The Seventh Month

Here we are in the seventh month. Charlie's second tooth just popped out two days ago, June 14. Just in time for Father's Day. Seven months, carrots and broccoli later and we are doing great as a family of four. Except for the times when Charlie makes a huge fuss when we put him down for bedtime and it is right around the time that Jack has stepped into the tub for bathtime. What do I do? Let the baby cry it out? I have been a lot better with the cry it out method now than with Jack, but man, that voice and scream just gets higher and higher and louder and louder. It's not a lot of fun when your oldest is holding his hands over his ears, letting you know that Charlie is indeed , very loud.

Other than that, we are fine. I am relishing these moments of Charlie just sitting on the floor with nowhere to go. I am sort of dreading when he starts crawling and where we live now( hello fragile chotckes!) we will be saying a lot of , where is he? Where is he?

Jack is on the cusp of staring some sort of preschool. The good news is that Brian and I were talking to a preschool teacher today and she let us know that preschool is a lot cheaper than daycare. Thank God.

We are still trying to see where that will be. Right now, I am just trying to teach Jack on what happens during a baptism, and hoping that he doesn't freeze up when it is time to sprinkle the water on his head. Boys' baptism is in 6 days.

Oh, and Brian and I are renewing our vows in 6 days. Our sons should be our ring bearers.

The Day At Brookfield Zoo

We are members at Brookfield Zoo, which means if we wanted to, we could go every single day of the week for the next 365 days.

The Brotherly Love

There is this look of absolute glee and love that Charlie gives Jack. Everytime Jack is talking, Charlie will look at Jack with these wide open eyes.
This is what people say when they talk about the younger sibling adoring their older sibling. They love everything that their sibling does and just wants to BE them.
The sound of Jack's voice makes Charlie's head snap and go " What? Where is he? Where is Jack?"
Jack is starting to notice that Charlie dotes on his every word. Now and then, Jack will make him laugh and when Charlie cracks up, Jack has the biggest smile on his face.
I love watching the two interact with each other now.
I love that we have given Jack a sibling. And I will for sure remember these warm fuzzy feelings when these two may fight over their toys later in life.

The Lost Treasure

I have this stuffed bunny that I got when I was in kindergarten. I think I got him for being a good student? He was fluffy, a lemon yellow as my dad calls it, his ears was bendable. It was the first gift that I associated as my special friend.
Over time, my rabbit has seen the how time can be. He is still lemon yellow, with a couple of missing fur patches, the wires that made his ears bendable poked out, so we took them out and now his ears flopped over his head. He was still my special guy, and made the move with me when I moved out for the first time. He made the move with me throught the three apartments that I have shared with Brian.
In comes Jack. He has discovered the bunny and now is attached to it. Which I love because how special is it to see your child attach himself to the very some love that you attached to as a child.
In comes last Wednesday when the rabbit got lost.
Jack , Brian and Charlie were all over on Wednesday and somewhere along the way, the rabbit decided to go his own way. By Thursday, it was a realization that this rabbit was lost and I died inside. A sadness that I thought I would never have over this stuffed , ragged but wonderful toy came over me and I couldn't stop crying. I cried as I changed Charlie's diaper. As I nursed Charlie. As I put on my PJ's. The whole time, I knew that it was a bit silly to cry over a toy. I'm 35!! But that was my childhood, my happiness and now it was gone. Probably in a trash somewhere, in the dumpster. Thinking of that just made me cry even more.
Then Jack comes along, and he said " I am so sorry I lost your bunny." Then I cried even more. Not for the bunny, but because my 4 year old son knew what it felt like to lose an important toy. And to think that he thought I was putting guilt on him made me feel like a complete jerk.
I held him tight and said " It is not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong." I said it over and over again, hoping that it could wipe away his guilt.
He even tried to make me laugh and said" Does that make you happy now?"
My beautiful son.
The rabbit was found of all places at Target the next day. I don't know if it was St. Anthony that did the trick( which you can bet I prayed and prayed to the whole night) or it was Brian's insistance on finding the toy, but he was found.
Jack amazed me that night. Trying so hard to make his mom happy. That's my boy everyone. He has just become my new stuffed bunny, my treasure that I cannot live without.