Beautiful Chaos

Home has been very chaotic. I now officially have a three year old and an (Almost!) 19 month old. To say things get a little crazy is putting it mildly. The kids are hyper, they run, climb, scream, talk... from the time they wake up until they fall asleep each night. At times, I get overwhelmed sometimes by the chaos, knowing that I am the only one to take care of it all. But their ages are really fun right now and I am enjoying them both a lot.

Colby is so grown up. I love my talks with him because he can carry on real conversations now. He has also been pretty helpful while his Dad is away. He helps me by getting me things and is a wonderful caretaker to his sister. He really watches out for her. He is also very smart and I love to watch him figure things out.

Paityn is such a joy because there are a few fun things about girls that are different. I love to do her hair each morning and lately we've had one particular style: Puppy ears. Pretty similar to "pig tails" but with the ends tucked in instead of loose. She loves this style and wants her hair fixed all the time. I also love to cover her in lotion and paint her toe nails and finger nails. I can also do more with her clothes each day, there are more options and I can dress her up -- when she lets me. There are days where both kids refuse to wear anything besides overalls (oberalls as Paityn calls them) which really makes their Papa proud. Paityn is also very loving, she loves to give hugs and kisses and it really makes my day.

Another phase: Snow boots. Both kids adore them! Paityn has a pair that is two shades of pink and Colby has a dark blue pair which they wear religiously. Really, there is no way to get them to wear anything else without a fight. The only reason Colby hasn't been wearing them everyday is because he got a pair of rubber mud boots that look like firemen boots (they have the fire maltese cross on them) for his birthday and he's worn them everyday since. He's proud of those "firemen" boots, because he "looks like a fireman, just like daddy!" He thinks he's ready for bunker gear and to drive the fire truck next!

At night, they sometimes like to lay together in Colby's bed and watch a movie, before they get ready to go to sleep. Normally this includes lots of jumping and romping around and does a better job of winding them up than winding them down for sleep, but they look so cute together, it's really hard to separate them.

They love to write letters or "wetters" (another word from Paityn) to their daddy and they've used up several things of paper coloring him doodles and pretending to write to him. I send them in the mail, even if Justin has no idea what they say, I know as a daddy they mean something special to him. No doubt about it, the little scribbles and doodles of a child mean a lot more to parents than to anyone else, and something about them just brings a smile to my face and I hope they do that for Justin too.

Colby the other day was working very hard on a particular "doodle" and told his great grandma that it was his "homework." She told him she would check his homework for him and he said, "No, my daddy check my homework." Apparently daddy must be the one to look over his "homework," no one else will do. So daddy will be getting some "homework" in the mail.

The other night at home, they had their paint with water books and brushes out, spread across the entire floor of our living room. They each had filled their plastic cups up with water (cups that they use to rinse out their mouths after brushing their teeth) and had them down beside them too. I wasn't really happy about the large mess, it was time for bed and I had just spent a lot of time cleaning things up, starting laundry and putting away dishes. Plus, the mess was scattered from one end of the room to the other, and I could barely walk through it. When I got onto them for the mess, Colby looked up and said, "Mommy, it's not a mess. We made pretty pictures for you and Daddy." All at once, the anger I felt over the large "mess" that they had made just disappeared. It was true, it wasn't a mess. They didn't do it to be naughty, they did it because they wanted to give me and Justin something. Then Colby showed me the pictures he had painted, all of them were race cars. He told me about each one and what color they were and who the car was for. Then he picked up the last one, which had two cars on it. He told me it was for his Daddy. Then he pointed at the car in front and said, "That's Daddy's car." Then he pointed at the last car and said, "That's my car. I chase him. I chase Daddy. We play with them when Daddy gets home." Right then, I saw the importance of pictures they had colored. We cleaned up the "mess" and hung all the water color pictures up on the wall, where they could be displayed. Because those pages weren't just a mess, they were artwork, artwork that deserved to be proudly displayed on the wall. My kids may be messy and noisy, they may run and jump and scream, but at least they can. I'm thankful they can be. And, some day, when they are all grown up, all I will have left is the memories and the little things, like pictures and artwork to remind me of how they were when they were little. My house may be a mess and it may be chaotic, but it's a beautiful sort of chaos and I wouldn't want it any other way.