Today is my brother’s birthday. I need to call him. I will do that in a minute. I just want to write about him for a second, because I am sitting here thinking how happy I am to have him as my brother. He is one of my best friends and I don’t think anybody makes me laugh harder. And we really like to laugh at just about everything, and we always have. Lately, though, we spend most of the time laughing about the current stage in our lives that we are both experiencing…. PARENTHOOD.

More specifically, parenthood of toddlers and babies. He has always been a master storyteller and has been known to exaggerate a little just for effect. But when it comes to stories about kids and parenting, there is no need to exaggerate. You just can’t make the stuff up. There is endless material. His two boys are just a little bit older than our toddler and baby, so I always look to him and his wife for advice. I always hope that they’ll tell me that it just gets easier and easier, but they pretty much say, “Um. Well, here’s what you have to look forward to…” And then they proceed to tell me a jaw-dropping story about the boys’ latest shenanigans.

The other morning, I wanted to call and tell him how I woke up in a puddle of…well-let’s just say our baby sleeps in our bed cuddled up next to me, and was having tummy issues. So anyway, after stripping and changing the sheet, I got up to change her and while holding her vertically, she erupted in all directions like a volcano. It was the never-ending shower of fun. We didn’t sleep at all that night. When these things happen, you have to tell someone who gets it.  So I called him to laugh about it. But he beat me to it telling me how his two boys got out of bed in the middle of the night (their toddler can now pole vault himself out of the crib) and managed to climb up on the counter, get a kitchen knife out of the drawer, get onto the top shelf of the freezer, open up a still sealed gallon of ice cream, and eat the entire thing. The best part? They did it all naked. Why naked? I don’t know but the visual of that is just awesome. Who wouldn't strip down and eat a gallon of ice cream with a knife if they could? I think he said at one point in the middle of the night, their son Noah was lying on the floor outside of their room clutching his stomach moaning, “My tummy huuuurts.” They didn’t sleep at all that night.

I wonder what stories my brother will have for me today. I’ve got some ready to tell and it is only 8am. I can’t decide what I am more thankful for, having a brother to share these stories with, having a sense of humor, or having the kids we do who provide the entertainment in the first place. All of them of course! Like I said, it’s endless material. And I wouldn’t change a thing, if for nothing else, the stories to tell and laugh about.