Thursday

I can’t believe its Thursday already! The days flew by! I have been busy as usual with the addition of a cousin from out of town + my two sons by milk. That really makes a full house! Their cousin is visiting while his mom helps plan her sister’s engagement party. I am happy to take him off his mom’s hands. His older brother (my third son by milk) was volunteering in Hajj with his father and arrived on Tuesday. I have so many fond memories of summer sleepovers with cousins and I’m so glad I can create these memories with my kids. I have to confess though, its exhausting! As hard as I try to be laid back and relaxed about everything, it’s still a lot of work, I already have 5 kids + 4 more! That’s a lot! They are all great kids and not any trouble but it still gives me more mouths to feed, more beds to make, and the hardest thing of all for me is bedtime… I know, I know; its summer vacation; let them stay up all night why not? The thing is, I can’t, I just can’t. I hate the idea of them staying up all night and sleeping all day. Its just wrong. Its unhealthy and I won’t have it. I’ve been super lenient and I let them stay up until 2 am which is late enough! Then I call them all to bed and sit in the arm chair in my boys’ room and wait, until I’m sure they are all asleep. Of course, there is a lot of talking and laughing and wrestling and joking and I enjoy it all, they are so much fun and I am so lucky to have them. But at the end of the day I am exhausted and I need to sleep. I usually end up dozing off while I wait for them to sleep and I wake up to a room full of boys sleeping on the floor on the beds and two in the living room on the sofa beds. I know they are growing up too fast and soon they will all be off to college and careers and it will be so hard to have them all together under one roof so as exhausting as these days and nights are, I’m enjoying every minute! I try not to think about how empty the house is going to be when they grow up and pursue education and careers and make their own little families.

I read somewhere a mother say; “I am not an empty nester, I am a bird launcher!” I loved that so much. I hope my babies grow up and sore up high and achieve their highest hopes and dreams.