5 things that made me happy today

1. This morning, while finishing my breakfast, I was treated to this scene: Genghis clad only in his Thomas the Train underwear and Xena's giant brown and turquoise hair bow, jumping spasmodically around the living room (he calls this "dancing") to We Wish You a Merry Christmas being played on an oversized floor piano.

2. I dusted our house from top to bottom for the first time ever (meaning, since moving in over 2 months ago). With hardwood floors, dusting necessitates a lot of sweeping and moving furniture and sneezing. Especially if you have 10 weeks of accumulated dirt. But the house feels so clean and fresh, except by the two diaper pails we have next to the bathroom. Remind me again that we won't have children in diapers for the rest of my existence.

3. I signed a contract to continue some evaluation work for a museum group that I have really enjoyed working with in the past. It's one of those few times when you make recommendations for how a museum should move forward with evaluation, and then they have the means and enthusiasm to actually do it.

4. Homemade chocolate chip cookies. Enough said.

5. The replacement cord to my digital piano arrived in the mail. I lost the cord in the move, and after looking in box after box wondering where I mislaid it, I finally ordered a new one. It felt silly to have the piano looking pretentiously like a normal upright piano but total useless with no power. Sadly, I don't have plans to play the piano even now that we have power. But the kids have loved it. Someday I will play again ... Also, I finally found the original cord later this afternoon while I was dusting. Go figure.

friday photos

One of the many awesome things my mom does is hand craft a special outfit for each of her grandchildren to wear for their blessing day in our church. We did Isis's blessing a few weeks ago. Here are some shots to show off her gown. I love the colors mom chose, almost as much as I love Isis's stubborn ebony mohawk.

this post is really just about the photos

When I venture out with my brood of 3, ages 3 and under, people usually tell me I am either very brave or very busy. More appropriate adjectives might include the following: tired, insane, easily brought to tears, envious, or crazed and possibly dangerous.

Today at the playground I met a grandmother who told me she had 4, ages 3 and under: the 3 year old, a set of 1 year old twins, and a newborn. It was such a relief to realize things actually could be harder. I asked how she got through it. She thought for a moment and then said she had no idea - it was all a blur.

And somewhere between dragging the 3 of them to the doctor's office for Isis's check up, coming home and trying to feed all 3 of them at once, and then wondering at 8:30pm if I should get something to eat myself, I realized that she is 100% right. Later in life I may have no clear memory of this time period. And that may not be a bad thing.

Cynicism aside, each of our three kids is awesome. Here are long overdue photos of each of them.

Isis. Now 1 month.

Xena. Almost 18 months.

Genghis. Just turned 3.

Big brother ...

... is sometimes a good thing.