That Y Chromosome

I saw my sister over the weekend. She was telling me how her girls were requesting their hair to be styled in a side ponytail just like a friend from school. I watched her daughter prance around in the front yard in cute purple polka-dot pants and her other daughter flipping her twisted side ponytail about as she played.

Then I had one of those Y Chromosome moments. The kind of moment where I looked at my kids and appreciated the dirt on their knees and the fact that they would likely never be begging me to style their hair like their best pal at school. I panicked as I came to the conclusion I now have no idea what I would do with a girl. They are so foreign and intimidating. And I like being the only one allowed to overreact and experience unexplainable mood swings in the house.

I was kind of getting to the point where I forgot little girls even existed. It's true. There are boys everywhere I turn. To prove it, I uploaded a ton of pictures and found one thing in common. That blessed Y Chromosome.

We decorated eggs for the very first time in our whole entire marriage this year. It was cold and messy and relatively uneventful. 

As I said on Instagram -- Ever since I found out baby #2 was a boy, I've been dying to put them in matching outfits.

I'm gushing at the sight of these two darlings.

Look at them even posing like twinners. :)

Eli and Carson had a rocky start. By start I mean the first six months or more of Carson's life. It was really hard. Eli did not adjust well and Carson required a lot of attention. But now they are the best of buds. They are so sweet together and I am grateful I had them so close because it's really special to watch them interact.

Lots of things concern Eli. If he's worried about something or had the slightest frightening thing happen to him, I hear about it all day long. "Mom. Did you see that spider under the deck?"
"Yes." I tell him.
"Is he going to get me?"
"No. He won't get you if you leave him alone."
"If I leave him alone?"
"Yeah. If you don't bug him he won't get you."
"But he's right there, Mom. He'll crawl and get me."

All. Day. Long. I guess paranoia is genetic.

Carson is morphing into a trouble-making toddler right before my eyes.

Unfortunately that's not Oreo drool lining Carson's mouth. Dirt can sometimes be really delicious when you're an almost one-year-old. Or so he tells me.

The General Conference watching totem pole. The boys were happy to spend some time with Jeff after hardly seeing him all week. (Boo busy season!)

I got to sneak away to spend Saturday afternoon with this little stud:

Newland and I got along juuuuuuust fine. Particularly when I wiggled stuffed animals just out of his reach.

Throw Carson on the couch in the evenings and it makes for prime photo ops. His favorite place in the house is probably propped up on the couch looking out the front window.

His left hand kills me in this picture. And his pointy ear. When he was born, one of his ears was alarmingly pointy. It worried me at first, but then it was kind of reassuring because every time the nurses brought him back to me after being in the nursery, I would check his ear to make sure he was mine. 

Eli found a spider on the window and made this face:

Then he inched closer and closer to investigate.

Eli locked Carson out of his room today. Carson loves playing with Eli, so he wasn't going to let the door keep him from playing with his brother.

They did this for about half an hour.

Brothers are the best.