My Arms

On Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, I am with my three wonderful children.

I feed them, nurse them, bathe them, play with them, dress them, cuddle them, laugh with them, protect them, carry them, squeeze them, guide them, pick up after them and more.  They consume nearly every minute of my life from about 6:30am-10:00pm and several times during the night.

On Wednesdays I work outside of home from 7:00am-9:00pm and I do not see my children at all.

On Wednesdays, I put on a "work" outfit that I trust won't get stained during the course of the day by dirty hands, spit up, and anything else, I curl my hair -- and can actually wear my hair down because little hands won't pull it, I put on makeup and I leave the house alone to do my teacher work outside the house.

Wednesdays are long days when I see many students across many schools, and then drive up to the local college and teach a three hour Child Development to Education majors.

Wednesdays are a nice chance for me to work outside my home, away from my kids, and contribute to my local community in the field of my expertise.  Wednesdays are very busy days for me, but I also really enjoy all of my work away from home.

Wednesdays are also the days my arms ache.

I don't realize it until Wednesday comes around, but I hold, hug, and carry each of my three children probably an average of 50 times every day.  I have such muscle memory for the size and shape of each of my three children, and I hold them ALL THE TIME.  I have two babies nine months old -- they get carried everywhere... and their older two-year-old sister doesn't get carried as often... but she's two, she still insists on being carried many times each day.

By Wednesday afternoons, my arms ache to hold each of my children.  My muscles are twitching because they haven't been used properly during the course of the day.

I like my days away from home Wednesday because I come home eagerly awaiting my chance to hold each of my kids again, and on Thursdays, I give them extra cuddles to try to make up for my arms missing out the day before.

Yes, by Sunday, I am a tired mother and my arms (and whole body) are tired of being hung on, and clung to... but then I am away each Wednesday, and I come home cherishing every hug, every cuddle, every moment carrying my babies in my arms, because it will not always be this way, and I am so very lucky.