Down on the Farm
Yesterday, we made the short journey to Whiffletree Farm for a fun little event called “Yolks & Folks.” My coworker, Thais, suggested that all of us baby mamas take the little ones to the event, and it was so great to see everyone, especially the ones who no longer work with us! The owner of the farm actually went to high school with me, though he was a couple of years older! He raises many animals such as grass-fed beef, chickens, pigs, and turkeys with no “genetically modified ingredients.” Many of our local restaurants offer his meat regularly as well!
We arrived at the farm midway through the event and started roaming around to see some of the animals. Jackson was really enamored with this lone brown cow, and was screaming “MOOOO!!!” at her. He also tried to entice her with rocks for snacks, and at one point tried to climb under the fence - only avoided by me grabbing his ankles at the very last second!
Jackson later happened upon an unoccupied wagon, and started pulling it along, until some mean old big kids came and stole it from his hands :(
They thought it was pretty funny - as evidenced in the above photo. Luckily, we found another wagon a few minutes later, and all was right with the world. Meaning, Jackson didn’t do a single other activity for the remainder of the afternoon, but pulled his wagon around, and of course, pulled his friends in it as well:
Diego had a ride!
So did Alex!
We also hung out with Ben:
And the baby of the bunch, sweet Caleb :)
It’s really a funny phenomenon that all of us just decided to have babies at the same time (except Caleb’s mama - she just saw how much fun we were having and needed a boy too!) and all had boys! Jackson is the oldest, born in April 2011, followed by Ben & Diego in May and June and Alex in September - Caleb came along in September of 2012. I’m just glad that Jack has so many cool boys to grow up with, all of which have even cooler mamas :)
At the end of the day, when we decided to leave, Jackson was very upset to go, and started having a tantrum screaming “I WANT MY WAGON!!!!!!” the entire way to the car. :)
1. Good Morning
2. You are Scaring me…
3. Tantrum
4. Cute
5. “Behave.”
6. Cute x 2
These were taken at a really absurd hour of the morning on Thursday while we were getting ready for school (him) & work (me). He was being extra cute and silly, and I didn’t want to miss out on the moment. He decided after starting to eat his apples, however, that it was time to be serious and told me to “behave.” I was speechless for at least a full minute ;).
I am having a really hard time believing that one month from today, this little guy will be two years old. I say it all the time, but it really is unbelievable how it feels like he has hardly been here, but has been here all along at the same time. One thing is for certain, though the past two years have flown by, they sure have been the greatest couple years of my life.
Two seems so big to me. Like he really isn’t a baby anymore. In fact, he points to kids that are 6 months younger than him and says “Baaaabbyyyyy!!!!’ And his language skills are nuts all of a sudden. He is literally communicating and able to carry on a full conversation. I will ask what he did at school and he will tell me that he read books, rode on the buggy, and played outside with his friends. My mind is blown daily. Just tonight, he realized that Zac (btw, he totally only calls him Zac now, daddy who?) was on the phone with Grandpa, and he held his phone up to his year and emphatically stated “I talk it!” and proceeded to have a full conversation wtih him about how he played with his trucks all day.
The next month will be spent feverishly preparing for a birthday party, attending baby/bridal showers, AND taking a business trip to Georgia. I’ll be busy, to say the least, but while we are closing in on two years with our adult-child, I couldn’t be more excited looking towards the future to see what this little guy has in store for us - except the tantrums…he can leave those at the door!
Cutest kids on the block, honestly. We always enjoy our dates with Christy and J! A little thrift store shopping and Chipotle eating.
Totally the cutest.
On Motherhood
I spend a good portion of my day wondering what in the world I have done to deserve the privilege of being this boy’s mama. From the day he was born I have been pondering what good deed I could have committed in order to be rewarded so handsomely. That’s the funny thing about babies. From their first moments in this world they have a way of making you wonder how you ever lived before them, while simultaneously trying to figure out just what you did that brought you to such a beautiful place. You are instantly catapulted into the strongest, most instantaneous love you have ever felt, and you move forward, through the sleepy newborn phase and wake up in toddlerhood, wondering just how the hell you got here with this walking, talking opinionated KID, and why the heck it seems like just yesterday that they were placed warm & slippery on your chest for the first time.
And sure, there is a great deal of responsibility that comes along with being a mama. A crushing amount of responsibility. (you mean I’m supposed to provide for their every need, keep them safe, AND make him into a productive member of society?!!!) But I’ll let you in on a little secret - it is the most joyful responsibility on this planet. I have never been entrusted with such an important job in my life until him. I have never thrown myself so completely into my “work.” And never have I felt the level of confidence and self-assurance that I do being his mother. I don’t think another person on this planet can offer him the lessons and experience and knowledge I can. After all, we were made for each other, him and I.
I am absolutely, 100% positive that I am doing something right. Look at him. He is so cute it actually physically hurts sometimes. I mean, I can literally explode. But he is smart too. And kind. And FUNNY. And I don’t think I can even begin to take credit for all of that. But somewhere inside of him is a piece of me. And he is 100% good, so I must be doing something right, here.
The tiniest things in the world really do bring the most joy. The most rock-me-to-my-core-capture-my-entire-soul-I-would-do-anything-for-you type of joy. I swear, I haven’t smiled or laughed as much in my entire life, as I have these past 22 months. And even with the responsibility of raising a man (and not just any man - but a GOOD man), I would never trade one day of this wonderful journey we are walking together. Time and again I realize that while I am teaching him numbers and colors and even bigger things like friendship and empathy, he really is the one teaching me. All of the wisdom and humility in this world is packed into 32 lbs of cute, and I am so damn lucky to take it all in every day.
And while I may not hold all of the answers on how to be the best parent, the one thing in this world I am sure of is that while I might not have done anything spectacular to deserve the joy that comes in being his mom, I know that he is the most spectacular thing I have ever done.
