Who says you are not enough?!

I remember reading this article a couple of years ago before I had the twins, when life was full of bon bons and leisure time. (NOT!!!) I remember thinking even then how dumb this woman's question was and how could any semi-intelligent person even ask this about being a mother. Someone recently posted it on Facebook, reminding me if it's existence. I thought it was written so well. It really laid out the craziness and the mental exhaustion that being a Mom can be. Now of course, don't get me wrong. I love being a mom. I love my amazing boys. I love that I get to contribute to a part of who they become, thus contributing to society as a whole in my opinion, because I am raising amazing kids who will do great things in the world if I do say so myself. ;) But seriously, I personally think all parents should feel this way about your kids or what is it really all for? I mean if it wasn't, at least in part, to make our kids exceptional contributors then what would they be for? Just for our personal amusement and then when they turn 18, we can be done being amused and expect that they function as respectful, loving adults. Although there are exceptions of kids who had little to no parenting as a child and became incredible people it is much less likely then a child whose parents were present and taught them to kick ass each and every day. So when you put some perspective on it like this I don't see how anyone could belittle the job of being a mother. I could be raising the man who cure cancer or aids or invents a 100% clean and sustainable power source or maybe, just maybe he will be the worlds greatest husband and father. You could be too!! Whitney was so right. The children really are our future! ;) So when someone makes me feel like I am less then enough because I'm 'just' a mom and I'm too tired for nights out, or to keep my house spotless I just think to myself "hopefully my son invents a pill that fixes your medical disorder of "judgmental bitchiness" cause I will get your ass in that clinical trail asap!! Here is a link to the Washington Post article in case it's easier to read. Even when we doubt our abilities, we have to always remember that our hearts are in the right place and no one can take that away from us unless we let them. Mom's Kick Butt!!! Cheers to my fellow Moms and the incredible people who support us in the hardest job on earth!!

Mini MacGyver

You know............. when your boys "MacGyver" any and all common house hold item. I am sure not all boys have a desire to build a man killing robot out of a car battery and 3 paper clips but they do around here. Cohen has always loved to build things. He has made numerous jet packs out of 2 liter pop bottles, guns out of toilet paper and paper towel tubes, and boats from those little card boar snack trays they receive with their school lunches. In fact he has "saved" and brought home every single snack tray since first grade for what he calls his "art-crafts." (I have a whole cupboard of 'waiting to become' art crafts.) He saves the seeds from any fruit he eats and plants them randomly in my back yard. So if you show up one day and I have an apple tree growing out of my patio you will know why! He actually builds some pretty impressive things with random "junk" he has dug back out of my recycling. Other then the fact that he is a giant pack rat I think it's great, well, with one exception. The massive use of dental floss!! Now you would think he would have the healthiest most plaque free gums and teeth in Portland with what we go through around this house, but unfortunately according to his dentist that is not nearly the case. You wouldn't believe the uses a boy can find for floss. But my favorite of all time was when I walked in to his room one day and he and Wyatt had stung it from his platform bed to the closet rod and back again. I asked what the heck were they doing. He said quite matter-of-factly "We built a zip line!" If that aint MacGyver-like I don't know what is. I truly wish I had a picture of his design, but as it was probably the 3rd container of floss in a week that had been "re-purposed" I was pretty much just seeing red at the time. What is a crafty Mom to do but (after calming down) be proud and impressed of each and every project!!

What's with boys and toy guns?

You know...............When they can turn even to most nonviolent, beautiful thing into a gun!!! I am so over toys guns!! In fact I have always hated them. When I had my first child I was absolutely determent to never let him have a toys gun of any kind. Funny thing about boys, they find a way to make ever last damn thing a freakin' gun!! Cohen would hold toy drills, Lego's, and even sippy cups up and pretend to shoot them. I was fighting a loosing battle every day! It didn't change with the other 3 coming along either. Bodhi says all of 10 word. You can bet "gun" was one of the first. So the other day when I was making this coat wrack to put up near the front door wouldn't you guess Wyatt picked up right up and turned it over pointing it like it was some kind of automatic weapon.

I eventually gave in on having guns. Mr Drey and I have NEVER purchase a single toy gun for our boys but EVERYONE else does. It seems to be the most popular gift the receive. After all it is the thing they want more then any other toy.

Why are you so sweaty? I was watching Cops.

