Brotherly Love

Drew's chalk drawing on the sidewalk of "me and my Bradley."

Up to No Good

Boys in My House

There are boys in my house – and Spiderman shoes
And 200 papers in various blues.
There's Bob (he's a builder) and Thomas the Train,
There's a fireman coat to wear in the rain.
They have cars on their shirts and frogs on their hats
There's a glove and a ball and a red plastic bat.
There's dirt on a face and a smudge on a nose;
Grass stains on knees and sand between toes.
There's bathtime at night with bodies to scrub,
And when we're all done there is dirt in the tub!
There's bandaids and bruises and curious bumps,
There's smiles and laughter and sometimes there's grumps.
There's odors most icky; there's boogers so green
There's more yucky things than I'll ever get clean.
There's piles of laundry; there's stories at night;
There's bedtime and bathtime and dinnertime fights.
There's cars and there's trains and there's books about trucks
There's Scoop, Lofty, Dizzy, and Travis, and Muck.
Sometimes there are bugs, and sometimes there are frogs;
Sometimes they are lions, or dinos, or dogs.
There are cute little vests and darling neckties
Dragged right through the mud – oh what a surprise!
There's running and climbing and jumping and falling
And laughing and crying and hugging and brawling
And rolling and losing and finding and creeping
And whining and stealing and sometimes there's sleeping.
There's tantrums and time outs and extra loud noise –
There's love in my house shaped like two little boys.
Author: Erin Jo Kilmer

The Hardest Thing About Boys... Thus Far

... Is that even as infants, I can't hold them as much as I would like. Once they get to be about four months old, they start wiggling out of my arms. They want to move, they want to run, crawl, jump... they are already wired to be movers and shakers. They love the arms of Momma, but not enough to stay put.

I know I only have them for a short time... and once they become men, they won't be desiring Momma's coddling, by God's design. But do I have to let go so early? I just wish I could hold them, rock them, kiss them, indefinitely, until they are at least five - right?

Drew Learns How to Feed Bradley

Two weeks ago, Dave was still at work and I was home with the boys. Long story, but I had a bit of an emergency (clearly I am fine now, so no worries!) and I had to have Drew bring me the bouncy seat into the bedroom so I could put Bradley in it. He was a very good helper, and brought the seat in right away. Well, prior to this, I had been feeding Bradley a bottle in the living room. Drew remembered that, and while I was phoning a neighbor, Drew had returned to the living room, bottle in hand, put it in Bradley's mouth, and sat there feeding him. I could not believe my eyes! What a smart, helpful and loving big brother he is!

A few days later, Drew was showing off his 'skills' to Daddy. Here are some photos of that.