Crazy Boy

Before we had the big ultrasound that told us Liam was a boy, I was secretly hoping we were having another girl. I didn't know anything about raising boys since I grew up with a sister. And since Ryan and I grew up in the same neighborhood, I saw firsthand what his house was like with five boys: noisy, messy, chaotic. The messy and chaotic didn't bother me as much as the noise level. I've been to rock concerts that weren't as loud as his house. (Don't get me wrong - his house was a LOT of fun and I'm guessing that the noise was just a natural byproduct of all that fun.)

Despite my earlier preference, once Liam was born, I swore that I wouldn't have traded him for a million baby girls. He became my sweet boy and I still love getting kisses from him, especially when his pointy little nose pokes me on the cheek.

Now that we have two boys, I'm getting a bit worried. Our house is no longer quiet. And it sure isn't as nice and tidy as it used to be. And the level of chaos has my nerves completely frazzled by 5 pm. Yesterday, in the twelve hours he was awake, Liam managed to:

- Pull a bag of cherries off of the display table at the grocery store. The bag was not sealed shut. We now own a bag of really dirty cherries.

- Find the keys to the china cabinet, climb on a dining room chair and attempt to open the doors the protect my very old and breakable china collection. "Key, Nonny!" he declared. He was so proud of himself for that discovery.

- Climb on the side of Evan's crib and flip the light switch a million times. Evan's room looked like a disco. And, oh yeah, Evan was in there, too. He was pulling all of the wipes out of the box of diaper wipes.

- Unlock, open and run out of the front door to chase the garbage truck. Luckily, we have the alarm set to beep when a door is opened so I heard him before he got too far.

- Open Evan's door despite the "child-proof" door knob cover and wake up his brother from his nap. Evan was not happy.

- Find a black pen and practice writing his ABC's on the white couch. Granted, he found a tiny scrap of paper to place between the pen and the couch, but I almost had a heart attack when I saw him (and didn't see the tiny scrap of paper).

All of this was in addition to his usual routine of hair pulling, brother pushing, toy stealing, crying, tattling and whining. And let's not forget the jumping on the bed and jumping off of the couch.

And that was just Liam. No wonder I'm exhausted by the time evening comes.

I'm getting pretty scared about what the future holds as Evan gets bigger and starts playing with Liam more. I have a feeling that my house is going to be the messy, noisy and chaotic one of the neighborhood. But, I guess if it's also a fun house, I'll be okay with it. I'll just need to learn to overlook or live with the mess.

And I'll need a great set of ear plugs. But then I won't be able to hear the beep when the front door opens. What to do, what to do.......