This Season of Life

So like I said–I don’t know if it’s the sleeping better, the fact that we’ve now learned a better way to cope with Wesley’s behavior/discipline/boundaries, or that he’s now three and has a full vocabulary and understanding of so much more than he did, say, six months ago, but things are SO.MUCH.BETTER with him these days.

I just love my little boy!  

Not that I didn’t before, of course, but there is a noticeable difference.  He is so happy and excited about life.  I love talking with him and playing with him and seeing him learn new things.  There was a time not so long ago that I muttered to myself in the quiet dark moments that I just wanted that time of his life to pass quickly… it was miserable, we were not getting along, and he was in the "I hate you" phase if he didn’t get what he wanted.  I missed that sweet innocent baby he once was, and I think during some of our bedtime battles I cried more than him.  I don’t think I’ve heard him say the "H" word once in the past two months, and it’s so refreshing (and so much better on my heart).  Now our bedtime consists of stories and snuggles and prayers.  Last night we came home after a long, fun yet exhausting day at the cabin and I carried him up to his room, quickly put some PJs on him, and laid him down in his bed a little before 7PM and he was out within minutes and then slept TWELVE HOURS STRAIGHT.  I know I keep talking about it, but I simply cannot get over that this is the same kid that would’ve immediately woken up the second his head hit the pillow, screaming at us that he didn’t WANT to go to bed, no matter how tired he was.

But things are better now.  I feel better, too.  The springtime has finally arrived, and although things are still brown and muddy, I can smell the earth again and I know green things will be blooming before we know it.  I can’t wait for our backyard to be filled with leafy trees, and even though we’re still a couple years away from a perfect carpet of green grass around this new house, I’ll take the weeds that will inevitably end up in our backyard anyways, because winter has been TOO LONG this year.

We had a fabulous weekend, though.  Wesley’s cousins came up, he had his first sleepover on his new bunk bed, we ate more than one meal outside, and went to the cabin on Sunday and the kids went hunting for frogs and flew kites and we went on a Ranger ride.

And on Sunday night after both kids were in bed (early!!), Nathan and I enjoyed a bubble bath in our new tub and then ate a late supper out on the back porch watching the geese and ducks land in the river that runs behind our house, the deer walking by, and I just soaked up the "I still can’t believe this is really our life" moments of this next chapter of our lives.

I just love these kiddos!

Breaking in our new tub!
 

Jasper, too… (he was too little to join the big kids so he got his own bath a different day.)

I am slowing down to truly enjoy this season of my life.  I love that I spend my days folding Super Man pajamas, Buzz Lightyear underwear, and picking snail shells out of Wesley’s jacket pockets.  I never imagined I’d love being a mom to little boys so much.  It truly is one of the greatest gifts of my life in the big ways and the little ways.