Because one day you will read this blog

Dear boys,

One day you will read this blog (I hope) and look back over years of memories, pictures and stories. Moments probably long forgotten. I hope that you remember a happy childhood and a home full of love and laughter. I hope that you remember your bellies being filled with healthy food, your boo-boos kissed and your thoughts heard and validated. It occurred to me today that you may look at so many of these pictures and think that somehow these years were easy breezy and that your dad and I didn't struggle, even though you are all so close in age.

That isn't true. Some days this is a struggle. Raising you boys is hard and challenging. Not because you are difficult kids. We think you're each actually pretty laid back easy going kids. You're doing everything you should be at your ages: testing us and the environment around you, letting your curiosity drive your actions, crying out for us in the night when you are scared, asking for diaper changes and snacks and hugs and boundaries. All day long.....

Loving you boys? That's the EASY part. There is nothing easier than loving you guys because you are each amazing little people who we genuinely love to be around.

But you are all so active and close in age (three of you just 10 minutes apart!). Some of you don't sleep. Some of you get up well before the sun. You fight like... brothers. You break and or spill stuff in our home almost every day. You take the snack table chairs and move them to places they shouldn't be and climb on them to get things you shouldn't get. You make piles and piles of laundry. You splash water all over the bathroom, every single bath time while Chris and I say "Keep the water in the tub" over and over and over. You go through about 15 diaper changes a day and think it's hilarious to sprint off mid diaper change. Some of you can empty a jumbo bag of wipes in less than 30 seconds. When you are teething, sick, flighting a cold, going through a growth spurt, or just feeling off..... when I am completely sleep deprived, the daily demands are extra challenging.

We try and go somewhere many mornings and you'll see pictures of us lots of different, hopefully fun, places. But what you don't see in the pictures is the struggle to get out the door. It is often a struggle. Diaper changes, dressing everyone, reminding you to use the bathroom, searching for socks, gathering snacks, filling drinks and in the winter, bundling up in coats, hats, and boots and then loading you all in the car. This morning we struggled to get you all ready for church, in a blizzard, only to learn that the car battery was dead after you were all in your coats and hats. Your dad and I just looked at each other as if to say, "REALLY!?"

Side note: The minivan wouldn't start because as it turns out the side van doors were open ALL NIGHT. The entire interior was covered in snow. Ahhh, what must the neighbors think of us?

Nope, it's not easy.

I want you to know this because one day you too might be daddies, and have wives to support as mothers. What matters is not so much that the days go smoothly, because they won't always. What matters is that you just keep marching forward and stay connected as parents. I could not do this without your dad by my side. Know when you need a break and notice when your wife needs a break, a joke or hug. Or a glass of wine.

Today we eventually rebounded from a not so stellar morning where we were impatient with other and overwhelmed. Late this afternoon, we found ourselves all piled up on the couch laughing about something so stupid, I won't even write it on this blog. The point is that we were all in a pile on the couch, laughing so hard that I couldn't catch my breath. None of us could stop laughing. Those are the really good times and when those moments arise in your own home, run with them. Keep laughing.

Just keep marching forward.