On Sunday, Max stood in our bathroom, dressed and ready for church, and said, “You can take my picture now but you can only take it in the bathroom.” It’s two days later and I’m still laughing about this (also his serious face). He is the funniest and I’m so lucky that I get to be his mom.
From the moment Maxwell was born, he has been a total ray of sunshine.
I’m sure that lots of mothers say that about their children but my son is the sunniest of the sunniest of the sunniest of the bunch. He is hilarious! When he was a baby, he had rolls so thick it looked like we’d stuck rubber bands in his skin and, from the age of two or three months, he would belly laugh for hours every day and, when he laughed, his rubber band body would laugh, too. When he was one, he’d spend his day running around after our dog and laughing over stuffed animals and stickers and papers and the fact that he could put one foot in front of the other. When he was Henry’s age, he’d sit down and tell you about dinosaurs and about how some “Eat the grass!” and others “Eat MEAT!” and basically just wanted to wear dinosaur pajamas all the time because, well, if Maxwell is anything, he is a boy who absolutely loves to wear his pajamas and tries to wear them all day, every day. When he was three, he wore a Batman cape for a year straight and pretended to fly at all times and all places, laughing everywhere he went. But! That is not the point of this blog post.
The point of the blog post is this: Max wakes up every single morning by 6:30. This used to be really, really difficult (Andrew and I are both night owls by nature and, at the ripe old age of twenty-eight, we are both way more prone to stay up until two in the morning rather than wake up at seven, even when we have to be somewhere at eight – and Andrew does, in fact, have to be somewhere at eight every morning). Then! One morning, Max sat with a groggy-eye Andrew, talking at 100 miles per hour, spitting sunshine out of his eyes (seriously, homeboy probably has a mini-sun living inside of him), and, then, not even pausing for breath he said, “Hey Dad! Did you know that I wake up every morning so that I can see you before you go to work?”.
My heart burst and I’m pretty sure Andrew’s heart burst, too.
Having children is the most amazing thing ever and, from the start, Andrew and I have always affectionally said that we live in a constant state of chaos. And we do! We totally do! We do not operate a spotless home or a schedule-driven home or a home where everything is always a certain way. Instead, we run a home full of love and fun and, if our kids want to play in (clean!) pajamas for a whole day, we totally let them. We believe in Saturday mornings with pancakes and jumping on beds and lots of books and movies and lots of fresh air and, like, thirty hugs a day, too. Things get a little crazy and a little hairy at times but, mostly, our lives are so full love and sunshine and happiness and, honestly, it wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have Max – the boy who pops into our room every single morning, snuggles into me for ten minutes as he tells me about his dreams and then says, “Hey Dad! Is it morning yet? Can we be awake yet?” until Andrew says, “Is there sunshine?” to which Max always says “Yes!” even if there’s not.
Because even if the sun isn’t out yet, there’s always sunshine with this boy around.
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* Lissa Chandler is a creative portrait and wedding photographer in Northwest Arkansas who specializes in lifestyle family, senior portrait and wedding photography. Lissa is known for creative and emotive photography in Northwest Arkansas and currently lives in Fayetteville with her family: a husband who still doesn’t judge when she writes blog posts late at night, a four year old whose super early childhood is extremely well documented on a blog his mother never updates anymore and a two year old who slept until 9:30 yesterday. Lissa is currently booking 2015 Spring Senior Sessions, 2015 & 2016 Weddings, and 2015 Lifestyle Newborn and Family Sessions in Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, and all of NWA. She is available for wedding work nationwide. *
I am still smiling thinking of rolls looking like rubber bands around his skin! Little boys are awesome but little boys that are full of personality are just plain extraordinary! <3!