Am I a Teenager or a Mom of Six?

Last night I caught my daughter flirting with a couple of my son’s older friends. Nothing wild—just the innocent kind of preteen giggles and batting eyelashes. There’s about a three-year age gap there, but that is the exact age gap between me and my husband. Either way, it was funny to watch.

Then I went to bed.

And apparently, my subconscious thought I was the teenager. Because I dreamed I was back in high school, flirting with boys. I woke up with that same old swirl of feelings: nervousness, the rush of excitement, the cautiousness of “I like him but what if he doesn’t like me back?”, all of it. I could practically feel myself blushing in my sleep.

Flash forward a few hours later, and I’m sitting at my laptop writing an email to my old boss, who I haven’t talked to in about a year. We’ve been going back and forth about a leadership survey I asked him to complete for me. At the end, he asked about my family, so I typed, “The family’s doing great! We added one more and I think we’re done now, it’s time for me to refocus on my career.”

And then it hit me.

If he remembers (and I’m sure he does), he’s probably sitting there thinking:“Wait a second… SIX?? You have SIX children?!” He was honestly one of the first people I told when we got pregnant with number five and that was a hard pregnancy with me, I didn't want more than four.

He’d be right though. I do have six. Somehow, I blinked and now I’m that person who’s been married for 16 years, working in a professional career for 16 years, and raising six kids.

The thing is—I don’t always feel like that person. Some mornings, especially after dreams like last night, I still feel like I’m in high school. Like the same girl with a crush, (on the hubby of course), still figuring things out. But then I look around: my oldest is 14. In just two years, he’ll have a license. In four years, he’ll be a legal adult.

People say, “The days are long but the years are short.” And wow… that’s hitting harder than ever.

Because some days I’m still the teenager with butterflies. And other days I’m the mom of six who wonders where the last 16 years even went.

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Think of this as your reset button. Step away from the laundry, the schedules, the noise, and let me give you a day that’s about you. By the time you leave, you’ll have portraits that capture the version of yourself you want to remember forever.

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Kristian is a mom of six, Program Manager by day, active Professional Photographer by trade, and a big believer in finding beauty in the everyday chaos.

Life in our house is loud, messy and full of literally everything. Love, noise, laundry, laughter, and definitely could use a bit more grace. I'm happily married to my best friend, grounded in my Catholic faith, and fueled by five to six hours of sleep per night and adrenaline.

I try to find joy in the everyday — even when it's wild, because without the little bit of joy, this life would be unbearable. This space is for the moms in the middle of it all: the ones juggling family, faith, work, and wonder. The ones that need someone else's messy life to make their own seem better or somewhat normal. You're not alone, and you're doing better than you think.

Welcome to Six Sweet Smiles — where we celebrate the mess, the miracles, and everything in between.