Summer 2010, Gallrein Farm tree stump
OBVIOUS DIFFERENCES....
**Last year ago the twins were in red....Landon in solid, Andrew in plaid.
**This year the twins are in blue...Andrew in solid, Landon in plaid.
**Last year they all sat with Andrew in the middle holding Landon and Caden's knees.
**This year Caden moved around and they all scooted down a seat and Landon took over holding knees.
**Last year Caden was on the other side with his head tilted and arm on his leg.
**This year Caden is on the opposite side but sitting the same position.
Kinda funny huh?
The biggest difference.....they don't look like "toddlers" anymore...they are growing up...capital F A S T! My heart is breaking at how much my sweet boys have grown in just a year. Nevermind the fact that my 2 1/2 pound preemies are going to be 5 years old in a few short months!
And my 8 pound little blessing, Caden, is 1/2 a year away from being 4. My baby.....4? NO WAY!
Where has the time gone? It breaks my heart that it is going so fast and this magical time is nearing it's end. Next year school will start and life for us will change and move much faster I am sure. I wish I could just freeze this time with them. Even Landon tells me he doesn't want to grow up and not have his Thomas The Train bed or be too big for me to carry and tuck into bed. They all say that they will always be my baby. I love that they don't want to grow up. Lord knows I don't want them too either. No wonder my parents had a hard time letting us go. It's painful as all heck! (Mom and Dad, I am understanding a WHOLE lot more these days).
I do look forward to learning what all the boys will be like as they grow. And how mature and what they will look like as they do so. What they will like and dislike and what paths will they each choose. Although I am anxious to learn all of that as time goes on, I am just not ready for that YET. I want to keep them here.
With me.
Everyday.
Safe and sound.
Under my care.
If only that were possible.
I am so thankful I have a wonderful husband who allowed me to be home with these boys and to never miss a moment. Joe, I don't think you will EVER know what that has meant to me and what a treasure it has been (even when there are days they wear me out, I wouldn't trade it for any job in the world!). I know it's not always easy on the pocketbook to have a family of 5 living on one person's income but what my boys and I have gotten out of these last 5 years is worth more than all the money in the world! I will always treasure the memories I have made with Landon, Andrew and Caden. I feel so blessed to be their mom. They have filled my life with joy, happiness and more love than I could have ever imagined. My cup so runneth over!
Let me end with the perfect book for how I am feeling today. This is a favorite between the boys and myself. I think the 4 of us truly relate already. Being a mother to these boys...well there just are no words to fully relate how much I love it! Even when I am old and gray and they are parents themselves...they will be MY babies.
A mother held her new baby and very slowly rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she held him, she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The baby grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was two years old, and he ran all around the house. He pulled all the books off the shelves. He pulled all the food out of the refrigerator and he took his mother's watch and flushed it down the toilet. Sometimes his mother would say, "this kid is driving me CRAZY!"
But at night time, when that two-year-old was quiet, she opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor, looked up over the side of his bed; and if he was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
But at night time, when he was asleep, the mother quietly opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep, she picked up that nine-year-old boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
The boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a teenager. He had strange friends and he wore strange clothes and he listened to strange music. Sometimes the mother felt like she was in a zoo!
But at night time, when that teenager was asleep, the mother opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep she picked up that great big boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
That teenager grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a grown-up man. He left home and got a house across town. But sometimes on dark nights the mother got into her car and drove across town. If all the lights in her son's house were out, she opened his bedroom window, crawled across the floor, and looked up over the side of his bed. If that great big man was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
Well, that mother, she got older. She got older and older and older. One day she called up her son and said, "You'd better come see me because I'm very old and sick." So her son came to see her. When he came in the door she tried to sing the song. She sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always...
But she couldn't finish because she was too old and sick. The son went to his mother. He picked her up and rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And he sang this song:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my Mommy you'll be.
When the son came home that night, he stood for a long time at the top of the stairs. Then he went into the room where his very new baby daughter was sleeping. He picked her up in his arms and very slowly rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while he rocked her he sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.
MAY YOU ALL HUG YOUR BABIES AS MUCH AND AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN...CHILDREN ARE NEVER TOO OLD FOR YOUR LOVE AND AFFECTION. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOURS.
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