True love

True love. 

And no, I am not talking about romantic love or announcing that I've fallen in love. But if you know someone... just kidding. (Kind of.) 

I'm talking about the love you experience as a mom. The purest form of love, in my opinion. Because every day, the little minions that claim me as their mother, drive me absolutely crazy but I still miss them while they are at school and I fall back in love with them every morning when they wake up. They can completely destroy our house or make me question whether I was mentally stable when I chose to become a mother, but I am obsessively in love with those little monsters. 

I got to really thinking about this whole concept last night. We were out and about and decided we needed ice cream. Each kid got a kid size scoop and I got one too. I'm not huge on ice cream but it sounded good, so I was actually excited to get my mint chocolate chip scoop on a cone. But of course, we take ten steps out the door, ice cream in hand, and Aven drops her's on the sidewalk. She doesn't jump to pick it back up though, she kind of just stares at it. I grab it as quick as I can but to her, it was ruined. And I could see it coming. The tears... the anger... the usual reaction of a child who just dropped their ice cream on the ground before they even got a chance to take a bite. So what do I do? I hand her mine and toss her ice cream in the trash. My perfect little ice cream that I was actually looking forward to. GONE. But I had a happy nine year old who thought I had just completely saved the day, so it was completely worth it!

I have been completely busting my butt lately to get ready for some baseball events for little league. Cruz is only five years old, like we aren't even to the point where he's playing a game in which a score is being kept. But you better believe I am the event coordinator for the whole dang little league! The emails alone take up a good portion of my day. And on this very very very rainy morning in northern California, I was out loading chairs into my car for the big event we have tonight! I got completely soaked. And later today, I will run around like a chicken with my head cut off in order to get this event up and running and completed. But the look on Cruz's face when he sees his teammates and his coaches tonight will be worth every rain drop. 

All of this has got me thinking about just how much I love my children. And I am not for even one second going to act like I don't occasionally think about sending them away to boarding schools in Switzerland. But that is the life of a mother. You are given these little people and they know how to push all of your buttons. They know how to bring you to the brink of a mental breakdown quicker than you can even say "mental breakdown." And yet, you love them unconditionally anyway. You would never ACTUALLY trade them in or sell them on the black market 🤣🤣🤣 

(Total shout out to my fellow mamas and dads too, who are busting their butts for little league and every other form of volunteer torture we subject ourselves to. You rock!)

Everything you do as a parent is done out of pure love. All the sleepless nights, the million loads of laundry, the hours you spend in a week driving your kids to and from everything they have going on. You give yourself endlessly to your kids and you don't expect anything in return. And that is love. Pure and simple. 

Happy Valentine's Day (Yes I know I'm a day early.)

Xoxo

Jess