A Word of Advice. . .

to my mommy friends whose children are even younger than mine:  take lots of photos of your children in their better (and not so great moments).  Because someday that baby/2 year old is going to be a 4 or 5 year old (or worse yet, a teenager!) and his or her cuteness will have peaked, while their ability to make you so furiously irritated you can hardly control yourself will have steadily increased.

Keilana has a unique ability to push my buttons.  Always has--far more than her brother and her still very new sister.  Her drama queen tendencies are difficult for me to be patient with and there will be days like today where, if I weren't a principled person, would just want to beat the snot out of her.  And then I take a deep breath, sit down and look at some pictures, and see something like this:

or this:


Or this:
Or this:
Or this:
Or this:
Or this:
Or this: (Yup, that's little Ahni next to her)
(I have literally thousands more I'd like to share, but you get the idea).  And suddenly I remember.  Suddenly all the wonder and joy comes flooding back and I remember why I love being a mom so very, very much.  Why I love my children so much.  Why I love my oldest daughter specifically more than I can ever express (though I frequently, helplessly try).  I remember that for all the trouble she gives me, all the headaches she causes, if I had to boil her down to a brief description, I'd say she's joyfully exuberant, completely bursting with life.  And I wouldn't have her any other way.