Spongebob Football

Ahh, a little mom time. Noah and Sophie are both napping. Travis is playing an imaginary football game in our living room.  He stops about every 5 minutes or so to introduce me to a new game of some kind or another that he's just made up in his head.  For instance, just now he brought me over two plastic keys that kind of lock together at the notched end, and we are supposed to play a kind of tug-of-war with them.  He won most of the games, so he dramatically informs me that "you're supposed to use your muscles, mom".  Then he's back to his football game.

Sadly, T-ball was rained out today, but he did get to partake in the opening day parade and spend some time with his favorite mascot, Swoop.  (If you're not a South Bender, that is the Hawk mascot of the South Bend Silverhawks, our local minor league team.)  He's a little disappointed about the rain-out, but mostly I think he's picking up on my anticipation of his disappointment, rather than actually feeling that way.  

And now that he's not all dressed up in his baseball gear, he decided to dress for aforementioned imaginary football game.  Which is an interesting endeavor indeed.  Behold...

Nothing too extraordinary, but its the light blue socks and the spongebob shoes that really pull the whole outfit together.

Roommates

So my boys are officially sharing a room now.  It seems like such a big milestone, moreso than I realized until we actually took that step.  I wonder if, years from now, I'll remember this bittersweet feeling surrounding this otherwise non-newsworthy event.  I love to see the two of them going through this stage: excited about sharing a room, eager to sleep in their 'new' beds, chatting happily with each other before falling asleep.  At the same time, I am somewhat nostalgic to note that my little Noah has outgrown his baby bed, and that this step is just another of many as the two of them grow older.

Speaking of growing older, Travis has his first T-ball game tomorrow.  Its funny, things like that make him seem so big and so little at the same time.  When I see him on the field with the 5 and 6 year olds, he looks so small.  And when I pick him up from pre-school and see him with all the elementary school kids, he looks like such a tiny little boy.  But he also just seems so much more grown-up these days.  I feel so priveleged to be able to watch him grow up and turn into such an amazing little kid.  And now Noah is at the age where he's becoming more of a little boy and less of a toddler every day, its incredible to see his personality really start to blossom.  

As for Sophie, she still pretty much just sits around most of the day.  And drools.  But she's very cute.

Our Parallel Family

So I was on the computer today, and decided to log in to the blog and see how the updates went. I just added photos / slideshow, etc.  and wanted to see how it looked.

Anyway, I opened up the "other" laptop -- not the one I had been using. And since I'd never logged onto this site on that computer, it didn't 'remember' the name of the website like this laptop does.  And, instead of typing in the ".blogspot" portion, I accidentally just typed in www.davidsonfive.com.  And stumbled across what can only be described as an eerily similar family to our own.  For a brief second, I actually almost thought that someone else had set up a family website for us, without our knowledge.

But no -- its another Davidson family of five.  Husband, wife, two boys and a girl. Similar in ages but I think their kids are each about a year older than ours, give or take.  Blonde, fair-skinned kids that could be our kids' cousins -- siblings even if I didn't know better. The husband even works in the computer industry, for pete's sake.  We looked at some of their photos, and Ben would make a comment like, "there's a picture of their Noah standing behind their Travis, did you see that one?"  

We considered telling Ben's parents it was our website, and see how long it took them to realize those weren't our kids.  I'm guessing at least 20 minutes. ('hmmm...who's that strange woman holding Noah?').  Okay, just kidding.  10 minutes, tops.

Third time's a charm

I have to admit, I love being a third-time mom.

I never would have thought it, but each time around has been an entirely different experience.  It's not like just going through the same old thing over again.  I guess I thought that each subsequent edition of motherhood would be essentially a repeat of the first time, just with a little more experience.  But truthfully, its like a whole different ball game.  Or, maybe more like a different inning in the same ball game.  The point is, anything can happen.  What happened earlier doesn't mean a thing.  But, you've learned a little bit, and you're not quite so intimidated.

Kid #1 was an amazing experience.  Everything was new, everything exciting. Learning everything - from what made my kid tick, what stimulated him, how to discipline him, how to love him - all of it was exciting, fulfilling, and truly amazing.  

What struck me about Kid #2 (affectionately referred to as Noah) was how nothing was the same. It wasn't just about expounding upon what I'd learned the first time.  There were a few lessons that translated, but truthfully, I couldn't just rely on what worked the first time around. I had to pay special attention to who this kid was. That may seem like common sense, especially if you haven't gone through it yourself -- I certainly thought so during the "pre" second child phase.  Obviously I knew this kid would be his own person.  But the extent to which it became an entirely different parenting experience was a surprise to me.

So, now comes Kid #3.  And you might think that this time, since I've already had one repeat experience, that I'd be prepared for this one.  But its even more different this time.  I learned my lesson from the first time around.  I knew that parenting this one would be its own unique experience. This time, its not that unique approach that threw me.  It was the ease with which I figured out how this new one would fit into our lifestyle.  And how "un"stressful it was to get her assimilated.  How she became an automatic necessity in our lives.  It seems a little weird as I write it now, but truthfully, it was a big shock to me. 

I once read, I think in one of my Parents magazines, that when you ask any particular family the question as to when is the 'right' timing to have children, almost ANY family will tell you that the way they did is the best way.  I love that.  And you know what?  The way we did it is the best way.

Big Fat Intro

So.

I have decided to create a Davidson family blog to keep record of all the fabulous things our family is doing. 

And here it is.

Now, our family just needs to start doing some fabulous things.  Go ahead, family. 

Start.