ohbloodyhell8

Younger son’s best friend came over today along with his two sisters.  In total, I had a ten-year old boy, a ten-year old girl, two eight-year old boys, and a three-year girl in my house for four hours.  Plus the 15 pets (1 cat, 3 kittens, 1 dog, 2 bearded dragons, and 8 fish…okay, the eight fish don’t require a lot of attention).  It was a full house of chaos.

At one point the three-year old girl said, “You talk about me.”… “No, we don’t. Why would you think that?”… “I dreamed about you and Younger Son. And you talked about me.”

Then there was a loud noise competition between the three-year old girl and my oldest, the ten-year old boy.

Another moment during the afternoon, I hear “I’m done!”  I looked around, not sure what that meant.  The ten-year old sister stood up, and sheepishly explained it meant her sister was done in the bathroom, ready for help, heading down the hall to the bathroom.

Sitting at the dining room table, my two sons and the three-year old were all still eating pizza, when the sweet little girl passed some gas.  My sons looked at me, at each other, back at me, then she passed a little more gas.  They looked at me again and I gave them the look that said, “she’s three, she can’t help it, and I know what each of you are capable of at this table, so let it go.”

These are the joyous moments of motherhood that make me realize I am glad I have an eight-year old son and a ten-year old son.  I do not miss diapers, playpens, toddler years, preschool years.  I loved those years when we were in them (how did I have the energy?!?), but I love where we are even more.  Those early moments are so very precious.  Each stage of childhood is precious and I’ve never been one to look back and sigh, missing the stage that had been grown out of.  Today, I realized I barely remember the stages the boys have grown out of.  I loved the silliness, the discoveries, the wonder of the world through their eyes, but I love where they are even more, so much so I don’t miss where they’ve been.

I also realized I have brought out a good number of breakable items that had been packed away for so long while they were little, little boys.  Okay, the items weren’t packed away all that long, but it felt like a long time while we were in it.  The boys are just such interesting people…I love watching them discover more and more about themselves.  I realized their days do not revolve around me (like days do when they are so little) and that’s a good thing.  Hell, sometimes I’m just the annoying mom now.

I love that my sons stay up till around midnight most nights whispering in their room, having “bro talk” about topics ranging from Lego design, to life dreams, to deep conversations about how to handle peer pressure.

I love that younger son tells me and Hubby that we are addicted to Law and Order SVU and that he’s going to call Dick Wolf and tell him to take it off the air.

I love when older son steps up by stepping back and letting his younger brother take the lead.

I love that they still share a room and have the other room set up with their Legos and beardies.

I love that they take turns walking the dog and they are nurturing the kittens with such love and attention.

I love that we live in our house, the house of chaos.  (In the middle of the street…it was our castle and our keep…)

I love that they love that song.