Mr Mom

I uploaded the following pictures to my 2009 book, but never shared them with the internet world. These were taken when I was on bedrest with Simon-- about 35 weeks pregnant. I can't really put into words what these pictures mean to me, and I am sure that's exactly why I never uploaded them to the blog. I was trying to find the best way to describe how I felt when they were taken, but still... no words. I can give a little background though. I went into pre-term labor with Simon and was trying my best to stay pregnant. I wanted to have him at home and knew he needed to wait to come! The boys and I were really restless in the house and one day we "cheated" and went to our favorite park. This is our favorite park because no one else is ever there... and you can park right next to the playground. I told the boys they could play as long as they wanted, as long as they didn't need me to get out of the car. I sat in the driver's seat watching Ben play "mother". He went back and forth between the younger kids. I searched around the car and was so happy to find my camera. I took these pictures from afar... what I wouldn't have given to have my nice zoom-in lens! They are terrible quality, but they are priceless to me. The underdog shot is my fave.

I also took this series of Luke. These make me laugh because they are just so... Luke. He is SUCH a great boy, too. But not because he's taking care of anyone else. He's usually in his own world, making weird sounds and having a great time-- pushing an empty swing or spinning by himself. He was probably twisting around on his swing for a solid 20 minutes. I got dizzy just taking a few snapshots of him.

While Luke was spinning in la-la-land, Ben was cheering Zack down the slide. Zack was almost 4 years old, mind you, and had been sliding down that baby slide for years before this outing. Ben just found it needful to be Mr. Mom and be at the bottom to give him a big hug for sliding down all by HIMSELF! so cute.

And last but not least, I was fortunate enough to catch the older boys giving each other running high-fives. They missed a couple of times, but finally eventually got it. I love their flying legs, especially.

I love that they love each other the way they do. In their 8 years together, they have only gotten into a handful of disagreements, and mild ones at that. One of the sweetest things about scout camp this last week was how excited they were after the first day. Ben proudly told Aaron when we arrived home, "Dad! Do you know how lucky we are? We were the only brothers there!" Having them so close in age totally paid off...

Scout camp pictures to come........ maybe.