He left an 11 year old boy.

And came back....

an 11 year old boy who's been living with his dad for 6months!!!

The last day and a half had been great. Having Alex home is just fantastic. When he got off the plane, we had one of those 'airport' moments when I was hugging him for like 5 minutes. He was pushing me off him- cause he couldn't breathe.

As we were on our way down the escalator- I thought- I'm not sending him back.

The little ones are SO glad to see him. Gabe is clinging on to him so hard, even when he goes to the bathroom- Gabe wants to go too. Poor baby. People coming in and out of his life- he's so confused. I took some really great pictures of him and Gabe playing. Wresting. Playing Horsey. Playing Ball.

All really LOUD things.

The younger beastie boys are loud on their own- add an 11 year old- and it's chaos. Good chaos, but chaos. Alex hasn't changed much. He's a little rowdier, a little mouthier. I don't know if that is part of his age, or part of his surroundings. He's living with his dad who is a bit more 'playful' than I am. Playful is a term used loosely. I am most afraid that all the rough housing will cause injury. To Gabe, from bouncing off of Alex- or to Danny, who will eventually bear the brunt of it. They are boys and I am find with a certain amount of wrestling around and rough play- but rough play amongst a 3 and 4 year old, and rough play amongst a 4 and 11 year old are two very different things.

For now though, I will let it go and remind Alex to take it easy. A certain volume will get me to twitch a little bit and ask him to keep it down. I remind Alex to take breaks and go easy so Gabe does not get overwhelmed

But in all- I am so thrilled to have that noise in my house. Every time he walks by me, I just grab him and hug him. I don't even want to think about putting him back on that plane in three weeks.

He already told me he didn't want to go back to North Carolina. I keep telling myself that his dad and I made a deal that he had to finish a school year. But I'm so tempted. SO tempted to try to pry out of him all that he doesn't like about it and have an arsenal of ammunition to call his dad and say "He doesn't like it, I'm keeping him."

But I won't do that- cause it's not right. I let him go with his dad for good reason, and those reasons still stand.
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I will just enjoy the beautiful noise for now. Be grateful, so grateful that I've got three gorgeous kids that are PROOF that I have done something good in my life.