#MomIsHere :: photo contest from #sproutchannel

This sponsored post was written while participating in my partnership with
Sprout and One2One Network, but as always, all opinions are my own.

I hear the low hum of animated voices in the other room as I begin to awaken. It only takes me a few seconds to realize that I’m alone in my big bed. Just a few weeks ago, they would straggled into my room one at a time with droopy eyelids and cat stretches, clambering over me to find that just-right spot in the big bed.  Maybe we’d snooze a bit more or maybe they’d squiggle around enough that I would give in and reach over for the TV remote, grabbing a kiss on my way. (This is where my guilty pleasure of just-two-more-minutes-of-sleep-please and theirs of just-two-more-minutes-of-screen-time work in tandem). And after a few minutes they all would have made it to my bed, one smashed up against another, all five of us unable to move a muscle lest you accidentally knock someone off the bed.

But now I wake up all alone and as I open my eyes, I also open my ears and listen closely to the sounds of the other room. The TV is on (everyone but the baby now knows how to use our more-complex-than-it-should-be tv/sound/cable box remote situation) and they all laugh at once. And I’m not gonna lie – their laughter makes me a little sad. Because up until a few weeks ago, they would have been huddled in here around me and their laughter would have been my alarm clock. And it all reminds me of just how quickly things change. And that right there, that simple fact is why I take so many pictures. Children grow. Routines change. Normal fades into new normal. But I want to remember the old normal and the new normal and all of the normals in between. And now instead of them all crowding around me in the bed, I move to the sofa and one by one they come snuggle up. I know that this won’t last forever either. I know that soon they’ll be too old to cuddle on the couch with Mommy. But for now? For now I’m going to really enjoy it. And remember it.
Each of those pictures is full of a story of its own. And I’m really, really glad that I’m a part of those stories. When we look at these pictures years from now, I’m sure my kids won’t remember all of these moments. I’m sure they’ll have questions about some of them. And when we sit and look and talk, I want them to remember that not only was I on the sidelines of their life cheering them on, but I was there; I was in the moment with them!

Sprout Channel wants you to be in the moment with your kids, too! All you have to do to enter their photo contest is take a picture of you with your kids and post it on your personal Instagram account with the hashtag #MomIsHere or enter at the MomIsHere website. (You can also see the pretty adorable gallery of other moms with their tiny tots at MomIsHere). You can enter one new picture each day until April 27. There will be one grand prize winner who will receive a $2,000 Spa Prize Package, and ten lucky winners will receive $100 Spa Gift Card! What’s not to love? Sharing a moment with your kids AND possibly winning a spa day?

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