Thursday, February 12, 2009

Thoughtful Thursday


Today I'm thinking about God's timing.

Just the other day, Maggie turned 14 months old. Not a major milestone, no parties, no gifts, but it is kind of a big deal. Because I realized that when Eamon was 14 months old, I gave birth to Maggie.

Now, thinking about my beautiful Maggie and how crazy she can be, I couldn't IMAGINE having a newborn to look after as well.

I honestly can't believe that I had my third and fourth babies only 14 months apart. I remember trying to give Eamon his bottle of milk before nap time while nursing Maggie. I recall trying to time naps so that I could have at least ten minutes in the day when I wasn't holding someone, feeding someone, or changing someone.

I can't believe Phil and I were up all hours of the night because not only was newborn Maggie waking up, but toddler Eamon as well. He didn't sleep through the night until he was 17 months old. I remember being dead tired, walking around in a foggy state of mind, and just trying to make it through each day.

Phil and I would fantasize about the day that all of our children slept through the night. We hoped that one day, we would only have one child in diapers. We tried to hold onto the idea of going to a park or playground and having all four kiddos be able to run around and play; no babies in strollers, no bottles and diapers in the bag, and not having to chase shaky toddlers up and down the slides.

Looking back, of course we would never have changed a thing. Because even moving the moment of Maggie's conception a fraction of a second would mean no Maggie. And that's a thought we can not bear. If we hadn't been completely surprised with Maggie, we might never have had a daughter. If Maggie hadn't been born so close in age to Eamon, Eamon might never have learned to be so independent, or to be as loving and protective as he is with her. And I know for a fact that I would never be as patient and trusting as I have become since the second we found out I was pregnant.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that God's plans really are the best. We may not see the end result or the big picture at the time, but everything does happen for a reason, and I'm so glad He has blessed us with these particular little souls in His timing, not mine.

6 comments:

  1. I love this post...I SO agree! Everything we worried about and stressed about all means nothing now. We both would have not waited in between our kids and had more. You can never get those years back.
    About the comments...I voted no, but I absolutely know how you feel. I have thought of doing the same thing. I know you know this, but comments aren't always a judge of readership. There are some blogs that have hundreds and hundreds of viewers a day and only get a few comments. I only read a couple blogs now, and don't look at my sitemeter or put any kind of "follow me" things...because I don't want to concentrate on that. So if you decide to not have them, I understand and might just do the same some day!

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  2. What a neat post! I have thought of this often, as we were blessed with our first three children in three years. Our first two were 13 months apart and our next two were 16 months apart, then a bigger break--2 1/2 years--before our fourth arrived. Now that the older ones are 6,5, and 4, I realize that God knew exactly what he was doing for us and I'm so grateful. I would never have planned anything like that, especially in the midst of it when we were walking around like zombies and I was riding the hormonal roller coaster of pregnant-nursing-pregnant-nursing-pregnant nursing! That's the beauty of NFP; we let God tell us what's best for our family! :)

    I voted 'no' in hopes that you will leave your comments on but it's your blog and what you do is up to you! I love the interaction with others. It's not so much about feedback for me (on my blog) as it is about a conversation via blogger.com. I enjoy it. I also lightly monitor visitors to watch for anything that's out of the ordinary but I do get a kick out of seeing visitor locations from different parts of the world.

    Hope you have a great rest-of-the-week! :)

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  3. I was looking at photos of new baby Ben yesterday, and marvelling at the fact that Isabella was just17 months when he was born. Now Ben is almost 2 and still seems to be such a little baby... I think it was easy to think of 17-month-old Bella as older because I had a newborn to compare her to! I definitely was well aware I had two babies in the house, both needed so much from me at the same time... but, again, wouldn't have changed it for ANYthing. :)

    As for comments, I also voted no because it is the easiest way to leave you little notes. :) However, it is ultimately up to you... if you find waiting for comments is too distracting to the purpose of the blog. :)

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  4. what a great post. We had our first three in three years, 4 in 5 years, 5 in 8 years, 6 in 9 years and 7 in 13 years.

    Tom and Amelia (number 5 and 6) are 16 months apart. I was really pregnant with Amelia when Tom was diagnosed with type one diabetes. Boy it was a struggle to have a new born and learn to manage Tom's diabetes.

    They are now 7 (nearly 8) and 9 and have a great relationship. Because they were so close in age, they were referred to as the babies for a really long time by the older children.

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  5. Wonderful thoughts. My third and fourth were 13 months apart and I was terrified when I thought about it for any length of time. Now, at ages 4 and 5, they are the best of friends and we couldn't imagine them any other way.

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  6. You are going to be thrilled when all of your children are best friends because they are so close in age
    I have wondered about God's timing many times in my life, but I did not have your wisdom.
    Great post.

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