Fab 5 for 4 years

it still overwhelmes me to think that God poured out his blessing upon doug and i to become parents to our 3 beautiful children. it was a long and hard process, but in the end so worth it! (refer to last years post for all the details)
it's hard to believe that it has been that long, but at the same time it seems like we have been together forever. i have completely forgotten what life was like with out them a part of it. was there ever life without mcdonald's, a trampoline, a dirty house, unfinished homework, or sleepless nights?becoming a mommy is the one thing that has totally rocked my whole world. you see this is the one title that i have not been able to fulfill with out God's strength in my life on a daily basis. i must admit (unfortunately) i have done a lot of things in my flesh and some how God let me slide, but not this job. this job doesn't work out so well when heather connelly tries it on her own! in my own strength i am totally unworthy of these three amazing kids.
i can remember praying so hard even before i met them that they would bond with doug and i quickly. oh man, did He answer my prayer. i can remember hugging and kissing them for the first time and it just feeling so right. i don't know how to describe it any other way than, "we became family!" my baby girl was a little shy around others the first several months (hard to believe now), and i was just so happy to hold her in my arms for hours. i absolutely loved to just hold all of them, and still do. i absolutely LOVE the fact that they still hug and kiss me good bye every day at school in front of their friends, and even when we meet in the hall. i am so glad that God is still answering my prayers and has allowed us all to be at the same school again. because i missed out on the first few years of their lives i now want to make up for every minute. i rarely leave them with a sitter because i know in a couple of blinks they're going to be off to college.
honestly, from the minute i met my kids something inside of me changed forever. oh yeah, i still have a pretty big selfish streak, but this momma's babies come first! shortly after bringing our kids home our friends all came to meet them. a few of my friends commented that i looked different. i would just answer with, "of course i look different now i am a MOM!"
sometimes i look at other moms with kids at similar ages as mine and i think, "man that woman has it together! what the heck is wrong with me?" that's when i like to fall back on the, "i've only been a mom for 4 years now excuse, and i got three at once." oh yeah, this mom thing is better than i could of ever imagined, but boy is it hard work. i just wish i could put life on slow motion and savor every minute just a little bit more. last night i was doing homework with the twins and was saddened with how well they are reading. it's just not right they are growing up so fast!i never could of imagined that what i thought to be my biggest curse (infertility) could turn out to be my biggest blessing. God truly knew what he was doing when he put the five of us together! so, today I am celebrating the Fab5 for 4 years, and looking forward to the Fab5 for 5! God is so GOOD!