POP Night

It's hard for me to believe that my little man is about to start the second grade. Wow! Seems like just yesterday I was waddling around the ER with him in utero! It was entertaining how many people asked me "when are you going on maternity leave" in the last few weeks. Apparently, I looked as if I were going to give birth any moment!! My response was always "when my water breaks or I have to push." Maybe it was a bit of an exaggeration, but suffice it to say, I had no intention of wasting one moment of my maternity leave at home by my fat self. In fact, I worked on Wednesday, saw my doctor on Thursday afternoon, went in to the hospital on Thursday evening, had Lane Friday morning and went home Saturday afternoon. Oh, and since I can't stand to lose, I had him at church on Sunday evening. (My mother took me to church at the same church for the first time when I was 9 days old. Nothing would suit me but to take Lane when he was 2 days old.)

That tiny 2 day-old infant has transformed into this boy at what seems like warp-speed! He's far too cool to have his picture taken and is constantly clowning --- anything to make his friends laugh and everyone is his friend. I don't know how, but apparently, the entire school knows who Lane is. They might not know me from Adam, but they know Lane. Chances are if they do know me, it's as "Lane's Momma." He loves to hear his friends say "Lane, you're so funny." I know what you're thinking. He does not get that from me ---- I promise!! I hardly spoke until I was 14 years old!! I have witnesses to support my story.

Tonight was POP night at school. We were able to go, drop off Lane's school supplies, meet his teacher and have a brief orientation. Lane is really excited about school. He was totally jazzed about buying his school supplies, but moreover, I think he can't wait to get back to his friends. He's already making arrangements as to who he's going to play with on the playground.

It's truly hard to see them growing up so quickly, but it's such a blessing too. I enjoy being witness to the loving, creative, smart boy I'm watching him become. It's my hope that he will grow into a man who can be both tough and tender. Mothering him is such a gift. I am tremendously thankful for my sweet little (or not so little) boys

What'd You Say?

After I've been blogging for a while, if you follow you're sure to make at least 2 observations. #1 -- I love photos and love to share them. #2 -- I'll probably have 3 pictures of Cohen for every 1 picture of Lane. I'm sure there's a name for the phenomenon, but there is some change that occurs in children (at least boys) around 6/7 years of age. They suddenly become too cool to be kissed/to kiss Mom, Grandma or any of those other icky girl-type people and they are also far too cool to be photographed unless they are making a face, holding rabbit ears behind someone else's head or playing some sport.

It is par for the course for me to delete 80% of the photos I take of Lane because he has contorted his face into some shape that makes him unrecognizable as the boy I gave birth to. Imagine my surprise this afternoon when I was outside taking photos of Cohen on the mower and heard from behind me "Hey, Mom take a picture of me!" Huh? What? I turned to find Lane standing, ready to be photographed with one hand propped on the basketball goal. Just when you think you have them figured out....

Redneck Recreation

So, it's a sunny Sunday afternoon after weeks of uncharacteristic rains and cool temperatures. Of course that means the grass has been loving it and growing like crazy. We're not the kind of people who live in the suburbs with our perfectly manicured lawn that we water religiously through July and August, so our grass is usually a little brown and crunchy this time of year. Hey, it cuts down on water use and mowing frequency, so it's really a green thing to do, right?

Cohen is definitely an all-boy kind of boy. He loves playing baseball (or any kind of ball for that matter), digging worms, fishing, working on stuff and driving anything he can. Today's afternoon activity was a little "redneck recreation" -- riding the lawnmower with daddy. He has actually fallen asleep riding the lawn tractor at times. The vibrations just lulled him right on out! Not so, today. He's full of energy and ready for a swim!