One Year with the Nibblettes

So this was supposed to be a one year update and…they just turned 15 months old…which I didn’t realize until I just now looked at the calendar. Granted, I knew they weren’t 12 months old just didn’t realize their “birth date” for January had come and gone without me knowing they were a month older. I guess such is the life with toddlers. 

So first of all, apparently as much as I assumed I would be the type to have my child dressed to the nines every day in a Martha Miniature, petticoat and bell-laden ensemble, I am not. We do good to brush our teeth and comb our hair each day. And…if the pajama’s we wore to bed the night before look like clothes we might just go with those the next day verses getting a whole, new outfit dirty. After all, you’re cute enough when you’re one anyway right? Mama Jill, on the other hand, probably has not combed her hair or brushed her teeth either one. But, whose counting? Just the other day I told my husband, “Someday you really will have a pretty wife and a clean house. (He didn’t request it. I was just sharing.) But, right now between babies and teens I just feel like I’m treading water.” And I guess that sums up the toddler years best. A LOT of fun. A never-ending messy house. And, A LOT of treading water. You just do the best you can. The baby books are half-filled out. We are 15 months old and still drinking out of bottles to go to sleep at night. (Because mommy just decided all those doctors are crazy that say no more bottle at 15 months. Oh no! Give me my milk ba over a screaming toddler any day of the week.) 

We are also not out healing the sick or visiting hospitals or doing much of anything terribly remarkable. Except that each day is just a little bit remarkable in and of itself. When one girl gives the other a drink from her sippy-cup or moves a baby chair from the other room so that she can stand on it to reach her high chair, or says a very difficult to understand “thank you” I’m convinced I must have the smartest, most wonderful babies out there. (me and the rest of the mommies in the world :-)  Oh, and yesterday when one of the girls handed me the socks from the clean laundry I was folding (on the floor) I was just about ready to call Mensa. 

But I guess the most remarkable thing about my unremarkable life is just how satisfying it can be. For years I said I didn’t want babies. Quite frankly, I thought all that diaper-changing and face-wiping was a waste of time when I could be out changing the world (I know, I know, get the rotten tomatoes ready :-) But then when God chose for me I found out this is truly one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done. Just being a mommy. I’m also kind of a fan of baby hugs and kisses. But seriously, I’ve been posting to my blog uh…not quite so…regularly. I do absolutely no volunteer work. No feeding the homeless. No mission trips to 3rd world countries. And yet, somehow, I know I doing something very real. Very eternal. And, very important. Be it a mommy to teens or to nibblettes, to one or to 90, adopted or home-grown. There is just something about being a mommy that matters forever. Oh, and one last little update. I’m pregnant…