You know your the Mom of 4 boys when your life feels like a Will Ferrell movie every day!! I have come a long way since the birth of my first son. I remember thinking when the Ultrasound tech said I was having a boy, "A boy! What am I gonna do with a boy?" Everyone in my family has girls. I have a sister and a step sister. My Mom is 1 of 4 girls and they all, you guessed it, had GIRLS and My Dad's brother had 3 girls as well. Seriously, There were NO BOYS and I didn't think we were capable of making/having them in our family. Turns out it is what I am best at!! ;) (Yes I realize that Aaron is the one truly responsible.) Now that I am surrounded by them I have had time to adjust, and it was a big adjustment! I had no idea humans were capable of taking about poop, farts, penises, eating bugs, guns, bad guys, good guys and Star Wars as much as boys can!! I have become so accustom to the grossness that is boy, that I too, on occasion, have made degenerate stomach churning jokes myself. But those jokes are so worth the reward when I see the surprised and excited look on my boys faces. "Did Mom really just say that? Awesome!!" I think it has made me a better mother and a better person. I can enjoy watching some dancing with the Stars but still look forward to the football game all week!

So here's to just the right amount of gross, a pinch of inappropriate, a dash of 'I'm stronger then you' and a whole lot of love!!!

My light saber is as big as yours!!

You know your the mother of 4 boys when you own all most twice as many light sabers as you have children! Oh my Star Wars! I wont lie to you. I do love Star Wars. I can remember being a little girl and my dad watching Star Wars with us each year when it was broadcast on a network channel. Now that I have 4 boys of my own I can see the love of Star Wars in each of them. We have at least biweekly Light Saber fights in our living room. (Yep, I get in on that craziness!!! You bet ya!) The older boys quote the movie like they themselves acted in it! If I do a quick count I believe we have 7 light sabers in this house and I wouldn't have it any other way!! Do not underestimate the force in a Momma of 4 boys!!!

(Adult Content kind of) If you give a baby a Penis...

This subject matter may be slightly offensive to like 7 members of society, so if you are one of the seven you might want to stop reading now. You know you are the Mom of 4 boys when you have an ultrasound photo of each baby in Utero with his hand placed firmly around his Penis. In fact I have had a lot of ultrasounds in the last 8+ years and I have seen this same handle bar action at least 15 times while pregnant. During my last pregnancy with my twins I had an Ultrasound at least every 4 weeks and during one of those "hey Mom! Look what I found down here!!" moments the ultrasound tech said that she had been doing her job for 18 years and that every boy grab his 'junk' and every little girl would always touch her face or head. Figures, huh! And it sure doesn't stop there. All for of my boys learned to say the word peepee with in the first 5 words in their vocabulary. Now with my twins I have noticed that they seem to really take note of each other 'business' during diaper changes and bath. Pointing like a paleontologist would when discovering a new species of dinosaur shouting 'peepee, peepee!!' I would like to think that as they become young men and then grown men that they will grow out of this behavior. But if you have a husband then you and I both know that will never happen. ;)

I sure hope that's a raisin you just ate off of the floor!

You know your the Mom of 4 boys when you watch your toddler pick up a small object off of the floor and quickly shove it in their mouth and you do nothing because you are quite sure it was a raisin from their morning snack. At least you are pretty sure. I mean what is the worst that could happen. I would tell you but I am not sure you would have the stomach for it. With my first child I was so careful. Everything was scrubbed thoroughly. if it fell to the floor it went straight in the trash. Now a days I like to give those kids the benefit of the doubt, ya know. I am a firm believer in the 10 second rule. Turns out carpet fuzz can't kill, and I conveniently side with the school of thought that dirt that is ingested builds their immune system. If this is true my boys could fight off the bird flu!! ;)

Happy snacking/ immune building Mommas!!

My Over Picker is an Over Sharer

You know you are the Mother of 4 boys when one comes to you and says "Mom, I need a Kleenex. I picked to hard!" Amazing how there can be a box of Kleenex in every room of the house but a finger always does a better job when your 5. I can't tell you how many times in my 7 years of being a Momma I have had a small toddler hand thrust in my face with a big green glob stuck on the end of it, as if to say 'Here Mom. Do something with this!' I guess this is better then the alternative of oral disposal. ;)

It aint myin'. Is it Urine?

You know your the mother of 4 little boys when you wake up in the middle of the night in the dark to use the bathroom and you are very careful to not let the bottom of your pj's touch the floor around the toilet in fear that a small man child may have woke in the middle of the night and the dark before you and in his sleepy state peed more on the floor then in the toilet.

This sweet innocent looking boy is by far the most guilty of creating this hazard in our home.