Last week I babysat 5 of my cousins while my aunt and uncle were on a cruise in the Caribbean. What a crazy week! Their 5 plus my 2 meant that overnight I was the mother of 7 kids, which I learned, is probably more than I can handle. It was an exciting week complete with an act of vandalism, a broken finger, 6 stitches, a concussion, hair curling, an overflowing bubble bath, middle of the night wakings, more hair curling, countless potty training accidents, a birthday, and even more hair curling and all of the other "regular" things that go along with a house full of kids. While there were a lot of stressful happenings, it was a lot of fun too. There is something really great about a house full of kids with all their energy and enthusiasm. It was a valuable experience because I discovered some things that I definitely want to do as a parent and things I don't want to do. While my Aunt and I have different parenting styles, watching her kids kind of gave me a preview of what my life could be like in a few years. I was able to see what I liked and what I didn't. Now I can make better decisions about how I want my home to be run.
Last week was wonderful too because Fred was there with me most of the time. There is nothing I love more than spending time with family at home (well, maybe spending time with family at Disneyland). We did simple things like playing silly games, hide-and-seek, basketball, talking and joking over dinner, watching movies together, reading books and just enjoying each other. It was nice to get back to basics and focus on the simple things that make us happy - making memories as a family. It's these times that me realize how little we truly need in this world. I think we put too much emphasis on having things (clothes, furniture, electronics, toys, etc). When really, it's not these things that make us happy. The experiences that we have with our loved ones make us happy and those experiences and the relationships that come out of them are what we can take with us into our next life. We all need to slow down every once in a while so that we can make sure that the best parts of life aren't passing us by.
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I agree we all need to slow down and remember what's really important - quality time with our families. As a mother of 6 I will remind you that each child comes one at a time (most of the time) and so it's a gradual process that makes it doable. I'm sure you'd be a wonderful mother of 7!! :D
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