Love is...

Being the parent of three young children, love has taken on a whole new dimension.

• Love is scaring away monsters in the middle of the night, then again at 1:00am, 2:00am, 3:00am...
• Love is putting peanut butter on anything as long as they'll eat it!!
• Love is knowing how to disguise vegetables 30 different ways.
• Love is reading the same bedtime story for the 999th time.
• Love is a hug around the knees.
• Love is watching Mr. Rogers instead of All My Children.
• Love is cutting off the crusts.
• Love is a refrigerator covered with creative works of art.
• Love is standing in line for 2 hours for Dora The Explorer Live tickets.
• Love is grinning and bearing the dirtiest of diapers.
• Love is trading in your little red sports car for a mini van.
• Love is the magic kiss that heals all "owies".
• Love is a cuddly kid in a blanket sleeper.
• Love is the first kick, first smile, first laugh, first step, first anything.
• Love is your child pointing to a picture of Cindy Crawford and saying "mama".
• Love is a 2am feeding.
• Love is having your child fall asleep on your lap and just staying there holding him rather than putting him to bed.
• Love is "shoveling" the mud out of the bathtub after a hard day of play.
• Love is a macaroni necklace.
• Love is wearing the macaroni necklace to church with pride.
• Love is a peanut butter kiss, a syrup kiss, a chocolate kiss, any kind of kiss.
• Love is when Bert and Ernie replace Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson as your most admired men.
• Love is not worrying about those few extra pounds cuz they just make you more cuddly.
• Love is knowing how to get out amoxicillin stains.
• Love is a bouquet of dandelions.
• Love is the smell of a baby's neck.
• Love is saying "no" at the right times when it's easier to say "yes".
• Love is saying "yes" at the right times when it's easier to say "no".
• Love is being able to produce a pacifier or an animal cracker at a moment's notice.
• Love is forsaking an uninterrupted night of sleep, meals without spills, and getting anywhere on time.
• Love is interpreting your child's babbling.
• Love is the patience to "let him do it himself!"

Love is what makes it all worthwhile.