Boys

Its 2 am and I am awake, not sure why but I am and I am just thinking about my boys and how much I love being the mom of all these sweet boys.
When I had my first son I wondered what it would be like to have an 8 or 9 year old boy. I saw boys that age and I just didn't know what you would do with them they seemed foreign to me.
Now though I know that having boys is so much fun.
My kids were out of school Friday and the two teenagers were occupied, then Saturday I found it was just me and the little ones again. So for the last two days we have explored, gotten dirty, played in creeks, been to an event where there is all kinds of trucks, tractors and equipment to touch and see, been to an animal rehabilitation facility and played outside.
We have had adventurous talks, we have laughed, thousands of questions asked, imaginations ran wild and many hugs and kisses have been given.
Boys are wild, loud, messy, dirty, silly, and destructive but man are the fun. Thank God for boys!!!!!
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Beyond measure

I look at these faces and I feel blessed beyond measure. I cannot believe how lucky I am that these beautiful boys are mine. I love each one of them more than I could ever express. They are each so different, so wonderfully unique, there are things I treasure about each one of them. They are stunning by themselves but as a group they take my breath away. Thank you God for these boys.

Wordless Wednesday

Childhood dreams

What was your dream as a child? What did you long to be? The other day I shared with my children the book that started my childhood dreams. I shared with them all about what I loved as a child, what I longed to be. It was fun reminiscing and thinking about how differently my life turned out.
So what did I want to be? I wanted to be a primatologist. I wanted to work with gorillas, be the next Dian Fossey (think Gorilla's in the Mist). It all started when I was about 7 and I read KoKo's Kitten at school. If you don't know Koko is a gorilla that has been taught sign language by her keeper Penny Paterson.
After reading this book I fell in love with gorillas, I sent all allowance money to the Dian Fossey gorilla fund, or The gorilla foundation. I read every book about gorillas I could find and sent letters of every zoo and gorilla expert I could find.
I of course never thought about the face that I also loved children and wanted to have a family which of course isn't conducive to living in the mountains of Africa.




I kept every letter, every magazine in my gorilla files folder. I still love gorillas and think it would have been wonderful to work with them, but I think being a mommy is just as great.

I got tired of people asking....

When you have a large family, people feel the urge to ask you questions. Usually they are just curious but there are on occasion people who say very rude and hurtful things.
There are lots of times when I am at the store without my daughter, with just the boys that people say "Aww, no girl?" or "all boys huh?" or "Are you going to try for a girl" and they all say it in this sad little tone. As if having all boys is some kind of plaque or handicap.
When we are all together we hear, "Do, you know what causes this?", or "Are you Catholic" or " You are not having anymore are you?" or " Did you mean to have this many?" .
More often than not people seem sad or offended that we have so many kids. They can't believe that we would possibly have WANTED this big of a family. There are very few people who actually say complementary things to us.
I guess normal people only have two children? Anyway, I decided to make a shirt to wear to curb the questions. We will see what reaction I get!

Are you living your life on purpose?

Wednesday myself and about 1,000 others said goodbye to one of the strongest, most beautiful people I have ever met. She is pictured above with her husband and all the other fireman from his station (including my husband). She fought a long, hard battle with breast cancer and it finally took her life on Easter morning.
Thinking about her and listening to the words spoken about her at her funeral, had a strong impact on me. This woman never complained, never ask for sympathy, never quit smiling, never gave up and every day she lived on purpose and with joy.
I think if we are honest with ourselves most of us would say that we complain too much, worry too much, are angry too much and that sometimes the little things in life interfere with what is really important in our lives. Yet this woman who had every reason to complain, to give up, to yell and scream and be selfish decided that she was going to enjoy every second she had and to make everyone she came in contact with smile.
Judging by the outpouring of love she received, she did just that. So while I am incredibly sad that she is gone, when I think of her, I will remember to choose joy, to choose love, to choose life. Even when I don't feel like it I will make an effort to smile. I will remember to let the little things slide, to not have an angry heart.
She was amazing, beautiful, and a hero in every sense of the word. Please join me in praying for her two daughters and her husband.

The Melatonin miracle ..

My 5 year old has been having horrible, unexplained leg pain for over a year. I am talking up in the middle of the night, screaming, writhing, kind of pain.
The leg cramps came and went with out warning and we could never pinpoint anything that could be triggering them. I took him to the doctor several times over the course of this year trying to find something to make his agony stop, but nothing we tried worked. He had xrays, a cat scan and lots of blood work but nothing came up with an answer.
Then shortly after Christmas he got the stomach bug and for weeks after he complained of stomach pains, which cause the same reaction, he would wake screaming that his tummy hurt and nothing seemed to calm him.
We went back to the doctor and she could not find anything wrong, but she did tell us that she believed his pain was a manifestation of night terrors. She said she has seen this before in kid his age. The pain is real to them, the are in pain but it is not medically related. She wanted us to try melatonin to see if he fell deeper into sleep the pain would go away. I was skeptical but tried it that very night.
For the first time in months he didn't wake screaming, he slept through the night. I was amazed and thankful. He has been taking it ever since and the only time he has ever had another issue is the one night we forgot go give it to him.
It has been so wonderful. He has no pain and is sleeping well. I just wish we had tried it sooner.