Sometimes It's hard.

Being mom is hard these days.

I feel like each of the girls is at a very difficult age.
13, the edge of something huge, but not yet there, the cusp of womanhood, but still in so many ways a little girl.
9 (in a few weeks), another edge, just about to leave the dream world , falling with a thud to earth.
3.5, in the middle of the hardest year before 9. So terrible, that the parenting books and blogs lie and tell you that 2 is the worst, they totally skip telling you that 3 is worse than the "terrible twos".
15 months. She wants to be big like her sisters. I want her to be a baby still. She's testing her independence and I just want to pull her close.

It's hard to parent each of these ages and stages. To keep it as fair as possible. To give consequences to actions (good and bad) without making the other girls feel that we're being unjust.

Sometimes I just send everyone to their room. Sometimes it's because they need a time out. More often it's because I need a time out.

Yet, I love them all, so very much, and I wouldn't change them at all.

Some days they are all wonderful people. Some days I want to pause our life and freeze these little people, slow them down before they are off and away.