Brotherly Love (can sometimes be smothering...)

Just enjoying my three boys these days. I've still had lots of help from Jon and my MIL but have had a few chunks of time parenting on my own. Its definitely doable. Challenging, but doable. Obviously the hardest part is when I'm stuck in one spot nursing the babe but I'll continue to get the hang of this (as much as anyone ever possibly can!). My mom gets into town late tomorrow night and will be here all week. I'm thrilled to have full-time support for a week :)

The last few days, Dawson has started showing us that he's not so sure he's happy that his position in the family has been usurped by the little bundle. He's definitely throwing more fits than normal but that's all to be expected. He's so funny when Channing cries--he doesn't like it. (Apparently he thinks he's the only one allowed to do that in this family!) The other day in the car he said, "Channing, stop crying! I'm trying to read!"

The first shot I got with all three boys (only took me a week!). Channing, you really need to work on your posing for pictures. But I guess I'll give you a break since you're kinda new at all this.

I left Bennett on "Channing Duty" a couple days ago because Dawson was having a meltdown somewhere in the house. My instructions were to not pick him up. I came back to find this:

"Mom, I made him warm and cozy!". I couldn't help myself. I was cracking up. But after I regained my strict mommy face, Bennett learned a new word: smother. I made it clear why that wasn't such a good idea.

The funniest part was under the six pillows (with a couple burp cloths in between) there were about five blankets, one pair of my sweatpants, my sweatshirt and a tank top. He had put every soft item he could find in the whole room on top of him.

And my last story of the Colyer boy antics: I ran to the grocery store tonight (ALONE! :) when Jon got home. Jon informed me when I got back home that Dawson escaped and he made it all the way down to the corner of our street (we're two houses in) holding his basketball and only wearing a shirt. And it was already dark out! I always keep the front door locked for this very reason but I hadn't shut the garage behind me so he got out that way. This would be bad enough on its own but its just one of many. I have to hold some kind of record for runaway children. About a month ago, Dawson and Bennett were in the backyard together and Dawson climbed up the big hill, walked to where there was a break in the fence, went around it and started walking up NW 70th (a four lane divided road!!) towards Merle Hay (sorry, if you're not familiar with our house, that'll all sound confusing. Trust me when I say he was a long way from home!). By the time Bennett ran back home and told us and Jon caught up to him, two people had already pulled over and called the cops. (In my defense, I asked Jon if he thought Dawson was ok up by the fence since I saw him walking up there alone and Jon said, "Oh yeah, that fence keeps going all the way around." So....not my fault :) I've also had to call security to help me find my missing child three times and my mother-in-law has once. Other than the time at the zoo, the other three times we found them before mall security even got there but STILL! I'd really like to completely blame this on all the fact that my boys are completely fearless and very adventuresome and not on my parenting skills but I have to take some responsibility in all this :) Admittedly, I am a laid back parent. I'm not a hoverer. So maybe the bottom line here is, with three boys under my care, I probably need to be a lot more vigilant!