I had NO idea what I was in for when we were blessed with 2 boys. My husband and I also have a daughter, but things are different with her than our boys. She is 100% girly and loves all things horses, ballet and princesses. My boys, on the other hand, are 100%, pure, boy. They are loud, messy and stinky. I wouldn’t trade them for anything, but I was not at all prepared for life with 2 boys.

My boys are different and have their own distinct personalities. My older son loves anything that has to do with music and soccer. He is also the instigator as well as our peace maker. Strange for one child to be both, but he is. He cuddles and is affectionate on his own terms, but when he is, it makes my heart melt. He also thrives on affirmation and being a helper. My youngest is a cuddle bug. He loves monkey’s, John Deere tractors and robots. He also loves anything that involves a ball. He is not fan of cleaning and would rather snuggle than clean anything.

This past week was pretty typical of what we experience with our boys. They are physical with each other and yes, it often causes one or both of them to walk away with cuts and bruises. They can go from being the best of friends to being at odds with each other and back again in the course of about 5 mins.

Tuesday, my kids went to school and then I decided to take the kids to the local mall to ride the carousal and to play in the play area. The carousal ride was fine and then we went to the play area. My kids were the “big” kids on that day. There seemed to be more small ones, just learning to walk than normal. My boys, being themselves, were running and jumping all over the place. I had to have several conversations with them and even issue at least one timeout due to them being too rough. We walked around the mall and then met my hubby for dinner. All in all it was a great night. UNTIL. Yes, until we got home. My boys walked in the door and started wresting and rough housing. As I am walking up the stairs, I can see them doing this and am trying to get them to stop. That’s when it happened. Peanut, my youngest, goes face first into the bed and lets out a blood curdling scream. At first, I thought he was over reacting, UNTIL he stands up.

He turns and looks at me while screaming and I see IT. Yep, my youngest had a huge welt and a well formed bruise on the side of his face. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t think I have ever seen a bruise appear so fast as that one, but there it was. I did what any mother would do and immediately put ice on the side of his face, gave him ibuprofen and rocked him in the rocking chair. We sat there for a good long while before he was calm and ready to put his jammies on and get ready for bed. The next morning, his face looked horrible and I dreaded taking him to church that night. I also dreaded taking him to school on Thursday with that huge bruise. Once I explained what happened, his teachers were at least semi understanding.

Fast forward to this afternoon, I needed to make a quick run to the grocery store and both boys decided they wanted to go with me. I agreed and out the door we went, As I turned to lock the door, I hear a scream. When I turn around my older son was sitting on the ground and holding his knees with tears running down his face. Somehow he managed to trip and fall and scrape the palm of his hands as well as his knees. I sent him back inside to let daddy clean him up and took only my youngest to the store.

My youngest picked out chocolate cupcakes with green frosting because he thought they would help big brother feel better. Green is my older son’s favorite color and I thought it was sweet that my youngest remembered that.

This is only a small taste of what I have been through with my boys. Last year, I sent both of them to school, on the first day, with black eyes. I feel like every time I send them to school they have a new cut, scrape or bruise. In my Facebook post Tuesday night, I posted that I was waiting for DCS to show up at my door. Other mothers of boys tell me that this is completely normal and that DCS will not show up, but I am not completely convinced. My boys seems to attract injuries and even at times appear to be proud of those injuries.

My youngest was our first trip to the ER a couple of years ago and at that time, I fully expected DCS to show up because he had a gash between his eyes. The ER doctor was amazing. He said “Mama. This is your first trip to the ER, but I can promise, it won’t be your last.” There is a part of me that hopes and prays that he is wrong, there is a part of me that knows he was giving me a heads up on what was to come.

While I look forward to watching my 2 little boys grow up, I am also a little afraid of what lies ahead for them. I hope that they maintain their passion and zeal for life, but maybe develop a little gentility along the way. Until then, I will keep plenty of band-aids on hand and give loves and cuddles as the accidents happen.

I am sure there will be more blog stories about them in the years to come.