Swimming in teenagers

Hi, I'm Christina,  it's been a year and half since my last confession...I mean blog entry. And I'm pretty sure with that opening line I mixed an AA intro with a Catholic confession. Is that what happened? Maybe? Sorta? Who really knows? Which is to say that's a pretty accurate depiction of life right now since we are swimming in teenagers (and worse than teenagers: see pre-teens.) 

When Cory and I kept adding to our family when the kids were young, of course we knew they would all grow up. We made jokes about feeding so many teenage boys. But, now our food bill is more than our mortgage and utilities combined so we aren't laughing anymore. :) 

We were discussing the other day what season of parenting was harder....little kids or big kids? For example, what's harder keeping an eye on toddler Silas AT ALL TIMES or walking our 20 year old through co-parenting and custody? Ooof. Quite a heavy hitting example right from the get go, didn't see that coming, did you? Neither did we. Hahahaha!!! But seriously, that's exactly what it's like parenting older kids. The stakes are higher, heavier. more emotional and the consequences are longer lasting and more expensive. I used to stress about how to get my kids to stay asleep at night and now everytime they leave the house it's like, "Dear God, please don't let them get in a car accident and hurt themselves or someone else." I get goose bumps just writing that fear "out-loud" because I don't want to jinx things and read this blog back in a few years and that sentence have become an example of foreshadowing. 

Speaking of reading old blogs back, my last entry before this one was about launching Levi into the world. The same firstborn who a year and a half later is now living back at home and has a 9 month old daughter. I guess you could say it was more of a boomerang style launch?!?  I know inquiring minds want to know what went wrong. What parenting mistakes did we make that you can avoid in order to create better outcomes for your kid? And I really wish I could help you. We have definitely made plenty of mistakes, but the reality is that kids are not programmable robots. I wish they were. But, they are actually their own autonomous selves with their own decisions, judgements, bodies, values, and experiences. Levi's story is his to tell as he chooses, but I will say that kids these days are navigating their tough adolescent years while growing up in a hypersexualized petri dish of a culture. I'm thankful my formative years were in the 90's before the internet normalized "like counts" for all things sexual. 

That being said, our granddaughter brings so much joy to our lives and I really think she's one of the best things that's has ever happened to Levi. It is so fun getting to watch him be a dad and intimately share all those firsts with him. Typically I'd have to monitor my enthusiasm because I'd be sharing my son with his wife and walking on eggshells around a daughter-in-law...but not so now! Bring on the gushing, smothering, overly involved Gramma!! Levi and I have always had a strong attachment and it's a unexpected perk to be the #1 woman in his life through all these new milestones for him. He makes us proud. 

Speaking of, little Miss just came over so I've got some snuggles to give. But it does feel good to get back into blog world. More to come soon....