And she walks!

 Emma is officially walking! Just today she decided she was going for it and took off. Several times she walked across the room. She is so big! She also is talking a bunch. She is saying ball and fish and she is very clear when she is trying to say something that isn't actually English, but she definitely get's her point across.  She also loves to give kisses. Recently, she has wanted to be snuggled before she goes to bed. I hold her with her blanket, and she lays her head down on my shoulder and I sing to her. If she likes the song she'll start singing too. I say singing but it's that little baby thing of aaahhhhh... Then she'll snuggle down again, then look up and pucker up, then snuggle down again. It's so cute! 

She has eight teeth and possibility one more on the way. 

Being a mother SUCKS!

Only sometimes. I'm really tired at the moment and just had the morning from hell, so I'm not really the best advocate for moms at the moment. What do you do with a kid who just wants to be naughty? Nothing I do deters him from being mean to his friends or fighting or just complaining and whining... GRR!
And then when I have him alone, he's all sweet and kind and considerate and I want to yell, "Quick! Look now, World! He really is a wonderful boy!"
He's so frustrating sometimes and so fun and so full of mischief. He loves to fill his dump truck up with rocks and then throw them off the bridge. He loves to muck about in the mud and dirt and he loves to collect rocks.

He's such a boy. I keep reminding myself that he will learn the right things to do, I just have to keep teaching him. He knows exactly what's expected of him, but when I ask him why he got into trouble, he looks up at me with big green eyes, all innocent and says, "don't know".

I do love giving the cuddles and kisses and reading the stories and giving the baths. I love being "mommy" and I love being the one they call. But sometimes I feel like I'm the one who always gets to say "NO!" and the one who gets to heap out correction and punishments for various crimes. I, in essence get to be the "bad guy". Not because I want to be, but because I am on the front line. It starts with me daily. If I don't teach them obedience every day, all day long, they will grow up being little manipulators with no respect for authority. It's SO vital to be the teacher and mother they need me to be, and yet all I want to do sometimes is ignore the naughty, ugly behavior, put a movie on and take a nap.
It's really that I get to mother myself too along with the kids. I have to grow myself up enough to be there for them.
It's so worth it, but so hard to sustain the energy long term.