ENJOY now! COVET later!

I broke a commandment today, and it wasn't the stealing one, although I did kidnap my 1st counselor's kids. They were wandering around outside the post office so I figured they were fair game.

(Before you go turning me in, I did get permission).

To all you tired new mom's, insecure young mom's, frustrated mom's of small children . . . today I coveted you.

I coveted how much fun you have with your little sticky fingered creatures under foot and in tow (I wish that was spelled t-o-e)

I completely forgot how much fun it was! (Or maybe it wasn't as fun back in my day when I was actually doing it).

This is Junior after I gave him a make-over.

And this is Naomi. I took the flat iron to both of them. (In my day I don't recall make-overs being so much fun when getting my kids ready for church).

(I could dig up a dozen or so photos of my own kids just like this.)

(Covet Covet Covet Covet!)

I had a Tele Tubbie flashback.

And here is Junior after the make-over (was over).

This was after we pulled out all of our Little Bear movies. (I have every single episode of Little Bear ever made on VHS. My son spent time in the hospital when he was about Junior's age and I would sneak down to the vending machine when the nurses weren't looking, buy Starbursts by the arm fulls, then hang out with my boy watching Little Bear until we got cavities.

Today we didn't have Starburst, but we did have popcorn so I gathered Junior, Naomi, my twins, my twin's friends, and my twin's friends friends around me on the couch and the whole lot of us snuggled together and watched Little Bear. Dinner came and dinner went and there we were still jammed together on the couch watching. (Not because we wanted to be, but because we were seriously stuck together and had to wait for my husband to pull us apart).

But it reminded me how nice it is to do nothing but cozy up with a warm, sticky, smelly, chubby toddler. I forgot how fun it is to try to decode their language and listen to them cry. I forgot how fun it is to cook dinner with one arm and to clean up the eggs they crack on your husband's left over pizza. (Even he had forgotten that joy.)

So the way I see it is this:

ENJOY now! COVET later! (And you WILL covet later).

(Didn't see that punchline coming, did you?)