My Hands Are Full

Yesterday I went out with the kids in public by myself. We went to a doctor appointment for the baby, toured the birthing center at the hospital, went to lunch and picked up some stuff at Walmart before heading home. I now just expect strangers to make comments since there hasn't been one outing alone with the kids and when I'm visibly pregnant that someone hasn't made a comment. Every. Single. Time.

On the way into town yesterday I decided to count how many comments/what comments were made. Throughout our little half-day excursion we received six "Boy, your hands are full!" two "Are they all yours?" and one "Your children are just so sweet and cute." We also received lots of looks and finger pointing in between those comments as well.

I started dwelling on the number one comment made, and it made me think about a couple things. First, society has really changed in what they view as a "large" family. I know and understand that our God-given desire to have several children is not typical, and I don't expect everyone to have that same desire. However, I guess I never thought 4 children as a lot. It made me think about what is in store as we have more children.

Wasn't it just 2 generations ago that families had 4,5, 6 or more children and that was normal? It's crazy to me how quickly this norm has had a complete change in a relative quick amount of time. Just an observation.

I don't know why, but my second thought was, why are my hands all of a sudden full but weren't full when I had only 1 child? I don't remember feeling any less busy or having anymore free time when it was just Isaiah.

I'm convinced that while I might have different experiences with soon having 4 kids under 3 1/2 that someone with 1 child has their hands just as full. Weather a mom has 1 child or 10 children they are still a mom 100% of the time. They devote everything they have and all the love they have to all of their children all of the time.

So, I would say to a mom with 1, 2 or 9 children that your "hands are full." Being a mom is a lot of work, but it is also the greatest blessing I have ever had. As those in public will probably never stop making comments to our "large" family (especially as we hopefully have more children) I hope to express to the strangers I meet and to the little eyes of my babies looking at me that each and every child that God has given us is a blessing and I couldn't imagine having my "hands full" with anything else! Bless all you mama's with your "hands full!"