Protecting my Boys on this Adventure

Well, Birthday week has come to an end... we are still planning a very small party with a couple of the boys friends, but we are on day 9 of not feeling well in our house so it has been postponed for now. Both boys got sick on Pete and Greg's birthday and were sick through John's birthday and beyond. They are both finally on the mend after having ear infections, Pete with Strep and John with RSV. Try giving a 1 year old an inhaler... ha! And the "pink" medicine that they put flavor in to make it taste good... definitely does not taste good and just stains their clothes as they wriggle and squirm to get away from the medicine dropper you are forcing into their mouths! So needless to say it has been a long week and a half.

I really enjoyed seeing my boys have fun with the birthday festivities, but I am sure glad it is over. Perhaps we will think about timing of the year and what we have going on in a certain month when we plan the next baby ;) maybe we should shoot for April, June, October or November... those are fairly boring months for us, but then again it is nice to have some down time too.... I suppose this thought is for an entirely different post. :)

So now we are back in the swing of things and my mind has been able to focus on other things... I am done with presents and birthday cakes and cleaning up after all of it! I have been thinking about organizing, rearranging and redecorating... we have no money for that, but I have still been thinking about it. I have been thinking about life and where we might be in 5 years... probably with a couple more kids and a house busting at the seams (one can only hope) and then I start to think about money and how we will fit in a house the size of ours with that many kids and how we will pay for all of that as it is always a constant struggle now... but my husband reminds me that we have always been fine and that somehow God always provides for us.

Perhaps the main thought on my mind though has been thinking about how to protect my kids from "bad guys", as Pete would say, and trying to shield their eyes from things they don't need to see. And I am finding that even though I try very hard to keep them from seeing things I don't want them to see, they still see them. One example happened just yesterday... we were heading to Baraboo (I was taking the boys to Greg so I could go to the dentist) and we came upon two troopers and a Dells police officer with a vehicle pulled over. I noticed several pieces of the inside of the car on the roof (they had taken the inside panels of the doors out) and of course Pete noticed a "doggy"! "What is that doggy doing? Why is he walking around that car? Why is he barking and trying to get in that car?"

Yikes! What do I say? How do I explain that there are people out there who do bad things or dumb things... how do I explain what drugs are and that there are kinds of drugs that are not medicine... that the "drugs" mom and dad take are to make them feel better and that we get our medicine from our doctors... that is quite a load for a 3 year old, so I said, "oh that person must have lost something and doggies have really good noses and can smell things that we can't. So it is easier for them to find our lost things!" Yeah good one mom... now he will probably start asking our dog to find things for him!

I realize that I will never be able to keep them from seeing bad things, from getting sick, and getting hurt, but I have to at least try! That is, after all, my number one job! It is also quite an exhausting job too! So as this adventure continues and the world continues to be a bit of a scary place at times, I realize I definitely have my work cut out for me. I want to teach them how to be good, and caring, to be giving, thoughtful, gracious, humble, etc. There are so many things I want them to be... I guess I need to work on being better at those things as well and perhaps they will model my behavior as they grow up. It is easier to teach by example... gosh, being a role model sure is a tough job! Also, I definitely need to work on how I am going to answer the tough questions they come up with, but hopefully they don't come up very often. I would like to stick with the simple questions... and the ones that make me laugh and wonder where they came up with that... like last night when Pete asked me, "why do you have a mustache?"

After I got over being embarrassed, I said, "Mommies don't have mustaches... it is just light colored little hairs... everyone has little tiny hairs all over their bodies! If you think I have one then you must have a mustache too! And furthermore, the only people who can see Mommy's 'mustache' are those people who she kisses and gets really close to, which is you and John and Daddy." Good thing I don't go around kissing all sorts of people... at least I know these guys are stuck with me and my "mustache"! I am now looking for a way to get rid of my "mustache" though! Thanks Pete! Needless to say this adventure will never be boring and will definitely be full of laughs and lots of learning! I can't wait to see what they come up with next! Oh and please don't spread it around that I have a mustache! :)