Today was a good day. Not an extraordinary day for any great reason, but an extra-ordinary day. A productive,  regular, ordinary day filled with awesome, regular, every day activities with my 3 little angels. Every day with 3 tiny people is busy, but some feel more productive than others. Today we accomplished a lot, and it was smooth with very few meltdowns… actually no meltdowns!!! In fact it was almost all smiles, happiness and moments of knowing how much those boys love me and I love them from the bright specks in their eyes that sparkle when they smile at me, and the energy with which they wrap their tiny arms around my neck or my legs or whatever they can find throughout the day! This day was not much different than every other day really, but something about its ordinariness made it feel special.

We woke up, ate breakfast, watched “toonies” while I cleaned the kitchen, did the dishes, and handled some laundry; then we played outside, went on a walk through the neighborhood (and by the way, carrying a 20 pound almost 5 month old on your body while pushing a stroller filled with about 60 pounds of toddler as you walk up and down hills that seem to turn into mountains for those few seconds that you’re hiking them is no joke!), played outside some more, ate a snack, took a nap (during which I organized and put away all kinds of things and got us all much more settled in here in Kentucky); then we got up, played outside some more, ate dinner successfully, took baths, played some more, brushed teeth, read a book, said our prayers and went to bed. For about 30 minutes all 3 boys were asleep for what appeared to be the night by 10 o’clock; but then the little guy decided he wasnt ready to end our party so now he’s up and helping me write. 🙂 In between all the activities listed were obviously several diaper changes and breast feeding sessions, along with many other mundane daily activities that happen in the day with 2 toddlers and a baby. Additionally, I hit almost 12,000 steps and 31 flights of stairs on my fit bit and I pretty much just feel like a warrior for this five minutes.
Again, nothing is different about the actual events of this day than any other day, and none of it is any more significant than what every other mother does each day. But something about it has felt awesome. Many of you know about Ethan’s traumatic fall on the playground last week, and those of you who dont, I probably need to do a separate post for all of that. Point is, due to all of the events and changes within the past week, he was having more fussy and clingy days than usual; but today, (and yesterday) he has been back to his regular happy, loving, angelic “sweet wheat” self he’s always been! I can’t explain how much it makes my heart sing to see his little toothless grin and his joy filled spirit! To see him eat happily and drink his milk willingly again! To see him play fearlessly and just be himself! It does a mommy’s heart good! It’s amazing how much smoother a day feels when one or more children aren’t seemingly crying or needing to be held almost non stop!

There has been A LOT going on in life here lately, which again, will require another post entirely, if not several. For right now, all I want to do is appreciate the regular, everyday, ordinary successes of this day as a mom of 3. I don’t think we appreciate each other or ourselves enough in the midst of the ordinary. We wait until there’s big accomplishments, milestones or impressive happenings to celebrate. We don’t give each other, and especially ourselves, credit for just successfully completing a day. We do it all the time, each and every day of our lives….succeed the day that is. All of us do. But we don’t recognize or celebrate it. We just keep going, accomplishing, succeeding, failing, falling, getting back up, and living day in and day out without seeing what we are really doing. The small, ordinary, mundane things that connect one day to the next are the things! The diaper changes, the happy smiles, the walks, the dishes, the laundry, the bedtime stories, the baths, the meals, the random kisses and the hugs for no reason. Those are the things that life is made of and those are the small things that are actually the big things!
So, because I just succeeded in another regular, extra-ordinary, ordinary day, I wanted to take a minute and celebrate it. Most people don’t think the kind of day I had is anything to write home about or anything even worth mentioning, much less celebrating. And normally neither do I. But when I laid my sweet boys down for bed tonight, their tiny kisses and tight hugs, and the sparkly look in their eyes as they told me “night night mommy” and blew me kisses as i walked out the door gave me reason to celebrate. Many days, although I spend the whole day celebrating my children, I rarely celebrate myself. In fact, I usually think of the things I didn’t do well, or enough; I look at my fit bit and see that once again, I somehow failed to reach the 10,000 step goal, and I replay multiple things that I could’ve and should’ve done better. But today, right now, in this moment,  I choose to celebrate the beauty in the ordinary. I choose to acknowledge how extra-ordinary I am and how that’s not only ok, it’s good! I’m good! I’m a great mom, I have happy amazing children, I accomplished several tasks today, and I even exceeded my fit bit step goal for the day. By 2,000 steps I might add! I’m good!

I want to challenge not only myself but also anyone else reading this, to celebrate the ordinary. To celebrate yourself and call yourself good. To choose happiness in the midst of chaos. To accept yourself as extra-ordinary and to love it! To find peace inside the tornados of life. To find joy underneath the sadness. To relish the regular moments of everyday living. To stop and enjoy the sparkles in your children’s eyes when they look at you in a way that lets you know you are everything to them. To cherish yourself for who God made you to be and to stop trying to be anything else. We are good! Let’s Celebrate it!
Carry on ordinary warriors! 🙂