Today I’m linking up with Amanda for some random thoughts!

This adorable little man will turn 1 this month.

I’m pretty sure the most common phrase out of parent’s mouths is “where did all the time go?”, but I just can’t help myself — WHERE DID ALL THE TIME GO?? I feel like I just took him home from the hospital last month.

He’s gotten so big so much faster than Micah too. He decided around 9 months he just wasnt’ going to nurse anymore. He ate regular food like a champ, but nursing, pumped milk, and formula were all off the menu. He definitely doesn’t get his stubbornness from me… 😛 He’s still been gaining weight like a champ and his pediatrician is fine with his diet, but it was sad for me for nursing to be finished so abruptly when it was going so well. He also started walking at 9 months, and he loves to run around after his brother and climb on EVERYTHING. He’s even starting to use the little slide we got the boys for Christmas without help, which absolutely blows my mind. I’m in that spot I’m sure every mom hits at some point — I’m torn between being happy that he’s getting to be such a self-sufficient big boy and being sad that I don’t really have a baby in the house anymore.

Which brings me to my next thought…

How do you really know when you’re done having kids? There’s a part of me that wishes the kids were a tiny bit older so we could take them camping and hiking, and maybe have a tiny bit of adult time here and there. There’s something that seems really amazing about your kids being old enough to actually be your friends too, and it’s exciting to imagine them growing into amazing, responsible adults. It’s also terrifying though — am I really old enough to be done having kids? Have I already been pregnant for the last time? Or nursed a baby for the last time? Have I already heard my last “first words” and seen my last “first steps”? Or fallen asleep in the glider rocking a baby back to sleep for the last time?

On the flip side, with 3 kids I’m usually a bit of a mess. Could I even handle a fourth, or would that just make me a terrible mom to the rest of the kids? I have so little time with the hubby right now, what would another baby do to that time? I should just mail him a postcard and call it date night. 😛 Of course, the hubby is done, so it’s probably a moot point….but every time I see a baby I wonder what it would take to change his mind…and then slap some sense into myself…and then wonder again. Are all women as crazy about this as I am, or am I a special kind of nuts?

Kids make homework hard! Also housework…and pretty much everything except cuddles.

It seems like every semester it gets harder and harder to keep up with my course load, and this semester my house has also been overrun by laundry and clutter. I worked to get the house fully organized before school started, but even though I made a lot of progress I didn’t finish and I’m definitely feeling the effects of that now. I’m still adding to our goodwill pile every week, but there’s just so much stuff to get through. Where in the world did we get all this stuff??

As a sidenote to this — I’m excited to keep dropping weight, because I’m donating every piece of maternity clothing and all of my “fat clothes” as soon as possible!! That would easily take out half my wardrobe, which would make laundry so much easier! Which makes me want to go workout right now! 😛

What random thoughts are going through your head today?