9

Well, it's official now, he's 9.

My Michael is 9.

The day he was born I changed.  I don't know what happened or what delivered when he did, but my priorities shifted.  I suddenly had more patience.  I found myself focused on moments rather than years.  I realized that time is a gift and I knew I wanted to take my time and enjoy every moment with this little nameless baby boy Beekman.

We named him on the 23rd after both our fathers.

Michael has grown from a little boy to a big boy.  His looks have matured, he is getting so tall.  He longs to be more grown up than he is.  I am blessed to be his mom.  He is not a perfect boy, but he has so many good qualities I can't come close to listing them all.  I am going to take this opportunity on his ninth birthday to write down nine of my favorite things about him as I have had the gift of time to watch him grow.

1. He's faith filled and hopefully that will grown into faithful
2. He's playful and boyish hopefully 
3. He's kind 
4. He's generous 
5. He's a great brother
6. He's thoughtful, 
7. He's a lover of fun
8. He's interesting
9. He's snugly 

He is truly a gift.  I hope that I will cherish the rest of his childhood as much as I have the first nine years.  It's a weird thing to be almost half-way to adulthood.  How is that possible?!?

What will change in the next nine years.

A LOT!!  I know.

Hopefully I will still be able to find the good and see the possibilities in him.  I pray I will cherish the next stage of life more than I have this one.  I pray that God's plan will be revealed to my son and that I will be a part of that plan as a support and encouragement, but most of all as a mother who is willing to let him go and do the work that God has purposed his life for.  Nothing would be worse than to be seen as a hindrance to his doing God's work.  Which means, although I want to hold him tightly I have to hold him loosely and teach him to hold tightly to God.

Is this the most difficult part of motherhood?  I think so.

Laundry and spanks ...

This is a goofy one, but it really is what is on my mind.  I was going to make it my fb status, but it would be too long.

I have so much laundry to do.  It's overflowing from baskets and laying on the floor.  It's, thankfully, not stinky, but staring at me when I do anything that is not laundry related.  It's peering into the back of my head and following me around, I know it doesn't have eyes, but it feels like it does.  Haunting me.  I can hear it calling to me - aren't you missing your favorite panties ... Gideon's been asking for his Packer shirt ... Michael will run out of pants soon ... it's like a song that gets stuck in your head like "Stacy's mom has got it going on ..." that is all I know of that song, but they put it on that stupid commercial and then I'm avoiding laundry, blogging, and singing "Stacy's mom has got it going on".  I don't even know Stacy ... we maybe I do know a Stacy or two, but I've never thought of their mom's like that.  RAMBLING!!!

Last night I was talking to my good friends about what my laundry basket was like and I said it was like me in spanks - a little less lumpy, but still bulging and overflowing.  This morning while in the bathroom, I saw it again and it all came back to me and made we laugh again.  I thought, I'd share a picture, and maybe it would bring some laughs to my job security.  I hope your imagination doesn't go to me in spanks but rather relates to the constant nature of laundry and life as a mom.

Trying to find joy and humor in the little things, here in my little snow covered town.  Love to all my fellow laundry battlers and of course to Stacy's mom!!