momma rambles

For me, blogging serves a few purposes. To remember the stages of life that pass all too quickly. A place to put pictures other than in a folder on the computer or in a shoebox under the bed. A place for funny stories I want my children to be able to read one day. And a book I can read in the years ahead when I need to be reminded of the wonderful and sometimes challenging parts of parenthood. After all, isn't every stage a challenge of some kind?

We are at a few different stages of life right now, but let's keep it real. The good. The bad. The ugly.

We have an almost-6-year-old who is discovering his independence and deciding what is "cool" vs. "not cool". John would be a very happy kid if he could wear Under Armour shorts and t-shirts everyday of his life. It is often a battle that involves pouting and tears when we choose jeans or nice shorts for him to wear to school. He still plays like a "kid", but seems so grown-up in other ways. He still idolizes his daddy. He is super excited about baseball season starting back up this week. He comes home talking about addition and "taking away"...and all the other "hard stuff" they do in his school. I love watching John love on his brothers. Braidy is always So excited when John comes back to our house for the week. They usually tackle each other/hug and hug and hug when he gets back.

We have a 2 1/2 year old. Enough Said.

Just kidding. He can be just the sweetest boy you'll ever meet one minute, and then you turn around and he's "roar-ing" at you with a mean look in his eyes. One minute he is smothering momma with kisses, and telling me "I sure wuv you!" and the next growling at me. He is a terror pretty much anytime he needs to be "contained". Example 1: eating at a restaraunt. My sweet mom and step-dad took us to dinner the other night for Ryan's birthday. I'm pretty sure we won't be getting another invitation to a public place for at least 7 more years. Don't get me wrong, I love this stage. I love hearing him say new things, I love hearing him sing "Jesus Loves Me" in the car and clapping for himself afterwards, I love hearing him tell me "Wuv-eww" out of no where, but MAN, this age is a challenge! I want him to be independent but at the same time I want him to respect others and obey. I don't want him to be the bully in kindergarten that always gets in trouble. I want him to be a fun kid that people love to be around. Some days that is Braidy, other days it is not. I love the fact that he is strong-willed and will be a great leader like his daddy one day, but how do you teach him balance?

And we have a 3 month old. He pooped ALL over me tonight. I mean, a lapful. WITH his diaper on. He was saving it up for me, I feel sure. I feel like the "baby days" are slipping away faster than I can begin to realize. I still savor the time I get to rock my baby just the two of us right before he goes to bed. I try to memorize what he smells like, what his ears, nose, lips, fingers look like, I try to soak it all in because before I can blink he'll be in a big boy bed going to bed with the big boys. I am not ready to even entertain the thought of feeding him big boy food yet. I want him to be my baby as long as possible. I know with Braidy EVERY stage was my FAVORITE, and I still feel that way with Quin, but with Braidy I didn't know how fast it would all go. With Quin, I know how fast it goes and I was almost in mourning from day one because I knew how fast he would go from infant to toddler to little boy. I am trying to document every minute of his life, but how do you balance wanting to remember every detail, to just enjoying the moment?

I am so grateful and so lucky to get to be a mommy. I love each minute (yes, even the challenging ones) that I have with these precious baby boys. I pray and pray that God will help me be a good mother who not only LOVES my babies (after all, that's the easy part), but also teaches them and disciplines them when needed. Someone who shows them how to love others by example and someone to teach them what is really important in life: Jesus, family, & our friends.