"Babies! Everywhere!"

I'm serious! First I find out our friends are having a boy, then my aunt (47 years old BTW) is having a girl, then we learn Zach's babysitter is going to have one. Here's a little quick math: Add 22 years from the kid's birthday and that is when he/she will be done with college. Now I was 26 when Emmy was born and 30 when Zach was born. I really didn't want to wait that long to have kids but sometimes things happen that way. So I will be 52 when Zach is done with college. Not a bad age to enjoy my twilight years. Assuming I make it to 90 that is almost 40 years. To put things in perspective, my brother in law Jay will be 62 when his youngest graduates, my aunt will be 69 and my dad will be 70. That's nuts. Literally nuts.

So now we have two showers to plan for. Since my aunt made it a couples shower (groan) now I have to go...why do women do that? Then our friend Branda's shower is on Dec 3rd which fortunately I don't have to go to. But the father Jerramy does...as does her son Camron. Man has he gotten obnoxious. He's gonna get pounded one of these days. Probably by me ha ha. It's so funny how her mom is "making" them go...een though it's a baby shower...and they're guys. We were supposed to all hang out in downtown Ft Worth while it was going on but since he won't stand up to her it's just me, Emmy and Zach. Which is cool. We're going to go to the Water Gardens since it will be Zach's first visit. Never seen it? Here's a pic:


This was about 2 years ago. I can't believe how much she's grown since then. We've always loved coming here. For me personally this place was kind of a trip down memory lane. I don't remember when I first came here but it always seemed a part of me. I hope the kiddos will feel the same way.

Cari mentions having another kid every now and then. I keep telling her "I'm done!" Maybe she's just trying to bug me. Mission successful then! I really don't want a 3rd kid. Then you have that Jan Brady middle kid complex that would fall on Zach. I already know my kids are going to be a bit more sensitive then other kids, and knowing that has made me more sensitive to their needs and feelings. In order to connect with your kids you first have to think like one. Cari says I have that down lol. Second you have to pay attention to them and listen to them to see how they react to adversity. Emmy is tough as nails physically but if someone says something a little bit mean to her she has a hard time getting over it. Maybe that's just girls, I don't know...but I wouldn't change a thing about her. Big things like listening and following directions can be taught but the kid has to integrate that into their behaviour. So far she's awesome at it. I think there's two ways to challenge your kids: on your terms and on their terms. My dad definitely pushed me on his terms. Giving an 8-year old kid a weedwacker and getting mad at him for not using it perfectly is not the way to go. I look back on it and laugh but back then it really affected my self-esteem. I always vowed to do a lot of things differently then him. Hopefully I am. When Emmy was 2 she took a bar of soap and starting washing herself in the bath, so I encouraged that. She's been doing it ever since. She could dress herself at 3, and now at 5 she's learning what "matching" means ha ha. With Zach, I'm showing him how to put his arms through his shirt sleeves. Slowly but surely he will get the hang of it. Little things like that are good for kids. One thing kids need in their life is knowing their parents are proud of them in everything they do. But they need to hear it too. I'm still waiting for my dad to tell me he's proud of something I did. Anything. I get the feeling I'll never hear it.