Last born.....

For those of you who are the 'first born' or the 'only child' or the 'middle child' this post won't relate to you at all. You see, I am that last born in my family of 4 children. My brothers got to experience a lot of cool things that I never got to join in on and even my sister got in on some of the action. But, by the time the last child (and yes, I was also an oops!)comes around, there is less money to go around, less attention and even less pictures of you!

The reason I bring this up is that last night Kirby took Emma to Milaca to watch Tyler's football game and that left me at home with Logan, our last born (for now.) (And no I don't plan on having any more kids but you never know since all 3 of my children were not planned) :) We played and read books and he helped me fold clothes and we got to have a conversation without me being distracted by Emma or Tyler or Kirby. It was so nice. Don't get me wrong, I love having everyone at home but sometimes it's nice to just be at home with one child and give all your attention to them. Logan has a rough road with being in competition with Tyler and all his activities and Emma and all her activities........ he does seem to be forgotten about and just shuffled along although we don't purposely try to do this, it just happens. I can totally relate to how he must feel!

So, last night for me was a good reminder to take the time to slow down and make time for each child on a one-on-one basis. Some of you know that one of my favorite shows is "Jon & Kate plus 8" and I thoroughly enjoy watching how they juggle 8 kids! One of their yearly events is that each child gets to pick an activity and both parents take that child on their outing, giving that child both parents attention for a whole afternoon/evening. I am pretty good about doing things with Tyler and Emma (as they are both older and have things they like to do) but with Logan, it's hard sometimes to separate that time out. I realize that someday he will be BIG too and I don't want to miss out on everything that he is learning these days cause they go by too fast.

I guess the moral of my story/blog, is to take time to enjoy your kids and give them one-on-one attention as often as you can. I think that's the hardest part of being a parent, trying to make everything fit into one day!