Mommy Badges

This morning I sip my coffee (a new serious addiction for me thanks to Nolan's sleepless first 6 months) after a much appreciated good night's sleep (following 2 all-nighters with my sick boys) and find myself in a sentimental and retrospective mood. These days I often find myself stepping back and observing the life and growth that is happening around me and I want so badly to remember it all. Remember the good and the not so good. Because I feel with mommyhood, as in life, it's making it through those challenging moments (or weeks or months) that make the good times so much better. And since for some reason they don't give out badges to us moms when we make it through those challenges, I'm trying to store up those mental badges in my quickly depleting brain. I've earned lots of badges so far, some of them multiple times over--Pregnancy Badge, Labor and Delivery Badge, Breastfeeding Badge, Sleep Deprivation Badge, Reflux Baby Badge, Surviving Year One Badge, Terrible Two's Badge, Potty-training Badge, Sick Baby and Child Badge (there's a special badge for Stomach Viruses and I have way too many of these)... I'm currently working my way toward earning the Trying Three's Badge, the Room Mom Badge, Baby Food Making Badge, and Cloth Diapering Badge to name a few. There's way too many "Badges" to list. If only I had a vest to display them with. I'm so thankful that thus far we have been so blessed to have all of the run-of-the-mill parenting "challenges", but even still, I have learned so much from all of these experiences. So here is a mental snapshot of both of the boys these days:
Nicholas. I never gave much thought to what a three year old boy was like prior to having one myself but I definitely couldn't have imagined as much personality, imagination, moodiness, and intelligence as is rolled up into our little Nick. One of his favorite things to do these days is to tell stories. It is usually during meal times and he declares "I'm going to tell you my story. My story is called..." and he will give the story a title and then proceed to tell an elaborate tale of monsters or aliens or two little boys who went to play or whatever he can think up. He tells these stories just as the books we read tell their stories. My favorite was yesterday when he told of one Happy Boy who went over to his friend's house to play. The other boy was Grumpy Boy and he did not want to play with his friend. But then, Grumpy Boy's attitude started to change (he really said that) and he turned into Happy Boy too and he decided to share with his friend. Isn't that adorable! It's moments like those that I realize he is taking in the things that I say and he's learning how to manage his roller coaster of emotions. One moment he's telling me spontaneous "I love you Mommy"'s and wanting hugs and kisses and the next moment he's shooting me with his invisible lazor or crossing his arms, furrowing his brow and sticking out his pouty lip and saying "Don't tell me that MOMMY!" I swear he didn't get this drama from me! ;) But he loves to learn and is doing it at warp speed these days and he really does want to be obedient and I can see that he's trying hard each day. I love my Nicholas more than I could ever have imagined--drama and all!
Nolan. My sweet, precious little curious Nolan. He is 9 1/2 months now and is changing and growing each day. This week he's perfected the army crawl and getting into a sitting position all on his own (which he likes to practice during naptime or at 4 am). He's pulling up on furniture and is even taking steps while holding onto your hands! He is into everything and works so hard to get his hands on anything he sees across the floor--especially Nick's things (Nichols did not see this coming!) He is much more interested in cords and outlets than Nicholas ever was (not good for me). This week we had to lower his crib mattress to the lowest setting and flip the mattress from the Infant side to the Toddler side. I silently screamed in my head "No! He is not a Toddler!! He is still my baby! This is going way too fast!!" He is 9 months old but wears 18 month size clothes!! He is doing great with finger foods and loves feeding himself fruits and veggies and cheerios. He loves clapping and smiling and laughing and talking more and more. He is such a happy baby and I really hope he stays that way! And somehow there is room in my heart to love Nolan more than words can say.
So while I know I won't have the ability to remember all of these moments as they grow, I'm thankful for time to enjoy them as they happen and pray that the important things stick in my memory. Here's to change and growth, and good coffee to get me through.