What the world needs now: love, [brotherly] love

Holy moly, it's been an intense few days for the country. I've never been to Boston and I've never run a marathon but Monday's bombings have remained pretty central in my mind and I've found myself closely following the news all week, even more so than usual. This was especially true today; I spent all morning/afternoon listening to NPR (in the car and then online) and all evening watching NBC (Brian Williams rarely fails to make me feel better). 

I too often avoid 'feel-good'/inspirational/emotional stories because I'm cynical and I don't like to cry, but tonight as I watched the citizens of Watertown applaud the law enforcement after 'suspect 2' was taken into custody and as I watched a story about a mother-daughter duo who were both seriously injured on Monday and are now recovering side-by-side in a hospital room and as I watched press conferences where law enforcement and government officials repeatedly lauded the cooperation and human spirit and bravery and determination and brother/sisterhood that have emerged as recurring themes in Boston and beyond, I absolutely got choked up. 

(And of course, that's not even mentioning the devastating factory fire/explosion in West, Texas that has left so many dead and injured there. So, so sad).

In an effort to distract myself and focus on the genuine goodness that can be found in life, I've spent some time the last couple of days compiling recent silly/sweet/darling pictures of my boys. And since they made me feel better, I figured they might make you feel better too:

I came out of my room one day to find all three boys congregated right outside my door. (We were having one of those days where they prefer not to get more than a foot or two away from me. Oh wait, that's every day.) I just love how much the older boys love and dote on Jack.

I don't know if I should laugh at these pictures or roll my eyes - apparently personal space boundaries don't exist when there's a screen (usually featuring Plants vs. Zombies) to be shared...

Sometimes I feel like the cuter my boys are dressed, the less photogenic they become.

OH, man. One evening [a tired/emotional/grumpy] Clyde got upset about something while I was taking care of Jack and stormed out of the room. When I came out a couple of minutes later, I couldn't find the child. Anywhere. Even after calling for him in my serious/I-mean-business/Mom voice... which is when I slightly started to panic. I did a really thorough look (I thought) of the whole house and was debating with myself whether he would have gone out front when I glanced again at the pile of blankets by the couch and realized they didn't look quite as flat as they usually do - so I pulled one back, and there he was: completely zonked out. PILL!

This darling photo set is from way back in January when Jackers learned how to give high fives.

This slightly less darling pictures is from last month when Jack learned how to put his toes in his mouth. He's building up quite the resume...

Of course, in order to keep up his strength in the midst of all that skill-developing, Jack relies on spinach smoothies, about 10% of which actually makes it into his mouth!

Exhibit A of how much Jack's older brothers love making him laugh: Clyde built this little blanket/pillow fortress for Jack and was rewarded with all sorts of cute giggles.

Exhibit B of how much Jack's older brothers love making him laugh: Will blowing raspberries on Jack's belly and likewise being rewarded with all sorts of cute giggles :).

I'm grateful for the perspective/distraction/amusement/unconditional love/pure joy that my little boys bring to me, especially when there are hard and sad and overwhelming situations in the world. And since I can't actually hug anyone in Boston or Texas today, I figure I'll give my boys an extra hug instead and keep praying for all of those who have been affected. 

Love, sweet love - it's the only thing that there's just too little of...