Guest Post with Christine @ the Plumed Nest

I hope that everyone's week has been good leading up to the weekend! I know my weekend will be great because I am getting married tomorrow! Today I am so happy to have celebrate for me Christine from The Plumed Nest. She designs home decor pillows for her shop on Etsy and has been featured numerous times by press like HGTV.  She is also a mother to three sweet boys and today she's going to tel you about her love story with them. 

First I want to congratulate Yelle and her lucky beau on getting hitched this weekend! I am so happy for you and honored to be a little part of your journey through your wonderful blog.

Yelle let me know that she was going for a "love story" theme while she was off getting married, pretty appropriate, right? She suggested I share my love story of my boys and I thought that was perfect because it's by far my favorite one!

I am lucky enough to be a mama to three fabulous boys. My oldest, Fisher, is 15 and my twins, Luca and Milo are 4, as you can see there is a huge age gap between them! For 10 years Fisher was an only child and I was sure I could never love another as much as I loved him. He was my best friend, my little shadow, my heart. We were pretty inseparable. In some ways I was right, I don't love anyone the way I love that boy and we are still pretty inseparable. But I was also wrong because when my twins came along I realized my heart just kept growing and growing, almost to feeling like it might burst right out of my chest. And now I don't love anyone the way I love Milo and I don't love anyone the way I love Luca. The heart is an amazing thing, it can grow even when it already feels filled up. 

Though, I do have to admit I was really unsure about having twins, I am sure it sounds awful but during my pregnancy I literally felt like I had an "extra" baby. But the moment they were born, seeing them in their perfect little pairing I realized I was pretty much the luckiest person on earth. I fell in love with each of my children the moment I saw their little faces. The moment I felt them nestled in my arms, as if my arms were made just for them. For me, being a mother is really kind of magical. There is a lot that I get out of it personally but now that my children have each other I also get to see them love each other. It's like the love just becomes exponential and you find yourself surrounded it by it. Like I said, kind of magical. 

I honestly believe that children are just as much, if not even more, a teacher for us as much as we are for them. My children have taught me so much about myself, people, and life in general. Through them I have learned that we are not all one thing; we are not all sensitive, or outgoing, or smart, or funny, or serious. We are this amazing complex blend of so many things. Through my children I have had to take chances with myself because I want them to truly believe that they can be anything they want to be.  I have learned to be patient and more organized. To let go of anger in a nano second and be completely selfless, and that's it's important to be selfish sometimes too, so that you can continue to be giving. I have learned to laugh about things that aren't really that funny (poop jokes anyone?) and cry with the utmost empathy. I have learned to appreciate life, the small things, like finding a stick that looks like a slingshot, or finding a funny face inside a leaf, and to never get board of stopping to look at an airplane flying over head, or that tosh.o is actually pretty funny. I have learned to be silly more often than not and to work really, really hard to always be conscious in what I do. 

I really hope that I give my kids a tenth of what they have given to me because they have taught me just that. To always want to be better, to always want to be my best, to never be afraid to give all of yourself to someone you love. And I can say from reading Yelle's blog and hearing about all the time and shared interests her and her soon-to-be husband(!) share together, and be just present in each others lives they have that magical love. So here is to it being nothing short of exponential. Congratulations again!