A Journey to Love

I don't even know where to begin. I have so much to say about what happened this afternoon between Benjamin and I, but due to my emotional state, I find myself unable to organize my thoughts and feelings into a logical, cohesive blog entry. So I'm sorry, but I am about to start rambling. Here I go. It started with Benjamin asking to go to the train store. He's been begging to go for weeks now, so I finally gave in today and told him that we would walk there after his nap. I've also been meaning to return some books to the library, so I thought we'd make an afternoon of it and hit both destinations, getting myself a good run in at the same time. Then we could cap the day off with a hamburger and french fries at the diner next to the train store, giving Ben his favorite dinner and myself a night off from cooking. It was going to be a great afternoon with my boys. We made it to the library without incident. But then the double stroller wouldn't fit through the ...

The pictures on the left are of Benjamin at the age of 4 months. On the right is Brayden at the same age.    Yep, I'd say they're related. :)

I'm sad to say that I don't know very many of my cousins. There are two main reasons for this: All of my cousins, except one, are much older than me which is a result of being an "oops" baby to my parents, who thought they were done having children seven years earlier (best mistake they ever made, I tell them!) When your family tends to hold grudges, you lose out on building relationships with the extended members of said family. Let me tell you, it comes as quite a shock when you find out as an adult that you have family living in the same town as you and you never even knew they existed! Since I missed out on that aspect of childhood (you know, having built in friends at every family function to run around with and create mischief and general mayhem), I am thrilled that my children are blessed with several cousins that live just minutes away from us and whom we see quite frequently. Though Wyatt is six years older than Ben, he is so good about playing with him an...

Benjamin and Brayden celebrated Easter not once, not twice, but four times this year. First, the boys discovered Easter baskets waiting for them at the breakfast table. After tearing through his treasures, it was time for the much-anticipated hunt. Out we went into the front yard, where Ben searched for the hidden eggs that were filled with candy, stickers, and even money for his piggy bank. He insisted on opening each egg to see what it held before depositing it into his basket. This slowed the process down considerably, but I loved seeing the expression on his face as he discovered each new treasure. Benjamin's basket contained a train book, a railroad crossing for his track, and a small ladder truck that zooms around the house. Brayden's basket held only one item: Sophie the Giraffe. The teething toy is apparently the item to have for babies, so this Easter Bunny made sure Brayden had one for his chewing pleasure. Just don't ask me how much it cost, cuz' I'l...

This past weekend was spent up in Felton, CA, camping in the coastal redwoods. It was our first time camping in the area and since we were only there for a short three days, we look forward to going back soon. Benjamin truly embraced the art of camping. All he did was ride bikes, climb trees, play in the water, and eat junk food. And Brayden? Well, being only three months old, he laid around a lot. So I guess one could say that he figured out the whole vacation thing too.  Brayden loved being outdoors So kissable Look at me, Mom! Father & Son Never too old for a little luvin' Swimming in his skivvies Roasting Peeps, in honor of Easter Our friend Angela painted all the kids faces with "rock paint." Benjamin loved his new look :) The favorite activity by far was bike riding. There were a few good hills in the campground and by the end of the trip Benjamin had mastered all of them. He was flying around the loop without slowing down once. Nathan thought it was ...

I experienced a pretty great parenting moment tonight but to get there, I had to wade through a cup of spilt milk. When Benjamin gets angry, he tends to either lash out at me or any object nearby. (Yeah, I know...we're working on it.) So tonight, the closest object happened to be his cup of milk at the dinner table. Even before he lifted his arm to strike, I knew what he was going to do. Before I could stop him,however, the cup went flying across the counter and milk went everywhere. I was right in the middle of nursing Brayden, but that didn't keep me from whisking Benjamin to his bedroom, spanking his behind, and ordering him to his bed. I did this all very calmly, although inwardly I was seething . As Ben cried in his room, I finished feeding poor Brayden (an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire) and repeated over and over in my head, he's two-he's two-he's two to the same beat that the milk was dripping off the counter, drip drip-drip drip-drip drip. I...

So often Benjamin says or does something that just stops me cold. They are so sweet or funny or ridiculous that I find myself thinking at these moments, "I should write this stuff down." So here are a couple of such moments: Moment #1 Last week, Benjamin fell down while running on the driveway. I know, I know, not a good idea to let him wear rainboots and shorts while playing soccer on an asphalt driveway. But the kid adores those boots and he looked so darn cute...but I digress. So I picked him up and dried his tears before cleaning the skinned knee and applying a band-aid, which instantly distracted him. Two days later, while in the car, Benjamin was reliving the event and noted that he cried when he fell. I said to him, "But then Mommy came over to pick you up and give you a hug, right?" "Why?" he asked. "Because I love you and I wanted to make you feel better," I replied, looking at him through the rear-view mirror. After a b...