Thankful

Thanksgiving is the time to reflect on all we're thankful for.  It would take me a million years to list all that I am thankful for, for God has blessed me immeasurably.  No, instead, I want to write out some of the little things I'm thankful for.  Little things that might not be caught at first glance, but little things about my Littles that I want to remember forever.  

I am thankful for little hands. Hands that grasp my finger as sleepy town is met. Hands that are becoming nimble and hanging on to the last of baby chub. Hands that have become slender as they learn to write. 

I am thankful for dimples on chins, chubby bellies, and beside toothless grins

I am thankful for imaginations so vivid that fights breakout over who gets to stand beside the imaginary girl. So vivid that they refuse to answer to their name being called in a store because they are "somebody else".

I am thankful for giggles. Giggles that come from way down deep in the belly. Giggles that last way past bed time. Giggles that mean sisters are being friends.

I am thankful for eyes. Green, black, and blue. Always curious, always learning. 

I am thankful for being able to nurse my babies.  This is such a special time that I treasure.

I am thankful for having my hands full. Strangers seem to love to point out that having 3 kids under 5 is a handful, and they are right - my hands are full. So is my heart. 

I am thankful for being needed in the middle of the night. A full night's sleep is unheard of, but it means that someone needs me for nourishment, and someone needs me for comfort. The fact that I can provide both means way more than uninterrupted sleep. 

I am thankful for aching, heavy arms. I am thankful that these little ones I've been blessed with love to be held. I make no claims to be an expert on parenting, but this I know to be true. As I hold my biggest Little, and her legs reach much farther than they used to, I've learned that time passes much to quickly and if I can hold them close for even a minute, it gives me the chance to etch a memory in my mind. 

I'm am thankful for never having "me time". Having a baby on my hip and 4 little helping hands ever present as I prepare meals, clean messes, grocery shop, and get ready in the mornings means my children crave my company. And, I've learned that when I am not with them, a piece of my heart is not with me as well.  I miss them.  I really miss them.  All the biggies about them, and all the littles.  I'm afraid that a time will come when they will not crave my company, so on days when I think "if I could just have 5 minutes..." or I'm tripping over little feet because they are trailing so close they could be an appendage, I will remember to be thankful for being someone they want to be near in that moment.

Just a few of the little things.  Oh, there are so much more, like the sound of their voices, the shape of their faces, the smell of their freshly bathed skin.  These little things are the things I treasure up in my heart, and I realize that it is these little things that are truly the big things.  The big things that make my Littles who they are, make them so special, make them mine.