Tonight, I was stopped cold in my mommy tracks! We are all still tired and worn out from a terrific weekend of camping, and it was a mellow night of sorts around here (minus my new found inner Hillbilly Handfishing junkie! I watched too much of it and am now even more convicted of how I wasted time this afternoon!). I was tucking in the 2 oldest OS and while I was loving on my middle OS, he noticed his oldest bro looking at a mini baby book of the himself. While I was hugging him, he asked me "Mommy, why don't I have a baby book?" I really wish somebody would've shot me in the eye with a paintball gun instead! OUCH!!!
*This has never been me, nor will it ever be me, but I'm sure this is what it looks like if you have baby books for each of your babies on a Friday night scrap!* ;)
I cannot even tell you how bad I feel that only my oldest OS has a book filled with pictures of him as a baby. Or that I used to take him to have his pictures taken every 3 months that 1st year. I wrote down every milestone in his little calendar that I had on the fridge. I took notes on it from the Dr's office, wrote down every little thing. I was a mom in love! Then my 2nd precious son came along. I don't want to make too many excuses, but our lives kind of went haywire the day I came home from the hospital with him. That afternoon TG's boss called and informed him he got the transfer and he was expected to start the new job, 6 hrs away, in 2 weeks. I don't remember a whole lot of anything in the month that followed... Let's be real, I don't remember a ton of information from that entire next 6 months. It was full on crazy! I kept track of what I could on the regular wall calendar, since I lost his baby calendar in the move. I took what pictures I could, because I remember those being some squeaky tight times. And actually doing things regularly? YA RIGHT!
Then came sweet baby boy #3! 3 OS under 6+ full childcare+TG gone most of the time+life= 1 crazy busy momma! Well, you can only guess where this is going... He had his pictures taken barely by 6 weeks (not even newborn!) and then again after he turned 1! His calendar consisted of sticky notes scribbled on 2 different calendars. I hope he never finds this post, but I'll clear my conscience here. A few major milestones I had to guess on when I realized I never wrote them down, easily a month or 2 or 3 later! EEEKKSS!
When my dinosaur computer crashed (have only had the laptop for a yr now), I bawled, realizing I never backed up any of the pictures from the last 7 years! Nor had I barely printed any of them out! I can't tell you how I rejoiced when my computer peeps were able to restore it all!!! Now is where I admit I still haven't back it all up, so I barely use it because I don't want to risk it going down before I do... Getting sick just thinking about all of this... I only got handprints done for the youngest. That part makes me ill to my bones! I was given handprint kits for each baby. Used 1! AHHHHH!!!
I have a good chunk of things sorted out for each boy now. You know, the papers from each of them from the hospital. The little bands they wore. 1 little bitty diaper from each of their baby days (no, I didn't cheat on those! lol), you get the idea... Now that I cleared out that horribly scary room I have a pretty good lead on it. Now, I just need to get after it and really sort out my pictures on the computer (a daunting task as my old camera was always resetting it's date stamp to a random date, usually in "202-something!" so I know it will be slightly difficult to sort them all! But after tonight, I think I have some extra fuel to get it going.
In fact, my heart strings our crossfiring with my brain cells, and I do believe instead of something sewn for my boys Christmas gift, this year's gift will come in a picture laden book! Especially because I don't think I can hear my 3rd OS ask me where his book is in a couple of years without my heart snapping in two!!! Tomorrow, I will be searching my many ideas and deciding on an avenue. Will it be printing out the pages? Snapfish books? Scrapbooks? Ya, lol, probably not a real scrapbook, but I am gonna start working on something, soon, starting on my middle guy 1st! I can't wait to dig up some memories for them, and maybe even find some proof that mommy really was there for most of what has taken place so far! LOL
*Mine might look something like this!*
I guess it could be worse. I could never pick up a camera or my phone and miss it all! At least I have that going for me. It is also what I will use when I apologize to all of my OS in the am... If I have learned anything as a momma, it is that you can't do it all, all of the time. Too bad I stink as bad as I do in this particular area! Love that my babies are nearly as forgiving as a puppy... ;) Without Grace and Mercy, it wouldn't be worth getting up each day! So blessed....
