Brothers

Growing up, my sister and I were two peas in a pod. Perhaps, it was an indicator of Kelly's maturity (or my immaturity) that despite our 3.5 year age difference, we were besties from Day One.

When Chuck and I found out we were pregnant for the second time, and then learned Crosby's gender, it was my most heartfelt wish that my boys would know a bond like the one my sister and I shared. There is just nothing in the world like the love between siblings.

Crosby was born just 20 months after Charlie. With Charlie being so young when Cros arrived on the scene, there wasn't really any sweet, sentimental bonding moment. Charlie was too young to grasp what was going on, so for the first months of Crosby's life, the two of them just kind of coexisted.

Once Crosby hit a year old and became more mobile, the boys slowly started playing together. Though it was more just playing in the same room, not necessarily together. I hadn't really realized the bond that was beginning to form between them until our house got hit by the flu the week before Christmas. While Crosby slept his days away upstairs in his crib, Charlie laid on the couch by himself miserably watching movies and telling me how much he missed Crosby.

Last week, I scrambled to pack prior to visiting family in Upstate New York. I stripped all of our beds, and Charlie finally got to test out the new flannel sheets he received for Christmas. I had just finished making the bed when he asked if he could get under the covers. (Sigh.) Of course, I couldn't say no. So I let him crawl in and get nice and cozy when he asked if Crosby could lay in bed with him.

I had just gotten Crosby up from his nap and he was crawling around the house. I plucked him up, laid him on his big brother's pillow and proceeded to have my heart completely melted.

As the two of them begin to giggle uncontrollably at each other (over absolutely nothing), I sprinted to my bedroom to grab my new camera. I leapt up onto Charlie's bed and began firing away. I watched through my small lens, as these boys shared this beautiful, silly moment between siblings and prayed that I would get at least one photo that captured it.

When all was said and done, I flipped back through my pictures and it took everything in me not to sob. This completely spontaneous moment between my boys was everything my Mama heart could have hoped for when I found out I was about to become a boy Mama for the second time. It is so amazing to watch my boys begin to forge this relationship independently of their parents and become deeply in love with each other. They are each other's best friends and it is the greatest blessing of my life that I get to be the lucky one to witness it.