I have two boys.  My sister has three girls.

Add them up and whaddya get?

Two boys are sort of like having six girls.

So imagine having six girls plus another three – that’s like nine kids in a room at once.

This may not make any sense at all.  But if you’re a mom of just boys, you sort of understand what I’m getting at.

Whenever I get together with my sister and her family, they are always surprised by the energy my boys have.  And amused.

Frightened too.

Boys are different – yes they are.

They like to shout out bathroom words for no real reason.

They laugh at their own farts.

They like to burp out the alphabet.

They don’t have the best table manners.

They are rough and rambunctious.

They want to wrestle like UFC champs and jump off furniture like Superman.

Ah yes, boys boys boys!

My boys.

And yes the boys meet up with the girls, some adorable things happen.

Like my almost five-year-old wanting to cuddle with his ten-year-old cousin.  Or watching him play with his four-year-old cousin and her doll house.

Or when my seven-year-old battles it out with my niece on the Wii.

I cherish these moments because the next time we are all together, all of them will be just a little bit older.

When I see my nieces twice a year, three times if I’m lucky, what amazes me is that they have grown before my eyes.  I’m saddened by the fact that I haven’t been able to watch their features change, their personalities form, their vocabularies matured.

My 10-year-old niece happens to also be my goddaughter.  The baby girl I once knew is a tween, but still that adorable baby girl that would fall asleep laying on top of me.

If my sister lived near, we would be visiting every weekend at the very least.  I’d have time to watch their soccer games, put braids in their hair, paint their toenails and go to their school concerts.

Now I’m just left with creating amazing holiday memories and squeezing every ounce of fun into those much-too-short visits.

 

Author

Maria Lianos-Carbone is the author of “Oh Baby! A Mom’s Self-Care Survival Guide for the First Year”, and publisher of amotherworld.com, a leading lifestyle blog for women.

7 Comments

  1. Awww.. SUCH precious memories and pics having the kids all together!! Had a family get-together on the wknd and now it’s my GRT-nieces & nephews playing. Seems NO times since it was their parents!

  2. As a mom of 2 boys, I can so relate to this post. I used to get stressed being around my brother when he just had his daughter because my boys seemed so rough. Now he & wife have a boy, too, and they told me: “We get it now.” LOL!

  3. I love the photo you have here and it looks really lovable…I agree that this is one of the best memories you can have…

  4. Paula Schuck Reply

    Taking a break from writing my Christmas cards to do this. I am glad I did. Your blog is lively and lovely. Nice layout too. I have girls, but one that thinks she is a boy. Really. Never met a sport she did not like, or a tree she coildn’t climb, or a fart joke that didn’t make her scream. She is in love with these hex bugs, so that is how I found you tonight. But I am poking around a bit too.

    Paula
    @inkscrblr

  5. What a very memorable moment in this photo…This is one of the best photos I have seen…

  6. Kristel Mae Reply

    I love the photo you have here for us…It looks really so memorable!!

  7. Shameme Adams Reply

    AAaaawww, I bet they are also very sweet too!!. My name is Shameme and one of my dreams is to have just ONE Son!!!. I just think you are really lucky!!. You sound like you live in America?, I’m wanting as many American friends as possible so please feel free to email me and we can maybe be friends?. We can chat about your boys!! :). It’s shameme.adams@gmail.com.

    Shameme x

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