The thing is {lately}

The thing about Everett is that he is a lovey joy unless you expect anything from him. Request that he clean up his mess, eat his dinner or stop being spicy and he turns green, grows ultra-muscles and turns on everyone...oh wait, that's the Hulk...but pretty much that fits Everett as well! He talks back, rolls his eyes and throws things around the room and just try to talk it out with him because there's not a rational bone in his body. How do you teach someone reason? It's harder than it sounds I've learned, and actually I think it might be impossible? He's a feeler, through and through. All this to say that Ever still needs a nap but he won't take them very often so most days I find myself deep breathing and chanting "serenity now" in the bathroom. 

But then some days I can talk him into cuddling up with me on the bed and reading a few chapters of whatever book he's checked out from the library (Ninjago is his recent favorite) and if I'm really lucky, he'll be snoozing in seconds and will sleep as long as I leave him. When he's nustled up next to me in the lazy late afternoon I can't help but look at his long body laying on my bed and remember that perfect infant I held in my arms nearly five years ago. I'm understanding the sentiments of one of my favorite children's books, I'll Love you Forever, more with Ever Knight than with any other child. Oh how I long to scoop him up in my arms and rock him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, singing sweetly of my never-ending love.

I love my Ever, Hulk-ittude and all.

The thing about Talmage is that his energy knows no bounds. He runs to school in the morning, he runs home from school in the afternoon, he tells me stories about running through school all day long and then he runs through our apartment from landing until bedtime. This kind of energy man, it just can't be bought...or sold! His mind races right along with his body, and his mouth races just to keep up so basically when T gets home things go up in the stress/craziness/excitement department by ten-fold. I can guarantee that someone (let's be honest, usually Ever who can't quite handle how intense/competitive things get) will be crying, screaming or morphing into the Hulk (see paragraph above about Ever!) within about ten minutes of T walking through the door. If Ev has been quiet, things are about to get loud. If Quinn has been sleeping, she'll probably be woken up. And if I even think about resting for a second, ha! As if that's going to happen. His energy is exhausting and I feel like a broken record reminding him to calm down, asking him to calm down, YELLING AT HIM TO CALM DOWN!!! Eh hem, yes, in my finer moments. 

But then some days we go on adventures, and you have never known a more fun person to experience things with than Mr. T. Sometimes those adventures are out of the house, like last week when I broke him out of school early for a spontaneous trip to Disneyland. He was shaking with excitement and kept telling me how this was "most definitely, the best day of my life!!!" He says that a lot and he means that a lot; his positive energy and zeal for life are delicious, and his gratitude always appreciated. Sometimes though, the adventures he allows me to join him on in his brain are just as thrilling to experience. He is a ravenous reader and has recently fallen in love with the Harry Potter series. He inhales those 300+ page books in days with near perfect comprehension, and when he watched the first movie his eyes filled with wonder as he exclaimed, "When I was reading, my imagination couldn't even imagine something as amazing as this!" And also, "I pictured Fluffy as a rainbow-colored stuffed animal, I had no idea he was a huge grumpy dog!" He's made his own Nimbus 2000, he casts spells on his sister and he has endless questions about the book and the movie, the characters and reality. His brain and his memory come straight from his Daddy, and I so enjoy being the passenger to their thoughts and discoveries.  

I love my T, Energizer Bunny-ness and all.

The thing about Quinn is that she's still a Daddy's Girl, but I am definitely winning a place in her heart. Sure, it might be because James is a little MIA lately, but this Mama will take what I can get! A few days ago James was holding her in the morning before he ran off to work and she reached out for me. Literally, James and I both about fell dead in our tracks because she NEVER wants anyone but Daddy. But hey guys, I'm cool too and Quinny-girl is finally realizing it! 

In the last few weeks her vocabulary has skyrocketed and her mega meltdowns have greatly diminished. This girl has got A LOT to say and now that she has words to express her emotions, they're less likely to come out in the form of a big baby battle. Do you know how awesome a talking 19-month-old can be? Super awesome! And ridiculously adorable. Drives in the car now are so full of possibility as she looks out the window and dictates everything she sees in her world. "Cwoud! Sky! Caw! Doggie! Pwane! and my favorite, He-wo (Hello, but always said with an emphasis on the he)." And that's not all, if she's hungry she can tell me she wants "fishy" (goldfish or Dory fruit snacks), "baw" (a granola bar), "cheeeese" (sometimes string, sometimes round), "appo" or "nana" or "bewwy" and when she thirsty she can say "dwink" and "wato bato" (water bottle) and "mulk." If we can't understand each other I start listing off every item I can think of until she says with a smile, "Yes" or "yah" and I'm all, hallelujah we finally get each other! She tells me when she wants to go "ouside" when she wants to ride her "scoo-er" and especially when she finds a "wock," her newest obsession. She can say at least 50 other words and they're all just so adorable that I beg her to talk to me all day long, asking her questions just so I can hear her answers. I forgot how much I love this stage, but I SERIOUSLY love this stage and I'm just goo-goo over this little ga-ga.

I love my Quinny, from "head" to "toe...paint? puwple?"  

The thing is that in one week from today this party of three will become a party of four and I'm so excited, so emotional, and so ready to love another little one like I love these people. My hands, my heart, my stress and my responsibilities already feel like they're running to the point of overflow, but then again I feel this longing in my arms for a little one I know is meant just for us. I can't wait to meet her, and neither can they!