On The Move

Wow! I guess having Dan gone for 2 weeks out of the month of July really cramps my blogging abilities! :) Fortunately, he's home now and isn't planning on traveling again for a few months. So now I have a moment to update y'all on what has been happening here.

It's been a crazy month. I can't imagine what single moms go through, knowing every day it's just you and the kids. If I was in that situation, I think I'd definitely move closer to family. It's very challenging to handle everything on your own, especially with two increasingly mobile twin boys! But God carried us through, giving me more patience and peace than I expected. I can't even express though how freeing it is to know that my husband is coming home each evening now. Help is on the way!

Josh has been a handful and I think he's really missed out on some masculine presence the last month. Everyone talks about the terrible twos or threes with raising children, but I can honestly say that this has been the most challenging time for me as a mom with Josh. He questions everything, likes to threaten, yell, throw fits and basically just demand his own way. His stubborn streak unfortunately comes from both Dan and I. :) And I've recently been reading that boys tend to push their moms away and act up around 5 (lucky me!) and again at puberty. On the positive side, we have had more discussions recently around spiritual issues. He's asked us about death, heaven, how do we go to heaven and what does it mean to obey and serve God. It's encouraging to have him ask us more questions and seem to understand what we're trying to teach him. The hardest thing has been making the time to talk whenever he expresses interest. Josh likes to talk about anything and everything and you never know when a conversation will provide the opportunity to talk about deeper issues.

We've also been accumulating vast amounts of stuff for Kindergarten. The first day of school is August 24th and I think Josh is very excited about going to the "big school". It's hard for me to believe that this little boy that we prayed and waited for is already 5 years old. It goes by so very quickly and before we know it we'll be talking about dating, driving and college. I want to enjoy every day and take every opportunity I have to teach my son about God and about what it means to be a man. He is such a blessing!

The twins are getting into everything now, exploring any room they can access and trying to reach everything that looks remotely interesting to a 10-month old. Evan is now becoming quite proficient at crawling and is so proud of himself as he works diligently on pulling up on whatever is available. Unfortunately we've also discovered a tendency to bite things and people. I have a nice bruise on my shoulder where he left his mark, and Andrew has one on his forearm. I can tell it's not a malicious action (what is in a 10-month old?) and that he's just trying to give love. But we're working on preventing him from hurting more of us and how to give hugs and kisses without using teeth!

Andrew is my speed crawler. He can get across the room in a very short amount of time and loves to knock over a tower of cups. It's a trick to build the tower before he can see what you're doing because countless times he's gotten to me and knocked it over before I could finish! He is getting really good at crawling all the way up our stairs and he'll head that direction if we fail to block off his access. Andrew is also starting to let go of things and stand by himself. He's not walking yet, but we've held his hands to help him walk across the room. I think he's decided that it's much faster to crawl than to walk though!

It's been so fun to watch my sons interact with each other. Evan and Andrew love to talk to and smile at each other, especially when they are in their cribs. And they love to watch big brother Josh play and run around. Josh typically is great with his brothers and loves to play with them. But like any boy, you have to remind him to be careful and gentle with the babies. I look forward to seeing how the family dynamics change as the boys get older. I hope and pray that they will be great friends and support and encourage each other over the years. I'm sure we'll have to deal with sibiling rivalry at times, but God willing it won't be a constant issue.

Okay, this has been a long one! I've included a few pictures for y'all to enjoy of my boys. The top one is just a cute picture I got of all three of them. The middle is a typical shot of Andrew standing somewhere and Evan crawling to find out what he's doing. And the bottom one is actually pretty funny how it came about. Josh and Andrew wandered into the bathroom to check it out and then Evan followed. Josh told me to stay out because it was for "boys only". :) They had a great time and fortunately there was no activity involving the toilet!

Love to all of you!