"You OK, Mommy?"

Our children are getting so old, so fast, that I decided it was time I finally got off of my duff and created a way to record all these precious moments. Moments like, while I am cooking dinner and I hear Paul say from the other room, "No, Baby, NO!" and Caleb starts to cry and the saucepan starts to boil over and the phone rings and I hurdle over a pile of laundry to answer it only to have it be a representative of the Kerry campaign asking for donations.

Yeah. Right. Good luck with that.

But overall, I would not trade this time at home with the boys for anything. Every day they learn something new about the world. My heart aches with joy every time Paul runs over to Caleb and kisses him on the head; every time Caleb's face lights up with delight as he laughs hysterically at Paul's jam-encrusted face; every time they look at me adoringly and I know this is the best place for them to be. And for me as well.

Paul is now 2 and a half and is ...well....he's 2 and a half! He has so much energy, which usually gets displayed in new and interesting ways, such as the 15 minutes after dinner tonight in which he was running in circles throughout the house giggling to himself. He talks non-stop; it's as if he had a language explosion just after his second birthday, and must talk constantly to make up for his previous silence. Some of his current favorite phrases are:
"Mommy, sit lappa me!" translation: "Mommy, I want to sit on your lap."
"I want to hold you!" translation: "I want you to hold me."
"You ok, Mommy?" This is said whenever I make a loud noise, accidentally drop something, or said to Caleb whenever he starts to cry in the car. I hear this tiny voice of concern, "You OK, Baby? You OK, Baby?" It's soooo cute....until he keeps saying it over and over for 10 minutes straight.
Our favorite Paul trick is to have him recite the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which he can do, effortlessly. Sometimes better than his ABC's. Which is just fine, considering which one will be more important in the long run. He also loves Bible songs, which he would listen to 24-7 if permitted. I love to hear him suddenly burst out into song to himself as he plays with his cars or colors.

Caleb is now 8 months old, and is a generally very happy little guy. He's HUGE, weighing in at a whopping 23 pounds already and 28 inches long. I have friends with eighteen-month-olds who aren't that big yet! "My baby is a monster!" I shrieked at a recent woman's Bible study, during a discussion of our babies' weights. Ah well. It's the only time in his life he can be fat and have it be cute and adorable. He loves to scoot and crawl, always in the one direction I don't want him to go. He sits up with great stability and it now standing up while holding onto furniture.

I dearly love my boys, and I'm not sure I'd know what to do with a girl if I had one! I'd dress her in blue and hand her a truck. But eh, that's in God's hands. As in all things, He knows best.