A New Kind of Quiet

      Sometimes, being a mom means you are constantly hearing noise.  Someone is always talking, singing, crying, whining, wailing, banging, falling, screaming, laughing, meowing, ect.  You get the idea.  I remember back before children when things were quieter in my life, and while I would never (most of the time) want to go back there, sometimes I miss some of the quiet.  Which has made me appreciate some things I would not have imagined before motherhood.
      Showers are really great for drowning out the noises of children in other rooms, and though I may be able to see the bars on the baby monitor flickering, screaming at me that Bella is still not napping, I can't hear her over the rush of water.  A new kind of quiet.  Vacuuming is a great way to drown out noise, and though Lily's mouth may be open in a whine, it is real hard to make out what she is whining about while I clean our crumby floors.  Quiet bliss.  The hair dryer has the same effect, and I often wonder, "What might I be missing while trying to style my hair into something other than a ponytail?"  And then I think, "Oh well."
      Another quiet time I have come to appreciate is after I have loaded the girls into the car.  When you stand outside the car, you can barely discern that people are screaming as if they are having their nails pulled off inside of the car.  Sometimes I stand outside the car to collect myself before jumping back into the firestorm - it makes me feel better and stay calmer.  It is a mommy time-out.  And, I know the girls will be fine - they are harnessed in, after all.
      Though I do enjoy some of my little escapist moments, I would never really want to miss out on certain things.  Like, the way that Lily can't say "magnets" and instead calls them "maggots."  When she proclaims, "I LOVE maggots!" it really makes us laugh.  Or, the other night when she announced in a falsely deep voice, "I am a dirty, dirty whale."  Which I don't even think is possible, since whales live in the water.  And, last night she told us that she was a "naughty shark."  I am not sure what the fixation on oceanic creatures is, but, I am glad I am not missing these moments.  A girl is only two and a half once in her life (I hope), and I want to live up the great moments and guide well through the harder ones.

Here's a great moment.  Most Wednesdays and Thursdays we eat lunch with our friends after "school" (Mother's Day Out).  Here are the kiddos watching the rain come down yesterday.



And, today, three older kids decided to help Bella "walk", which she loved and which us mothers enjoyed watching.

I never knew that I would use vacuuming as a tool to block out the sound of my children sometimes.  I am thankful for the quiet moments, but I am thankful for the loud ones, too.  They are all real parts of my life for right now, and I know it is fleeting.  Lily will not be a dirty whale for very long.