Years ago Aunt Karen gave our oldest child a Life is Good soccer shirt. Because the color and theme were gender neutral, I ended up passing it down to my daughter a few years later. It actually became that perfect shirt for younger siblings to wear to soccer games so she could feel like she was a part of the team too. By the time my third child wore it, it was worn with shin guards and sometimes even cleats TO WATCH the older 2 practice.
Sooooo much life has been happenin’ round here these past few weeks, I honestly don’t know where or how to start with chronicling it all. But, lest he get ANY older, I thought I’d pause in the midst of unpacking to comment on the birthday of my youngest. Because folks, sometime in the midst of packing, remodeling, moving, and unpacking… this little guy turned 2!! But, more than that, just like I feared, the little man grew up when we moved to the new house.
I remember vividly the first night we spent in our house. We were first time home owners.
And we were giddy. As we lay on the floor in our bedroom looking up at the ceiling I remember Scott commenting on the ceiling fan. “Look at that ceiling fan! We own it!” I on the other hand couldn’t get my eyes of the red blinking light from the smoke detector…. wondering how would I fall asleep with it constantly blinking.
For the past four and half years, this has been her “go to” position for comfort.
As a baby it was great… she totally self soothed… no pacifiers to chase down or beloved blankey to snuggle. Just pop her index and middle fingers in her mouth backwards and start rubbing her ear (or twirling her hair) and she could instantly calm herself to sleep. We knew of course this would have it’s trade off.
This past week our oldest son turned 8. As quickly as that time seems to have flown, it is frightening to me to realize in just as little time, he’ll be waving goodbye as he backs a car out of the driveway. AACK! In the midst of this busy stage of life, I want to take time to reflect on who he is now at this stage, so I can cherish and savor it for years to come.
It’s been really neat to watch the bond between my oldest and youngest. Our baby was the answer to his older brothers prayers, as he longed to have a little brother. I’ll never forget the look of pure joy when he found out he finally had a baby brother. I know he can’t wait for the day when they can truly play together, but for now it is so neat to see the love between them blossom.
I baby him.
A lot.
I know I never, ever babied any of my others like I do him. It’s mostly because I know he’s my last, but also because he lets me. He weighs 27 lbs
and will be 2 in three months, and yet most days you’ll find me carrying him on my hip. I joked the other day that you’ll probably find me carrying him in to kindergarten.
My oldest daughter turns 6 this week.
6 years old.
It just sound so old… so, not a baby, not a toddler, not a preschooler, but a… girl. I spent some time looking back at pictures and videos this past year and I realized that 5 is a significant year. She grew up A LOT this past year.
She started school.
She learned to read.
She learned to add and subtract.
Truthfully, the circus family doesn’t spend much time on bikes. We do a lot of fun things here, don’t get me wrong, but there are only so many hours in a day, and teaching our kids to ride bikes has not been where we’ve spent ours.
But, today the sun was shining, the weather was unseasonably warm here in MD again, and as the kids played in the backyard while Scott did yard work, our oldest daughter decided that today she wanted to ride her bike without training wheels.
When I uploaded my last video to you tube, I got side tracked with a little trip down memory lane as I then watched other videos the circus fam has posted to you tube in the past.
And I came across this gem.
A few things I noticed while re watching the video.
1. My oldest son used to have that cute 4 year old voice you swear you’ll never forget but inevitably do.