Life with Boys

 My life as a mom is not quite what I thought it would be. I guess when I would sit and dream into the future of ‘kids’ I never actually imagined the gender of said ‘kids’. Nor did I imagine all the behind-the-scenes action that would take place. Let me give you a glimpse of some of the commotion lately:

A few nights ago as I climbed into bed, my foot hit something toward the edge. I instantly pulled my leg up and threw back the covers. It was a small John Deere tractor. Of course, why didn’t I think that was what it would be?

One night when Mark came home from work, I was preparing dinner while Jackson was telling me about a particular ‘dozer’ he was playing with. We were driving it all around the kitchen. I then told Jackson to ‘show daddy the tricks his dozer could do’. Mark (who I thought would be impressed) couldn’t get over the fact that I had been calling this piece of equipment by the wrong name.

 ‘Ummm…you know that’s a bobcat, right?’ mark said.

‘Well, not exactly, but Jackson told me it was a dozer, so that is what I thought it was.’

Mark:  ‘No! That is totally not a dozer. It doesn’t even look like a dozer. (taking the ‘thing’ away from Jackson to point out details) See?! It even says ‘bobcat’ on the back.”

Me: ‘Hmm. I guess I just thought that was a brand.’

All the while this interaction was happening, J was looking very confused. Mark then grabbed the computer to show me differences between the pieces of equipment and even pulled up a photo from his phone of me driving one! Let’s just say I will really try not to make that mistake again in the future. I think I need to start studying some of Jackson’s truck/equipment books.

I think that I finally have the books “Barney Backhoe” and "Sheep in a Jeep" memorized.

Every day when we lay J down for his nap or bedtime, he has gotten into the habit of talking and playing for about an hour before he falls asleep. It really is quite hilarious. He ‘talks’ to his elephant/sleeping companion. He giggles, screeches, sings and sometimes I even hear ‘pew pew ellie’. Tonight I am going to try to record it just so you can hear the commotion of the room. It will seriously put a smile on your face.

Speaking of conversation, when we went to pick Jackson up from church nursery one Saturday evening, we were told that he is ‘so verbal’. The ladies were quite amazed at all his words and sentences. He makes his mommy proud J He is currently putting three word sentences together.

When Jackson does not want to do something, he now says ‘prodaby no’ (probably not).

Ex. Today during lunch I told him he needed to have one more bite of macaroni before he would be excused. He replied ‘prodaby no, mommy’.

Now that the weather has been nice, Jackson has been playing out on our deck. He loves it (and frankly, I also love the break!). He is completely wet and dirty by the time he gets back into the house, but he has a blast out there. Today I heard him yelling at Bojangles….”BOOOOO……TUMMM  HEERRRRE…….BOOO, TUMM.” (we recently took care of his cousin’s dog and had the job of yelling for the dog to ‘come’) I also found him using the grill brush for cleaning Bo’s fur and for raking in his sandbox. I wonder if Mark was aware of the usefulness of this tool.

Ben just (ahem, about a month ago) had his two month check up. He is shaping up to be a healthy little fella. Although I thought he was going to be a smaller guy, he is heading on the same path of his brother being in the high 80 percentiles for weight and height.

Right now the things he most enjoys is watching his big brother, smiling, eating his right fist, and being held. He  often knows what he wants when he wants it and will make it known. He falls asleep for naps and bedtime easily.

 Benaiah is in 3-6 month clothing (6 and 9 month sleepers) and size 1-2 diapers.

Ben was finally sleeping through the night. He was going down for bed after his 8:30 feeding and then getting his dream feed of 2.5-5 oz. at 11:30. He then slept until about 6:30 where he woke and needed a little coaxing to fall back to sleep until about 7:30. What a champ. However, that last few days he is waking up around 4:00 am (after the 11:30 dream feed) and needing A LOT of help getting back to sleep. Crying it out, the nook….nothing seems to be working. This boy really confuses me with his sleeping patterns. Mainly, because there is no pattern!

(Ben goes crazy for his mobile lately!)

Life has been enormously crazy since Benaiah’s arrival. I continue to be amazed at the extra amount of work it takes to be a family of four instead of three. I constantly wonder when we will feel normal again but am slowly realizing that I just need to get used to a new ‘normal’, just like I did when we brought Jackson home. I love being a mom to these sweet boys and am reminded of that several times a day. One more quick story:

     Today was a particularly rough day. Jackson has a cold and is really whiny. Everything is ‘No mommy’ and he makes for a long day of work. To top it off, Benaiah was a bit on the cranky side as well. During lunch, J and I were sitting at the counter eating and Benaiah suddenly woke early out of his nap. I felt a little defeated. It must have shown because the next thing I knew, Jackson was rubbing my arm (with his cheesy rice fingers) and then layed his head on my shoulder. He completely melted me.

 

I really love these boys. I know I say it a lot. But it is completely true. I am so honored to be their mother and I really enjoy watching them grow. And although our new life is taking a little longer than I hoped to get used to, I love all the little shenanigans that they (all three) get into and how they daily make me laugh. Life with these (little) men is glorious.