Home sweet home

I was so happy to see my husband when he finally arrived at home last night at 1 a.m. after nearly 24 hours of traveling on very little sleep. Maybe it was relief that he was back home, in the US, safe and sound. Or maybe it was that I missed his dirty socks laying on the back of the couch (not really). Most likely, it was because my kids have been wild since he's been gone and I am ready for him to give me a break! That Mother's Day gift is going to come in handy...

Jake has transformed, overnight it seems, from the sweetest little baby into the loudest, toughest little boy I've been around. I honestly don't know if discipline is going to be an option with him. He now will turn to me when he's in trouble and point his finger at me and/or slap my hand. My mom and I were totally cracking up at him over the weekend, when he would go to the tv to turn it off (isn't it fun to watch the light go off and on when you hit that button). I kept telling him no and slapping his hand to reinforce the message (the slaps were not that hard, but they were enough for him to understand). He would simply laugh and slap my hand back or point his finger at me. Then, he'd return to the tv to do it again. I slapped his hand so many times, a little harder each time, that it was blood red... yet, it did not work. He kept laughing (and so did we when he wasn't looking). What do you do with a little boy like that?

In all honesty, I'm so happy to see him becoming a little more rowdy. He's been such a sweet little guy and always taking orders from Bailey, so I'm happy to see that he might stand up to her a few dozen times a day. While they really are wild children (so extremely loud that I'm truly surprised we haven't had complaints about noise from our neighbors), they are also extremely sweet. Watching them play together is becoming more and more fun. Among a thousand pretending games that were played today, they wanted to pretend they were leaving us (me and Brad). They kept walking into the other living room, toward the front door, and yelling bye to us waving the entire time. They'd run back and give us kisses and hugs, and then leave again. They'd come back and go again. For some reason, they found pure hilarity in doing this. Jake was giggling so hard, blowing us kisses and coming back with his little arms open for a hug. Our house will never be quiet again... except at midnight when all are exhausted. :) I can't imagine life any other way.