35. My Boys

I am not a photographer. I don't claim to have the knowledge or talent that others have behind the lens. But I do like taking pictures. I especially like taking pictures of my family doing cute family things. A lot of the pictures I take are blurry or off-centered. A lot are goofy. Most are of my kids doing silly things. But occasionally, I manage to capture an image that makes my heart swell with love. 

I took one of those today. This picture features the three most important boys in my life: my husband and my two sons. This is the part where I get mushy and explain why this picture gives me so much joy.

First, I adore these three guys. Jay is a wonderful, kind, thoughtful, caring, patient, hardworking husband. He is a great father and our kids think the world of him. Thomas is the sweetest two year old you can imagine (most of the time). He loves to be helpful in any way he can. He admires his big sister and daddy and wants to be just like them. He tries so hard to be a good big brother and is always ready to give his baby brother a hug and a kiss. Berto is adorable. He loves getting attention from his siblings. He wants nothing more than to be a part of whatever is going on with the family.

This picture captures all of their personalities so well. My boys are posing in the bathroom because Jay was hard at work cleaning them today. Sinks, counters, floors, toilets, tubs, showers - the whole shebang! Because Berto was so unhappy about being left out, Jay strapped him into a carrier and cleaned two bathrooms (minus the work that needed noxious chemicals) with a six-month-old attached to him. Thomas had been helping me clean the living room, and when he saw his daddy carrying the baby, he immediately decided he needed to carry a baby too. Lucky for him, we have two carriers. So I helped him get strapped in to our second one and he ran and got his favorite stuffed animal. His bison has been his companion since before he could walk. In my picture, Thomas stands with his hands securing his bison in the carrier, while he looks down excitedly at his best friend's face. He is so happy that he gets to help his bison, help his daddy, and follow his daddy's example. 

You may also notice that all three of my guys are dressed in very similar clothing. This is Thomas's doing. He takes his responsibilities of Big Brothering very seriously. Among those responsibilities is making sure that he and Berto match every morning. If Berto is dressed first, Thomas picks out clothing that coordinates. If Thomas is dressed first, he insists that Berto matches him. Most often they are wearing the same color. Sometimes they feature similar interests (fire trucks, airplanes, bears). His favorite pair are the grey shirts with blue dinosaurs. I don't buy my boys matching outfits. This is something Thomas started doing of his own accord. Occasionally he will ask for help finding a good pair, but most often the work is all his own. He will dig through his drawers to find the best option possible, sometimes rejecting three or four outfits before settling on his final choice. This morning Jay helped the boys get dressed while I was doing the dishes. When they came to find me, Thomas had picked out a pair of outfits for him and Berto that matched almost perfectly with Jay's clothing. I don't think I've ever seen him so excited about a match. 

These three to me are the epitome of father-son-brotherhood. They are everything I could ask for. I love that I was able to capture an image that so perfectly describes them and who they are to me.