Best Brothers

When I was pregnant with Carter, I was pretty convinced that he was a girl.  I tried to keep an open mind not knowing the gender, but deep down I was sure it was a girl.  Perhaps it was just wishful thinking?  I mean, that's the perfect American family, right?  One boy, one girl.  So, as you can imagine, we were quite surprised when Carter James was born.  Not disappointed by any means, just a little surprised.  It took me a while to wrap my head around the fact that we now had two boys.  Boys.  Two boys.  Not a boy and a girl.  Two boys.  

But let me just say .... I LOVE having two boys.  Already, at the ages of 8 months and almost 3 years, my boys are becoming best friends.  I didn't think it was possible this soon, but that's the way it is in our house.  Just the other morning, Carter was being silly at the breakfast table which totally made Brooks laugh.  Then because Brooks was laughing, Carter started laughing.  Then because Carter was laughing, Brooks laughed even harder.  Oh the joy of hearing my dining room filled with little boy laughter!

Brooks tries to make Carter laugh all.the.time.  He makes silly faces, silly noises and "accidentally" drops things on the floor.  All in hopes of hearing a giggle out of his little brother.  And when we play, Carter will "chase" Brooks, tackle him and give him slobbery wet baby kisses.  And Brooks doesn't mind.  Brooks is always looking out for Carter, making sure he's not putting things in his mouth or asking me to pick him up if he's crying.  And Carter has discovered the bounty of food crumbs left underneath Brooks' chair at the table, making him appreciate his big brother even more.  (See?  Who needs a dog.  We have a baby Roomba to clean up :)  For at least a half an hour this afternoon, I was busy in the kitchen and my two boys just played .... together.

Now, I know there will be times of arguing and fighting.  I'm not that naive to think it will always be smiles and sharing.  I've already heard plenty of "Caaaaaarter, noooooo!  That's myyyyyyyy tooooooooooy".  But as Brooks is learning that the things in our house now belong to both of them, he's getting better about sharing toys (at least the ones he doesn't want to play with).  He's a super big brother.  And Carter's a pretty great little brother.

I love my boys.  And I love being their mom.