These Are The Days Of Our Lives

I don't know why I thought of that title but I also couldn't think of a better one. We're home on a Saturday morning. Rob is away on his Reserves weekend (duty calls - but this time only for a couple of days), the kids are still in their pajamas watching VeggieTales - Minnesota Cuke and the Search For Noah's Umbrella, I am dressed but only because I was afraid if I didn't get dressed right out of bed I might spend the whole day in my pajamas. If I didn't have shopping to do later I wouldn't have minded. :)

The kids have been so fun lately. Gideon just turned 17 months old, Zion will be 3 in a couple of weeks and Gabe is 5 1/2. Why does that matter? Because for the first time ever I have a toddler and I'm not pregnant (unless God has a different idea of course). OK, you caught me, when Gabe was 17 months old I wasn't pregnant with Zion yet but not by much! I am simply thoroughly enjoying my 3 kids. Even though Gideon's been a rather big grump lately (he's cutting teeth). And he's raiding the garbage right now. And he had a cold last week and loves to wipe snot on my shirt. So aside from the occasional silvery smear on my shirt life has been so much fun lately. All three of the kids are at such fun stages right now. Gabe is reading everything. Everything. Every. Thing. Which means Rob and I can no longer spell things we don't want the kids to know about.

Zion only wants to wear dresses and they must be pink or purple. Apparently so must her sheets. Be pink or purple, that is. The other day all her sheets were in the laundry so I told her I would let her borrow one of Gideon's. She had a totally heartbroken meltdown at the thought of a blue sheet on her bed. Poor thing. I felt terrible (not really). Lucky for her I remembered a new sheet that I had bought and was planning to return. Plans change. She really does need new sheets so I need to be less picky about the polka dots not exactly matching her room. She really likes the polka dots as it turns out.

Gideon is walking everywhere and talking about everything. Sometimes we even understand him. Thursday afternoon we were having some cuddle time and he turned his face to mine to give me a big ol' toddler kiss (which of course means he had his mouth wide open like he's going to eat my face off) and he said "kishes". Wow. Just outta the blue like that. He loves to cuddle and give kisses. I think even more than Gabe and Zion and they were pretty cuddly babies. Another one of his favorite words is "Wow!" You'll hear him say this all the time. A few nights ago we were driving home and the moon was out but the kids couldn't see from the back seat. So when we got out we all stood in the driveway looking up at the moon peeking through the clouds. Gideon looked up and said "Wowwww." Too cute.

So all three of the kids have been at fun stages lately as individuals. But also as siblings. They look out for each other, stand up for each other and show real affection toward each other not to mention sharing each others' colds - wait, that's not what I want. Still, it seems they've been giving me tons of joy lately just watching them enjoy each other. Last week we were watching a movie together after dinner and Gabe invited Zion to sit with him. When we peeked around the coffee table to see them we found Zion fully reclined on Gabe as he leaned against the table. They have moments of the rivalry kind of course, I don't want to paint an unrealistic picture, but these ones happen more. What a blessing.