First off I want to take a minute to applaud, myself. This is the third blog post I’ve done in less than 2 weeks. ;) Insert cheering…crowd going wild with excitement and a bow by yours truly. ***Enter baby, crying to be held so I presuming typing with my left hand, right hand carefully holding him away from the computer. All while I hear squabbling going on between number 5 and number 6, it’s basically a miracle we are all still alive, let alone blogging happening :)****
Notice the abandoned computer on the wicker chair? He won. This little one keeps me on my toes! He’s a ball of energy and gets into everything, and we love him to pieces!
Here’s the real reason I wanted to blog. These past 14.5 years has gone by so very fast. This week I dropped my two oldest babies off at church camp, it felt so strange. Tomorrow we pick them up and I’m ready. This morning I felt this lump in my throat when I was thinking of them, off on their own, hopefully having a blast, making memories, building lasting relationships, growing up (cue tissue).
It’s kind of strange how I feel like every time I go to write a blog I feel like I am starting a new era, but I guess that is what life is all about, right? Every phase is like stepping into a new chapter, each with it’s own plot and set of adventures. This year we will have our first of many high schoolers, Aidan will hopefully be starting driver’s ed in the spring (yikes!) and one chapter leads to the next, it’s this amazing journey that I feel so blessed to have a part in, in each one of our children’s lives.
There is something very special about camp, it’s an opportunity to step away from our children and think about the things about them that we miss…***Another long pause, this one lasted a couple days. The baby never stopped fussing and I finally looked at his mouth while he was crying and noticed he has thrush, still nursing at 15 months (go me, I’ve never nursed that long) and it’s the first time he’s had it! :( Poor kid, so I stopped the blogging and took him to the doctor but by the time I came back I was too tired to write anymore. Here I am again, feeling a little refreshed and ready to finish my thought.*** So these feelings we get when our children are away, these times when their absence makes us think about why we miss them, what it is that connects us. I found myself in the days the boys were gone, looking for Aidan when I heard something funny or when the kids did something funny, he’s always good for a laugh and I love that he gets my humor. I missed the way Eamon loved entertaining Ralph and seeing how much he truly loves babies just really warms my heart. I was surprised that I didn’t miss them so much for all the chores they do everyday, instead it was a great opportunity for the younger ones to step up, and/or let the house go to the way of the pigs.
Eamon holding Clark Olsen. We stopped to meet the youngest of 10 Olsen kids, great to have friends who have big families! I love that Eamon even though he is pretty shy, overcomes his shyness to ask to hold the babies :) He’s a keeper!
It’s so great to have our boys home. Somehow they seem older. And they had a wonderful time at camp and are ready to go back again next year! I love that they had an opportunity to connect with the other teens in our church, such an important part of growing up and becoming independent. Well I better end this here or I might cry with the sentimentality of my big boys growing up! I love these boys so much and I’m so thankful for them, they set the tone in our family and they are both fine young men. Aidan and Eamon we are proud of you both!