Minivan Momma

I think as mother's we need to carefully consider the words we speak in regards to things we "would never do." I give myself grace for the words said after "I would never do..." in my pre-mommy years. I was naive, young, and clueless as to what was ahead for me. I'm not sure my sister-in-laws had grace for me, although most of the words weren't spoken out loud, but more in my head! I had 5 sister in laws all making/having/raising babies at the same time.  I was sitting back married with no kids, observing! I remember seeing one of them changing the shirt on her baby every time baby spit up, sometimes it would be 3 different shirts on Easter Sunday. One of them had kids that always had very dirty faces, hands, and messy hair. I remember tantrums over presents they didn't like at Christmas, and nephews found on the roof of Grandpa's shed. Don and I would drive home talking about what we would do differently. I remember when one of them mentioned they didn't think I ever wanted children! We were married 6 years before I got pregnant, back then I thought they were all crazy baby brains, but now...well, I find myself asking after 18 months of a couple being married, "when she going to have a baby?"
When the first of the sister in laws got a minivan I heard the conversation around the table. I remember saying, "I'd never want one, BUT if it's the best thing at the time then I'd do it!"
I'm glad I never uttered the words, "I will never drive a minivan." Now, when I'm driving the minivan, I don't have to think about "eating my words!" Today, we bought our 2nd minivan! I broke myself in for 2 years with what I thought might just be a very "temporary" vehicle with my 1st minivan. It was well loved when we got it. We did not take good care of it as we ate donuts, drank milk, spilled coffee, and had french fries all over the floor. The salesmen at the dealership thought it would take me a hour to unload the thing as it was FULL of c-r-a-p. They even brought me two boxes to help transport stuff from the old to the new! Embarrassing how much stuff I pulled out of there. Of course, I wasn't expecting the new purchase when I dropped it off to be serviced. So, it was still full of all my Goodwill items after I "organized" after Christmas! Crazy the things we do when we become a mother...I think we get crazier with each child we add, cause I'm full on looney now!

stumbled upon this old picture..pretty accurate depiction of how I feel about driving a minivan!

 I never thought I would... 

~Run the dishwasher more than 1x/day. 

          It could run a minimum of 2x/day

~Go to the Pediatricians 1x week.

          Some weeks it's 2x and that doesn't count the phone calls!

~Consider Homeschooling.

          The monotony of the School routine takes it's toll!

~Send them to their rooms for punishment.

          I use to roll my eyes when people did that...how is that punishment?!!!

~Talk on the Phone for over a hour to my friend 2 miles away.

         I hate the timer on the phone...when you hang up and it tells you just how long you blabbed!

~Have a house that looks like a tornado hit it.

         Schwan's Man asked if I had a Daycare?! "Nope!"

...and the list could go on and on and on....I never thought I would...

~have 4 kids~enjoy staying home~love my kids so much it hurts~not want to be around my kids so bad I'd rather sit on the toilet for sanity~be proud of my body that looks as if I survived a trauma (I sorta did!)~run at 5:30am cause it brings me peace~go days without eye contact with my spouse~wake up at 5am and not need a nap~say "I'm running errands!"~drive a minivan~go 3 days without washing my hair~take kids to school in my pajamas~forget what was just said to me 5 minutes before~enjoy going to kid movies~crying and laughing and feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders all at the same time with the birth of each of my babies...

I'm proud to be a Minivan Momma. Someday my kids won't think I'm cool, but right now they think I'm something really special. One reason,  cause "Momma's got an awesome new van!"