The Kids... the kids.... Let me give a brief intoduction:

Kailey, age 6. She's my lover, soft, sensitive, people pleaser. She can also kick up one hell of a whine when she's tired, hungry or just doesn't get her way. Not shy what so ever, but then none of my kids are, and she's got a wonderfully artistic streak in her that I hope gets fostered through her childhood. She's got my eyes, nose and freckles.

Maggie, age 4. She's my boy in sheep's clothing. Her favorite saying has got to be 'I do it', and she can. What a little independant thing and I love it, most of the time. A problem solver that hates to admit she needs help. She good in groups or by herself, the big blue eyes, bouncy curls and huge smile will get you every time.

Corinne, almost 10m. My little red headed baby. The happiest thing ever. She sleeps 13hrs a night, eats anything I give her happily and rarely cries... what more could you ask for in a baby? Tonight I picked her up and she waved to me and said 'nigh, nigh'. Huh? At less than 10m? Her two favorite people in the world are her sisters and she's rarely not in sight of them. I can't even imagine our family without her.

Oh the kids.... they make my days hectic and crazy and messy, but full of love and laughter. I couldn't even imagine my life without them.

Thinking....

Finally... a new post.

I really meant to post something over the summer. Well, more than just something. Like, start a real blog. Just create more than one post - that no one follows. But I was thinking, thinking about if I was going to use the kids' real names (I'm going to), thinking what a pita downloading pics are going to be (I'm going to have to suck that up) and trying to figure out a tone. Hmmm.... I may just muddle through that one.

I'm going to introduce the kids on another post, this one is actually for me. *I knooooow*

It was a long day, not because of the kids or because himself is gone or any of the other numerous things that can happen in the day of the life of a stay at home mom with three small children. Or the 'other' stuff that went on. But long, at times, due to emotional stuff.

My mom died at age 47 and today is her birthday, she would have been 55. I'm not going into anything today about how or why, it can be another post. More preach-y and soap-box'ish. Nope... this is just about a daughter missin' her mom. Thinking about how really young 47 seems now, I was 27 when the accident occured and will be 35 in a couple months. I have friends close to 47, at age 47 my kids will be 18, 16 and 13. I can't even imagine. It has lead to a day of reflection, hoping my girls never deal with the heartache of missing their mama younger than they need to and hugging everyone just a little bit tighter.

Oh... and I really do wish I had spent more time in the kitchen with my mom. Damn she was a good cook! I really wish I would have learned to can, cook and bake like her, following the recipes don't do it justice.

~Michelle

Why...

Why a blog...

Really... a mommy blog? Me? Isn't there enough of those out there already?
(I *know* that's what everyone's thinking) I've been thinking that myself for some time now. Do I really want to go there, feel the expectation of writing something in some regular fashion, put my life out there? Except in my mind, I keep living my life blog post to blog post, and I don't even have a freakin' blog. How messed up is that?

Not to mention, I do feel the need to get some documention of daily life. Not so much mine, it's about as mundane as can be, but the kids. I feel like everytime I turn around they're inches taller and less the babies I had. One more time around they'll be wearing make-up, slamming doors and sneaking out of the house. In the meantime, maybe I should record some of the stuff that's going on?

How completely lucky for you, eh?