Brothers

My two older boys have gotten along really well for the most part.  I know it's unusual and I know quarreling children is a source of stress and exhaustion for other parents.  So rather than bragging about it, I willingly admit I'm very fortunate.  It's a blessing that I can take NO credit for.  They are four years a part, their personalities are vastly different, and they share quite a few common interests, so they enjoy playing together.  Plus Noah is (used to be) very patient and Sam is very mature.  So they are a brotherly match made in heaven.

However, Noah has started getting annoyed with Sam in the last few months.  It's really sad because they used to have so much fun together.  Yesterday I got tired of it.  They'll be spending a lot of time together over the Christmas break, which helps them get along better.  And I wanted to make sure they did have a chance to re-connect right away.  So I decided to start the Christmas break off by having Noah make a list of all the things he loves about Sam.  He ended up with a list of 63 things (he had to add a few extra for non-compliance at first).  He had to read this list to Sam while holding both of Sam's hands.  He was not thrilled at first, but he did it and they've had a great day together, as expected.

His list is so funny.  He describes Sam with perfect detail.  But this list tells just as much about Noah as it does Sam. 

63 Things I Love About Sam:

1. He's funny
2. He's fun (occasionally)
3. He's adopted like me
4. He's great at Legos
5. He goes birding (when he's not annoying and when he actually likes the birds we see)
6. He's nice
7. He's cute (that's what you say)
8. He's good at having good boundaries with me, other people, and our family
9. He is easy to talk to 
10. He is responsible
11. He isn't mean
12. He isn't a person who would make fun of you for your mistakes
13. He really doesn't care about what you do to make a fool of yourself and he doesn't care when you accidentally make a mistake
14. He is a good reader
15. He is a good writer
16. He is good at math
17. He is a good learner
18. He is funny
19. He is kind
20. He is patient
21. He likes what I like
22. His birth family likes me
23. He does lots of service
24. He's helpful
25. He's a good eater
26. He's good at Legos
27. He doesn't make fun of me
28. He likes you for what you are
29. He doesn't care how you look
30. He's awesome
31. He's a artist
32. He's kind and nice
33. He likes animals
34. He's good at using binoculars
35. He's smart
36. He's creative
37. He's good at drawing
38. He's good at painting
39. He's a safe person
40. He's a good brother
41. He's friendly
42. He's a person with integrity
43. He's a good babysitter (that sucks for me)
44. He's cool
45. He's responsible
46. He's good with tools
47. He's easy to talk with
48. He would make a good police
49. He cares about me
50. He wants me to accomplish my goals
51. He's helpful
52. He's swag
53. He's loving
54. He's good at sharing
55. He's fun to hang out with
56. He's more responsible than me
57. He has a lot of friends
58. He's easy to make friends with
59. He's good at skateboarding
60. He's good at biking
61. He's good at coming up with lies
62. He's a good listener
63. He's good at everything

I'm BACK!

I haven't blogged in over a year, despite having more "material" and things to talk about than ever before.  I want to make more time to document the adventures of parenting.  My kids are so much fun and so hilarious and such crazy kids that I feel it a huge shame I don't write all this stuff down.  Plus I have ideas and thoughts that I'd like to write out somewhere.  And bottom line, I enjoy writing!  It clears out the clutter in my head and gives me a sense of accomplishment to have done something with my day and life. 

I don't care if anyone reads or comments.  In fact, the only reason I am going to make this public or write on a blog rather than just writing a journal, is to hold myself accountable to actually do it.  Plus I hope it encourages other people (family:  I'm looking at you!) to write too. 

And lastly, I'm not keeping my kids' pseudonyms.  The biggest reason I had them before is because we were actively looking for potential birthparents for years and there were/are lots of scammers and creepy people online preying on families hoping to adopt.  I felt like my kids and my parenting were vulnerable enough.  I wasn't afraid for our safety, just careful to keep some of our antics private.  Now that we have three birth families that we know and trust, I don't have the same need to hide as many details of our family online.

The good news is, I've composed the final installment of Andrew/Rudy's birth story.  Yay!  Just in time to celebrate him turning two last week.  I will publish it as soon as I add a few pictures. 

The picture above relates to nothing, but I'm using G's laptop to type and he only has pics from his GoPro on this computer.  And this was a cool one.   That's Sam and his eyelashes really are that long. 

Merry Christmas!  And Happy Birthday to Noah, Sam, G, Andrew, and Me.