Three

On April 19th, our two boys turned three. 

It's hard to imagine our lives before them. They bring a whole new level of loud busyness that we never knew possible. While they may be exhausting, they are also hilariously entertaining, these two. They've recently discovered the joys of wrestling together, and in undoubtedly always ends in tears and some sort of pain. But, no matter how much I tell them someone's going to get hurt...they still have to play it out. My brain can't even comprehend such insanity. I always tell people when they ask how life is since the twins, "Never a dull moment." Because, truly...there never is. (Some days I pray for just one dull moment. Just one.) In typing the past eight sentences of this post, I have taken taken them potty three times and broken up two epic fights. Nothing dull about that...
As they continue to grow, we're watching their very distinct personalities unfold. They're working on figuring out who possesses alpha rank (which often includes high-pitched wailing and flailing of appendages in every direction). They can now amazingly be the best of friends and worst of enemies all within a three second span. (It's baffling.) But ultimately...they're growing right up. In so many ways.
Cody, our firstborn boy, has claimed rights to his firstborn entitlements, so it seems.

 He has progressively worked on becoming pack leader of the two. Especially since he has learned he can ask his brother to do things for him and Chase will (mostly) happily comply. Cody has an adorable (and his sisters would say somewhat annoying at times) passion for singing. He will sing to himself off and on all day. And when he gets stuck on one song, it's nearly impossible to break him of it. He's an analyzer, always thinking and processing. Out of the two, he tends to have more fears and when he is scared of something, it almost always always transmits to his brother...so instead of one crying, screaming boy, we end up with two, but usually only one of them knows what they're screaming about. He can be intensely srong-willed, but needy at the same time.  He has rapidly gone from not being a big snuggler to being pretty darn sweet about cuddling. (Except he told me yesterday that my kisses were "messy".) He loves motorcycles, dirt bikes and four-leelahs (wheelers). And when Daddy shows him videos of people doing tricks and stunts on any of those...he always declares, "I wanna do dat." Yikes.
 Chase, our second-born boy, has taken on his role as baby of the family.

He is our Linus-boy, with his blanket and thumb as permanent companions. He is mostly compliant and soft-hearted. Chase is always up for a good time, and will usually leap first and ask questions later. Which more often than not will leave him with some sort of self-inflicted injury. He has a cute knack for sweet-talking to the animals when he thinks no one is around. And although he can be slightly whiny, he is a great cuddler when he wants to be. He's happily oblivious to a lot of things that his brother tends to read and analyze, which makes him less fearful...until his brother starts crying. Chase loves tractors of all kinds. He can name most of them and is more than happy to play with them all by himself.
Life with these two is indeed full, loud and dirty. They bring a new dimension to the family...one for which we are still acclimating to...but one for which we are thankful.

Happy Birthday, my boys, my boys.