during peak lunch time with two hungry second graders, a near to nap time two  year old, and a 15 week old who had already spent two hours in his car seat (but luckily had a full belly).

{Owen fighting nap. This happened alot this summer with us off schedule running around with Garrett & Owen getting overtired.}

Looking back ordering was the calmest part of our adventure but I remember thinking at the time "What have I gotten myself into to? Well, too late to turn back now."

{Travis and I at VBS. I was so proud that I pulled off volunteering with him.}

While I finished ordering the older boys had free reign at the soda machine and Owen was watching and taking notes.

{Owen adores cars right now. Love these little feet.}

By the time it was his turn to get a drink he had learned enough by watching the older boys to understand that he could make drinks come by pushing the lever and was determined , as two year olds tend to be, to do it himself. I was putting the lid on his cup with my right hand as he gingerly sat on the edge of the counter reinforced only with my hip since my left arm was carrying Travis (he began his protest of the car seat shortly after we placed our order) when I heard a voice behind me.

{Soaking in snuggles.Sigh.}

The voice said "I've been watching you and was wondering how you were going to do this. Impressive." I laughed and said thank you to the faceless voice.

{The love between these two is off the charts. I didn't see this coming and was prepared for jealousy.}

By the time we got back to our table food had magically appeared. With Owen occupied, so I thought, Travis & I went to get my drink. When we came back the older boys faces told me I needed to look carefully at Owen. My food loving boy had decided to check out Mama's lunch and the top half of my burger was on the booth seat and the bottom half was on the floor.

{Travis & I dancing to Something Like Olivia by John Mayer. With all three boys we've had several of these quiet moments together while I was home on maternity leave.}

Right then I had a choice. Let our chaos experienced in front of our audience take a toll on me or let the amusement of the older boys faces lift me up.

{My little fish. This was the summer of the turtle. Next summer we'll tackle swimming lessons when I don't have an infant in tow.}

I laughed and laughed. I welcomed Garrett's friend to our circus and we all laughed.

{Marking chores off your list is always better with little helpers.}

For some reason, it escapes me at this point, the kind man that initially took our order came to our table. When he realized what happened to my lunch he got me another cheesburger, no onions with ketchup instead of mustard.

{Travis' three month picture. His eyes kill me.}

They bring out the best in me.

Monica

This post is a series of posts that highlights my reflections on maternity leave and my thoughts leading up to going back to work. You can read all of the posts in the series here.