Songs of Love

"525,600 minutes.... how do you measure a year in the life?.... It's all about LOVE."  I love that line. It is from one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite plays - Rent.  Even though last night I wrote about the social isolation of special needs, that doesn't mean we can't try to put those feelings aside and focus on all these positive things that happen.  I wrote that post - not because it is this huge issue in our life - but because it is an entity that rears its ugly head from time to time.  I want people who read this (outsiders, family, and even our kids one day) to realize that everyone struggles some times.  I don't want to gloss over those days when we felt alone.  However, I don't want to dwell on those feelings either - because they are fleeting these days.

So today we woke up and surrounded ourselves in the songs of love.  Alexander's occupational therapist has a song she sings to help kids learn to eat.  Truth be told - I can't stand to sing this song.  I will move the ends of the Earth for my son, but ask me to sing, "Yum, Yum, Yum, I like to eat... fruit, vegetables, and meat.  Open my mouth, chew and swallow... Yum, Yum, Yum, I like to eat." is like pulling teeth.  So we taught the song to the twins.  Want to hear Alexander sing it to his brother?

Speaking of brothers and sisters.  I believe one of the best decisions we made has been to keep all 3 kids together as much as possible.  Andrew and Addison now try to include Alexander in everything.  They love to sing to him, play with him, and take such pride in helping him do things.  It makes my heart happy.

We also had a surprise for the twins.  I get asked all the time, "Who keeps the twins while you are at work?"  One of the few people I know loves my children as she loves her own. Look at the love between them.

They all cuddled up on her lap to be showered in kisses.  Brooke is my cousin and faithful hugger, kisser, and fixer of boo boos for my children. 

In case you can't tell, Brooke is rubbing Addison's arm... in that, "I love you and miss you because you don't come to my house this summer" sort of way.  Andrew is (in both pictures) licking the cheese puffy residue off his fingers.  A gift from his second mom.

 Brooke's kids also love my kids like they are part of the family.

We are blessed to have people in our lives that love us.  We are blessed to have time to spend together.

Brooke reading a book to Alexander... and he just loved every minute of it.
 
This evening, we ended up taking a little trip.... to the pet store.  One more song of love ~ the songs of the cats and dogs and birds.  Here are a few cute pictures of the kids.  For those of you who read on Facebook that Addison ran face first into the glass ... it was at the Pet Store.  She was so excited about the Guinea Pig she ran face first into the glass.
1440 minutes today.  1440 minutes of LOVE.  We will just keep plugging away until we get to the other 524160 minutes this year.

Have a great Friday everyone! We are headed off to make lots of memories this weekend.

What memories will you make this weekend?