Where Have All The Babies Gone?

This is a question I have been turning over and over in my head for the past week or so. You see within the past 3 months we are not only a diaper free house, but now a crib free one as well. The little stinker learned to escape his crib and since we have tile floor we didn't want to risk a middle of the night ER run if his climbing skills failed him. If someone who didn't know us walked in our house they would find no trace of a baby living here only 2 young children. I know what you are thinking, "but Julie your youngest is almost 2. There hasn't been a baby for a while now". Logically I know this, but in my heart I still have a baby. I still refer to him as "the baby". As in "Eric, is that the baby crying or Claire"? Poor kid will be 15 and I'll still be referring to him as "the baby". I'm finding this new "baby free" zone a strange one to be in. For 5.5 years now all I've thought about is babies. The year we spent trying to conceive Claire, the following year with a new baby. The next year loosing a baby and deciding to keep trying for number 2. Then getting pregnant with Luke and nursing him for 13 months. Gradually all year (and I can literally say all year since he was born on New Years Eve) we have been purging the house of the baby stuff. Every item I've sold or given away Eric has jumped for joy. He loves that the kids are getting older because that means he gets to play and do stuff he enjoys with them. The final and probably most defining baby items, diapers and crib are now gone. I've gone back and forth and will probably always go back and forth wanting a 3rd child. Eric on the other hand is completely content with 2 and wants no part of repeating the process over. Don't get me wrong I am very content with the 2 I have and truly am happy not having anymore, but should God open that door again I would gladly welcome it. The more time that has gone on the freedom I have realized in no longer having all that baby stuff. Missing a nap isn't a big deal and my day doesn't have to revolve around their sleeping schedule (although i treasure the little bit of peace during those sacred times they both nap and both nap at the same time.

First night Asleep in his "big boy bed"

In just a few short days (or hours depending on how many interruptions I get while trying to write this post) I will have a 2 year old! My kids will be 2 AND 4!!

When I had a newborn and a 2 year old. Sweetest moment of my life 

 I remember when I was a new mom and talked to mom whose kids weren't babies I looked in awe of how together they seemed and  how much knowledge they had to impart. Now that I'm that mom who has kids that aren't babies I realize most days are about just surviving even still. Things don't necessarily get easier they are just a different kind of hard. Some people, like my husband, prefer the walking, talking kind of hard that comes with kids and some prefer the  "can't tell me what's wrong, but don't have to chase you down" kind of hard. I fall somewhere in the middle.

Luke's "birth day".

Everyday is a new adventure and for some reason this past month's adventures have revolved around hair. I don't even have to come up with teaching topics. These little ones provide plenty of "subjects" to discuss. First it was Luke deciding to empty an entire jar of blue hair gel on himself and the sink and the bathroom. Eric had "done" his hair big boy style for church and he decided one afternoon he wanted to rock the big boy look. 

Let me say that much hair gel takes 3 shampoos to get the sticky out and I learned globs of hair gel don't juSt dissolve and go down the drain. Eric wasn't too happy when he get home to learn not only he was out of hair gel, but also had to do a little plumbing job. Just when I thought our hair learning lessons had ended my sassy girl decided to whack some hair off herself. You see I've prided myself in the fact that Claire has never given herself a haircut. We literally have weekly conversations about cutting her hair and other peoples hair and the appropriate people to do so. Especially since they have spent the last few weeks working on scissor skills at school. She repeats back to me who is allowed to come near her with scissors and who isn't. A reminded that just when you say "my child will never do that" they do it and knock you right back down to earth.

 

Of course 5 days before Christmas the day I'm packing for us to leave town is the perfect time to experiment with hairstyles. She is still rocking the very asymmetrical hair until we visit the hair dresser next week. I've really really tried to watch my reaction to the new "do". I got to the bottom of why she did it (she was mad at me for telling her she needed to go play and quit interrupting me while I was speaking to another adult in the house). Her punishment was no braided hair for the whole week (she wants her hair in a side braid like Elsa daily). I however don't want her to think her worth or how others see her is based on her appearance. We now laugh about it (and she really knows what she did was wrong) and try not to discuss it. If she wants her hair a certain way I remind her it's now more difficult to do with uneven hair and she says "I'm sorry I cut my hair"every time. The first few mornings she would wake up and say "my hair grew"! I would gently remind her it's not an overnight thing, but that it WILL eventually grow back out. Good lesson on things that are permanent and that aren't. 

Oh the many many lessons they and I both learn on sometimes an hourly basis!!