12 days

This is one of my favorite pictures from the morning Carson was born. Those other three monkeys have been "my boys" since the oldest one was born 16 years ago. When I didn't think I could stand not being a mom another day, I would just borrow one of them. (Afterward, I generally felt like I could wait a little longer. :) )

What I love the most about those 3 now is how much they love and adore MY little man. Derek (the oldest) has wanted a cousin since before Rooster and I were even married. He used to grab a piece of blank notebook paper and say, "Oh look ,it's a letter from my cousin. Oh that's right, I don't have a cousin." So sometime in July, his cousin wrote him a letter to let him know that he was on the way. That was my most favorite letter to write...even though he thought I was kidding him.

Russ has sort of taken possession of Carson. He is the first and last to grab him whenever we are all together. When I would be feeding Carson, Russ would come by and tell me he had dibs when I got finished. I love that. Carson thinks that Russ is pretty great too. Last weekend, Russ taught Carson how to play basketball....in the STREET.

Caleb...well that's Carson's 'big cousin'. He likes to show him the best way to play with his toys and loves to pat him on the head. When we brought Carson home, Caleb would come and stand by him and rub his head/hair in the same place for minutes on end. Rooster was worried he was going to rub it bald.

And not to be forgotten, there's Chace, the youngest of all of our nephews. The only grandson on Rooster's side. The one who has been lapping up all the attention for 2 years when Carson came along. The one who has surprised us all and absolutely LOVES his cousin. He doesn't quite understand why he can't play football yet and he can't wrestle with him but he loves him none the less. Some Tuesday mornings, it's a bit tough to get Chace to MDO because he wants to stay and play with Carson. I love to watch them together and imagine them being big buddies as they grow up together.

My baby is one lucky little man. I can only wonder what good & bad things his big cousins will teach him. (Lord - can we puuuulleeezzz get a girl next time??? As you can tell, our families are a little lopsided.)