Where Do I Begin???. . . .

Just when you think you have it all together, your kids grow up and prove you know absolutely nothing.  Parenting teenage almost adult boys is not for the faint of heart.  When you think you know them, they show you that you do not know them at all.  Those sweet little angels that you loved and snuggled and loved watching sleep and loved how they smelled.  Ahhh the memories and tears I shed over those little boys and they have no clue how much a mother loves a child.
We spend 16 + years encouraging our kids to grow and be independent, giving them everything they need to do that and then when they go and do it you are no where near prepared.  I was told by my almost 20 year old child, that he was an adult and could do things on his own.  He thinks that because he came and went as he pleased while at college that he can do that in MY house.  Ha Ha Ha Ha !!! This is very hard for your children to understand, they want to flex their adult muscles and they want to be that independent adult so bad.  What these new adults do not realize is all of the responsibility that comes with being an adult.  They still want to sleep in till 1100 and have their food prepared for them.  They want to have their laundry done and car and gas provided to them at no charge of course.
We are always proud that our kids have grown up and excited when they start a new chapter in their lives but when it comes to that chapter where they are suppose to be on their own it is difficult to deal with especially when they still live at home.  They do not show that in those gushy commercials on TV about having children.  They do not show the angry teenager storm out of the house and say, "you don't trust me and you don't want me to grow up."   I bet if they did it would make parents think twice about teaching all this independence.  Nahh, I am just kidding, it would  not have changed anything for me.  I do love that my kids are independent, and that is what we want but they really should teach us parents how to cope with all this independence.  Boys are very different from girls too, I think girls will always need their moms but boys on the other hand they do not want to be seen as "needing" anyone.  ughh the trials of motherhood.
It has taken me a week to write this, every time I read it, I think it sound whiny and needy.  I just want to convey the pains of motherhood in raising teenage and soon to be adult boys. 

Such sweet little angels 

Big T doing what he loves most.  I love this picture, his grin. 

Sprat also doing what he loves most.