thankful

This is ds10. My parents are visiting from Denver and they were wondering what I meant when I wrote ds10 on my blog. After explaining we discussed other acronyms I could use for ds10. bb10 is for bright boy 10 years old. bhhb10 is for bushy head hair boy10. bs10 is for bright son10. this picture is 2 years old and he is a statue in a wax museum at the school. He had a biography memorized that he would say if you pushed his button. He chose Daniel Boone because he is an ancestor; like 8 greats uncle. Here I think you could call him ps8; pretty son 8. This is all leading up to me saying that I am grateful for our youngest son. Some may wonder why we didn't stop at just 5 kids, but we had Andrew, a little bit of a surprise but one of the greatest joys to have around. When he was 3 months old his older brother (Brian 15) was diagnosed with cancer. This baby and our toddler brought so much laughter and craziness to our busy world. But we laughed! Every time the little boys got into trouble we grabbed the camera and laughed. After Brian died there were many mornings when I lay in bed thinking about never getting up, and a tiny body would climb into bed and cuddle. I remember thinking that if I didn't get up the 2 year old that would probably kill himself. (We had more calls to poison control with the last 2 than the other 4 combined, he taught himself and his older brother how to open the child safety locks.) We had a pool and stairs and a 4 year old which meant mom could not safely ignore anything. I think it helped. And we kept laughing and loving the other children so much that we managed to cope. (I was going to say recover but I don't think that's the right word. You don't really recover from a death, it becomes a part of you and your life experiences and I hope it helps to made me a stronger more faithful person.)

So I am grateful to be an 'old mom'. Just last week the receptionist at school told ds10 that his grandma was here to pick him up. I do feel old when I go to the school and all the parents of the kids look like they are 21. I am so lucky to have these boys.

I am also thankful to have 2 children that can spell. It's really a small thing but not having to quiz/work with spelling is wonderful! My first 4 really struggled with spelling (it was impossible for 2 of them) and these last 2 get 100's on almost every test without studying. I did nothing different, they were born knowing how to spell! Not really but I still find it amazing. I think there must be a spelling gene, either you have it or you don't.