Tomorrow we are going to throw a baby shower for my baby sister. Ok, so she’s not a baby. In fact, she’s a year older than I was when I had my first child. She’s excited, anxious and, at this moment, a bit tired.We’ve been asked to collect our thoughts on mommyhood and share with her advice and tales. There are so many I’ve experienced over the past four years. I’ve tried to drag myself from bed to write down the memories and funny moments, but the need for sleep kept me tucked under my covers.I want her to know it’s OK to cry from loving a little creature so much, even though you’ve had two hours of sleep in 48 hours.That she MUST keep a notebook in every room so when funny things are said or done she can write them down, because there are so many that have slipped my mind days, weeks, months and years later.There are times I’ve sat with a sleeping child in my arms just because I could. I’ve laughed as my children colored each other - in permanent marker. I’ve loved the cooking flour all over the table, my son, the dog and the floor - and taken pictures to remember it. And I’ll never forget the morning my son yelled, "I’m done," and I came downstairs to find a very proud 3-year-old with an entire carton of cracked eggs in a pan ready to cook - and all the shells in the trash.Yes, I’ve lost it a few times too. My children remind me of that. Just the other day I lost my cool and my son started yelling, too. Then his sister joined in. Then I started laughing cause I’m sure I looked ridiculous to them and now they were giving mommy a taste of her own medicine. But those are moments that fade, and the laughter will always remain.
