what a feat you have accomplished i am again amazed.  in this day and age, raising seven kids is heroic.  hear me clapping for you...

my MIL raised 7 --- 6 boys, among whom is a set of twins (i'm married to one), and ONE girl, the eldest.

i frankly cannot imagine how much work that was.  she had her last child at age 42, and her first born son (my husband, the first born twin by 2 mins) became a father three short years later.  so my MIL was both a Mom to a toddler and a grandmother to her first grandchild.

phew...the family tree is complicated and large.

i wish i knew how to post a photo --- dd and i were looking at some family photos last night and on my husband's side we are a HUGE group.

i'm excited to enjoy dd's happiness at such a wonderful time of life and a big birthday for her.

we've been doing a lot of driving lately so she can get practice and the requisite hours behind the wheel...that's a trip!

that hits it on the head --- the saying you mention above...so true.

thanks for the good wishes :>)

my dh is in san diego and just had breakfast with our son - that feels so good knowing they got to visit together...sweet.

A sock....not the pair mind you....that possibly could take the whole half of the hour, not just a quarter.

i will share w/her...good idea :>)

As the mother of a just-turned-17-year-old, I can tell you this:  don't wish away your daughter's early years, hoping for the day when she will be more cooperative and more self-sufficient.  Those years bring challenges of their own and these years will be gone in the blink of an eye.  You'll wish you'd played Barbies more often, wish you'd let her crawl into bed in the middle of the night more often, wish you'd gone on that silly ride at the fair one more time with her, wish you'd read her one more story late at night...  You get the idea.  I know it's hard sometimes, like when she's in the throes of a toddler meltdown, to appreciate where you are in your relationship with her -- but a big part of parenting is learning to take the good with the bad.  'Cause, honestly, if you take the bad in stride, someday you will laugh about it -- probably with her!

was a very hard-headed and emotional preschooler!  Now she is one of the calmest, sanest teenagers I know.  At 5 years old, we butted heads so much that my DH was at his wits end.

But she's learned to handle her strong emotions and is now a pleasure.  My DH and I were just commenting that she did something this past weekend (a weekend away with a Youth Group, but none of her friends) that we never thought she'd be able to do.  She's grown so much!

So, while a moody teenager may have also been a moody toddler.....there is another possibility!

Also, I agree - don't wish away the childhood!  Find the positive sides of that strong personality, and help your DD learn to use her strengths.  My DD's very emotional side has allowed her to be a committed and devoted friend - she puts her whole heart into her friendships, and now has a very tight circle of support!

perspective is great, but often so very difficult to actually do especially in the moments that we really could use it...

your children's age difference is about what mine is also..my dd is just 4 years younger than my ds..i remember how much i had to juggle during the newborn/infant days -- going through molasses  sometimes.  i didn't get a solid night sleep for about 8 years.   but it is also true that those are incredibly precious and special times - i have never regretted for one moment trying to squeeze the juice out of every day.

is your six month old giving you big gorgeous smiles?

i have relished these years.  i hope you will too with yours.  the biggest joy is realizing how much growth has blossomed within your own children in all the ways that you have sought to teach them through the time spent parenting.

i would never pretend it was easy, and there was frustration and some heartache along the way, but i can't think of a deeper sense of gratitude that I feel than for the experience of being a mother.  it has opened my heart wider than i ever dreamed and enriched my life in ways that only come from being a parent.

Yeah, I can't imagine my kids at 16, so crazy, especially my little boy. What will his face look like when he has a man face? Too wierd. My nephews look totally different now that they've hit adolescence.

and i had to go through her things, i found an envelope with a large locket of my hair from when i was a little girl, along with other sweet things she saved.

Sometimes with a toddler it's so hard, but Miss Ilia is such an amazing child.  She loves Alton so much and I have fun just watching them interact; when she tries to engage in something else so she can take her toy back to when she just hugs him and tells him how much she loves him.  Meanwhile, being so busy with work, I'm shocked at my little man.  He's trying to talk, has so many teeth and is walking around.  I'm still reeling from the fact that he's a year old.  His baby days flew by so fast and I didn't get to enjoy them at all.

our kids have continued their love of giving and getting physical affection --- our 20 year old son still jumps up on our bed to chat late at night when he is home from college...he gives the very best hugs in the world, and loves to swing me around for a spontaneous dance in the kitchen...my daughter is slightly reluctant these days, wanting to be the one to initiate affection, but i know that as she moves through these middle teen years, she will swing back to more spontaneous bouts of physical closeness.

i think kids remain affectionate if that is the way they have known life all along...at least it worked that way here.

there's little better than that close bond we have with our children...yummy.