You might be a stay at home mom if...

-pulling the blinds up and seeing the sun and taking a hot shower in decent length equates to a trip to the beach

-you can change a diaper, talk on speaker phone, hold a bottle and concentrate all while your three year old screams in the background

-you thank God you get a vacation everyday...while your kids nap

-when you're asked if you work out you answer yes even though you haven't seen the gym in years. Chasing a three year old all day and running up and down the stairs after your newly adventurous baby tries to go up them counts as cardio, right?

-You find yourself praying for the kid's bedtime to get here quickly but as soon as they are out for the night, you are too

-you find yourself staring a poopy diaper naming the unique color and wondering if they have eyeshadow in the same shade

-you use baby powder as a beauty product. it's great for absorbing the oil in your hair on the days you just don't have time to wash your hair and dry it

-cooking the most adventurous activity in your day and somedays you pray you really butcher a new recipe just to have a great story to tell your friends on the next girls night out.

-you count your post pregnancy body as a science lesson-yes, gravity exists. what was once up is most DEFINITELY now down

Ok, ladies and gents, I could go all day. Ever since Christmas Eve the kids haven't gone but a day or two without at least one of them running a fever or being sick. This time it's Dalen. He has had a fever since yesterday and now he's complaining of a sore neck (throat). At this point I'm ready to tack on a $35 co-pay category to our weekly budget. Last Saturday we had a flag football game for the youth that I missed, today it's the youth leaders advance where we map out this next semester for our leaders. Poor, Dalen! He has looked forward to going ice skating for a week with everyone after the meeting. Looks like that will be postponed.

Motherhood makes you appreciate the small things in life-warm showers, a full nights sleep, a few quiet moments in your day to read or watch a show or just stare into thing air (yes, I find myself doing that some). It also makes you miss the big things-hassle free vacations, affordable date nights as often as you wish, peaceful dinners out in restaurants, grown up movies.

What small things do you see yourself thankful for now that you are a parent? What big things do you miss without the responsibility of another life or two...or three?