DJ, the 10-year-old superhero-in-waiting we are hosting for the summer, has now been in our home for five days. And as I’ve learned all about this spirited young man who is incredibly caring, CURIOUS and courageous, I’ve also learned a few things about LIFE … and DOING life with four boys.
Read moreIt Takes the Mess to Make the Masterpiece
I’m a first-born, Type A, slightly psychotic organizer. I like structure. Lists. Organization. Order.
In my eyes, the most beautiful piece of art that hangs on my wall is my color-coded calendar and meal planning board (the woman who turned my life’s lists into home artwork is a genius!).
Although my own sister is this extraordinarily talented professional artist, I received none of those art appreciation genes. Beauty IS a pantry organized and categorized into matching white bins with perfectly centered labels. Sometimes, like a good appreciator of art, I even open my pantry door to observe their loveliness. To stare at them in all their uniform glory, sitting so obediently in straight lines and doing exactly what’s expected of them.
Order — THAT’s beautiful.
Chaos — that’s my ugly.
It’s God’s funny joke that He would place this order obsessor in the middle of mayhem-filled life with three energetic boys and a heart for superheroes-in-waiting. Because life in this superhero-filled home is nothing short of cape and combat chaos.
Read moreThe Ring Bearer's Survival Guide: A Parent's Manual for Wedding Day Success
It’s wedding season, and that means blushing brides are donning dresses they’ve dreamed of all their lives to marry grooms they can’t ever imagine fighting with in ceremonies and at reception halls where nothing could possibly go wrong.
It also means that little boys everywhere are fighting their adults to march ceremoniously down aisles to celebrate occasions they do not understand in itchy clothes they can’t wait to remove. (I’m sorry to spill the beans, brides, but I’d be lying if I told you that your ushers and ring bearers participated in your weddings for love. They’re primarily there because their parents made them. And for cake their parents have promised them if they make it to the other end of the aisle.)
Saturday, as all three superheroes participated in the wedding of their much-loved cousin to their NEW cousin whom they all just adore, we got a peek behind the curtain. Because there’s an entire secret life that happens behind that Pinterest-perfect wedding party photo that brides frame on their walls for an entire married life to come. Those bowties don’t just show up without stains on them on their own!
After wrangling three superheroes in wedding clothes by myself this weekend (Super-Spouse was, of course, gone), I decided to write a manual. For the love of all future parents of ring bearers.
Read moreBoymom Survival Kit: Equipping Future Mothers of Superheroes for Success
Courtesy of Sarah Fuccillo Photography
It seems that babies come in waves.
I haven’t attended a baby shower in more than a year, and after several Father’s Day ultrasound Facebook announcements this week, it looks like I may have something close to 5, 356 games of “Guess the Baby Food” in my near future.
When one of these precious expectant families, either through birth or adoption, discovers they’re having a girl, I immediately take the full liberty of purchasing every obnoxious flower hair bow and ridiculous-looking tutu in sight. I don’t care that the mom-to-be has requested no more clothes on her baby shower invitation; she gets to buy tights and accessories and pants in colors other than “will-look-good-in-dirt” for the rest of her mommy life. She can sacrifice a little for a deprived boy mom whose shopping experience includes stripes, solids and “which t-shirt will look best with rips from tree house jumping?”.
But when these families discover they’re having a boy, I skip the clothing aisle all together. Because, let’s be honest, it’s not like those clothes will ever stay tear- or stain-free anyway.
Instead, I gift them with our Boy Survival Kit — a collection of items that we, as boyparents, have discovered are helpful, useful or vital to life with boys.
Read moreGrabbing Hold of God's Best -- Surgery May Be Required
Fourteen casts, 10 procedures/surgeries (half of them completed in our care) and two years into our family, Superman has totally lived up to his nickname.
From the moment he entered the Cuthredible league, he was not only faster than a speeding bullet (which is why I sold my morals for the monkey backpack leash I promised I would never attach to my kin) — he was stronger than steel. And he didn’t let ANY of his medical conditions, including the missing radius and underdeveloped thumb on his right hand, keep him from flying. Or keeping up with two older brothers.
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