Who we are

Well, I’m a thirty-something mom of 3 beautiful children. (I say thirty-something partly because it’s hard for me to remember and partly because I only claim to be 21 in public. *grin* And, since I’ve been telling people for years how many years’ experience I have at being 21, it actually does take me a moment to remember my true age. Sad, I know.) I have a daughter Sweet Pea who is 3 and a half, a son Buddy Guy who is almost 2 and a half, and another daughter Lil Peanut who is just 7 weeks.

My husband and I were married almost 7 years ago. We had been friends for a long time, who decided there was something more there and got married. *grin* That’s the short version. The extremely short version. Perhaps sometime I will write up the story a tad more detailed, but for now that will have to suffice.

When we got married, we decided we liked big families (he being from a family of 8 and I from a family of 6) and thought we’d like to have one ourselves. My only stipulation was I wanted to take it one child at a time. Have one, see how things go. I’m not the bravest person. I’m really not. I’m not the best when it comes to pain and agony, and childbirth terrified me. I guess my vivid and wild imagination, going on and on about all the things that could possibly go wrong (no matter how improbable) didn’t help. So one at a time is what we decided. Then came Sweet Pea. When we found out we were expecting her, we were shocked, amazed, worried, and probably just sobered to life. Things were going to change. We knew this. Our lives of spontaneous outings with friends at random times in the evening were not going to be so frequent, if at all. We needed to eat better, and budget better, and just start thinking more about her than ourselves. It was an amazing and crazy time.

When Sweet Pea was born, it was truly an amazing thing. She was so small and fragile…yet so sweet and soft. The only thing I remember her giving us a hard time about were her car seat (she really didn’t like being stuck in that thing), and she refused to go to bed at night unless she had her 20 minutes with her daddy. And I’m serious. She’d fuss and wiggle and squirm and I could tell she was exhausted, but she would refuse to sleep until her daddy came home, talked with her, held her and gave her even 20 minutes. Then, he’d pass her back to me and she would curl up and go to sleep. It was amazing. She is amazing. I used to worry and wonder what I would do if my kids didn’t have much of an imagination. I don’t have anything to worry about. Sweet Pea has the most incredible imagination you could… imagine. *grin*

She loves to play and pretend. Right now, she loves to dress up and pretend she is a princess dancing away at Cinderella’s castle. She loves to sing, and dance, and run around and laugh. She performs her own cooking shows that I can hear while I am sitting across the room taking care of Lil Peanut. She is tender, loving and kind. She is friendly, energetic, and generous. Ever since we brought Lil Peanut home, if Lil Peanut cries from her crib or pack and play or swing…Sweet Pea will jump up and run to her aid, calling the whole time “Lil Peanut! I’m coming. It’s okay little girl. I’m coming.” She is a big sister in the truest sense of the words and I hope/pray that never changes. I sat back and watched this happen the other day and remembered back to when Buddy Guy was born. She was only 15 months old (yeah, we’ll get into that later), but would come running to me whenever he’d cry. She wasn’t talking a ton…at least not in the sense of large, descriptive vocabulary…but she would come running over telling me that her brother was crying and needed my help. If I hesitated for too long, she would give me this impatient look of, “Well? What are you waiting for? This is my brother and he needs you!” I did wonder if that would change with the addition of Lil Peanut, but it hasn’t. She never ceases to amaze me when I sit back and watch her.

She’s beautiful, and smart, and incredibly quick. She can be so crazy smart and so crazy “blonde” at the same time…but she is a sponge and soaks up every piece of learning she gets. She will hear a song just a couple of times before she can sing along with it. She will hear things on TV and then repeat them in her play. (hence the cooking shows… *grin*) She is at a stage where she likes to try and pretend not to know, but even she can’t contain the grin that betrays her. She’s amazing and creative and loves to draw and color (even on surfaces one should never draw and color on…) and it just makes my heart happy even just pondering all of this.

Well, backtracking a bit…

Six months after we brought Sweet Pea home and were adapting to life as a 3 person family, we were surprised with Buddy Guy. While surprised probably doesn’t fully describe the way we were feeling, we know for certain that he was perfect for us and the time he arrived.

Since the day he was born, he was just as laid back as Sweet Pea was active. While Sweet Pea would refuse to sleep lest she miss a moment of possible excitement and fun, Buddy Guy embraced sleep and was incredibly mellow and go-with-the-flow. He was also a tank. Quite the big guy…and it made him so cute. This big, round, happy baby. And he stayed that way…for the most part… I remember when he was just learning to scoot around, he was such a strong little guy that he’d lie on our kitchen floor while his sister was in her highchair and he would grab the bottom of the highchair and push/pull her back and forth. I used to joke he was working his biceps.

The two of them pretty much grew up together. As soon as he was old enough to run around (even just scoot or crawl around) and play with her, they were side by side, playing. Much of the time was Sweet Pea demonstrating and explaining play to Buddy Guy. But as he got older, he caught on quickly and the two of them would play quite nicely. Even now, it’s one of the sweetest things… Sweet Pea will play dress-up and Buddy Guy is right behind her. Sweet Pea is the princess who wants to dance with the prince Buddy Guy who sometimes is a Tyrannosaurus Rex and wants to dance as a dinosaur. *grin*

Buddy Guy loves to play and play hard. He’s 100% boy and runs like a crazyman. He’s also so very gentle and kind, sensitive and compassionate. It’s always interesting watching him interact with others when he plays. Much of the time, he’s pretty aware of the other person and tries to bring them into his play. He has such a loving heart. That sums it up pretty well.

Right now, I’d say, his passion is split between trains and dinosaurs (if the “dance with the Tyrannosaurus Rex” didn’t give it away). He loves to sit and build with Daddy’s brio train tracks. He will start a track and build it long and twisty from one room to the next. Sad thing is he never seems to have enough track. I guess this is something we need to remedy, but until then, he will build and sit looking at the track wondering how it’s going to do what he wants. He’s such a sweetie.

And then, there’s our newest addition Lil Peanut. She’s only about 2 months old now, so it’s hard to say who or what she is or will be, but for now, she’s one happy little baby. She has been smiley almost since the day we brought her home. She can (and will) sleep through the loud, screaming play of her brother and sister, and will grin and chatter so big when fed and dry. She really only cries when she has a need…and she likes to whimper a bit when she’s ready to sleep so we can pick her up. She’s an amazing little girl.

As much as each of our children were surprise blessings from God, I cannot imagine life without them. It is amazing how immediately they seem to have always been a part of our lives and family. As if there was never a day they were not here with us. Sure, we have our fair share of trials, bad days, discipline issues, and learning…but we’re figuring it out. Or at least trying to. That’s what this blog is for…I’m hoping to speak here of the things I may not have consciously noticed as my day flew by. I want a place to think back over my day and see some of the moments I’m missing (or maybe not missing) in an effort to not miss them in the future. My (our) children are such blessings that I know I am overlooking in my tired, weary state. So, here starts my project. Bragging on my kiddos not for the sake of bragging, but to brag on them for myself. And who knows, but maybe this will be something my children can look back on and read when they are older and have tangible proof of the love, they will hopefully already know, their mom had for them.