The Beat of My Heart

"They know me in a way no one ever has. They open me to things I never knew existed. They drive me to insanity push me to my depths. They are the beat of my heart...the pulse of my veins...and the energy in my soul - they are my kids."
Tonight is definitely one of those nights where it dawns on me how fast time passes by, and these moments occur to me more often now that I have two sons. Two babies. It just takes a little, simple, everyday moment to catch me in the midst of my rushing to bring me back down to earth and soak it all in. Tonight's moment with Parker was when he was crying from being ready to get out of his exersaucer. I was consumed by other stuff in the house, and quickly went to his side. Upon him seeing my face his frown faded, the tears were still fresh on his face, and through them he gave me the biggest gummy, 2 teeth grin. I picked him up and he immediately nestled his head onto my shoulder & pulled at my hair. He's so happy and joyful ALL. THE. TIME. I love him. I am blessed. He enriches my life so much.

With Nolan, it's been a bunch of itty-bitty, little random sayings that he's said over the past couple of weeks. Everytime he gives Brian or I a quirky response we can't help but get a huge grin on our faces and scoop him up for a hug. He makes me laugh...even during those times when I don't feel like laughing at all. He knows how to get to us and seems to know just when it's needed. He can break down all barriers and through all of the stress & chaos, as if it's his own built in reminder to not take life so seriously and to remember what it's all about. I love him. I'm blessed. He enriches my life so much.

Just a couple of quick examples of things off the top of my head (and of course, these are most likely only adorable to us and the grandparents...or also one of those "you had to be there moments," but nonetheless, there things I want to hold onto and remember forever):

* Throughout the last several weeks, we've been consumed by our Cardinals in this house. Needless to say, we're completely ecstatic that they won the World Series & it felt like a holiday in our house! As you're aware, Nolan has been insisting for months that he's only a Cubs fan. Refuses to wear or acknowledge the Cardinals. The day after the Cards won the series, Nolan came out sporting his Cardinals hat that we didn't even know still existed. When we asked about this he just simple replied, "I was just kidding you and Dad about the Cubs this whole time."

* At dinner the other night, he was eating quite a bit. I cannot even remember what it was, but he grabbed a huge helping and looked at us and said, "Yeah? You don't think I can handle this...watch." and finished every last drop. NO clue where he learned the word "handle."

* After watching The Brave Little Toaster together and discussing how the "Master" misses his belongings from his childhood, our discussion continued and Nolan tells me, "I'm NOT having kids when I'm big...you are. Duh, you're the girl. BUT, I want a lot."

* He still asks thousands of questions and usually they end with the phrase "...in our world" (EX: Are there real werewolves in our world?" -- We can also no longer get by with generic answers either...even if we're on question #999 for the day.

* He constantly whistles ALL the time.

* He's completely obsessed with singing "Home on the Range" and knows pretty much all of the lyrics.

* He's great with numbers & starting to add! I'm hoping this will be his strength as I always hated math. Fingers crossed that he has Brian's natural talent for number sense.