Some Mornings Are Okay

We just finished our Spring Break here in Maine.  We made the decision not that long ago to take the family and head down to see my parents in New York. Mick had to work the bookend Saturdays, so we were going to leave after he got home from work Saturday afternoon, and head back to Maine Friday so he'd be home in time for work the next Saturday.

Naturally, we all -- the four of us, plus my parents -- spent the entire week sick!  Seriously: we have had a winter (and now, Spring!) unlike any other we can remember. It's been one wallop after another!  In fact, CAM spent all of Friday night when we got home, awake and sobbing because her ear hurt. A call to the doctor and we ended up at the on-call office Saturday at 8, and she has a full-blown ear infection.  (Thank goodness for amoxicillin. That stuff is pure miracle liquid with CAM; after two doses, she was back to herself!)

The good news was that we had no agenda for break, so we were able to guiltlessly nap away our days.

The bad news was that it was a wash of a break.

But then we were back in Maine, and Mick went to work Saturday and as a family we lounged about and did nothing Saturday. (Except for hockey clinic and the doctor's office. But once we got home, we were back in jammies and doing nothing!)

And Sunday morning -- no alarm set, no agenda again -- I woke up to hearing WHM singing.

"Time to get up!  Time to get up! It's morning time ....

"Time to get up! Time to get up!  It's morning time ..."

(If you're familiar with the "Elmo's World song from Sesame Street, it was sort-of that type of sing-song-y.)

His room filled with sunlight, and he was well-rested and happy and sang himself awake.

That swelled my heart overflowing with joy every time I thought about it and quite literally got me through the Sunday blahs and the grind of Monday. Every time I think about it, my heart smiles.

Boy oh boy, do I love my little guy.

*  *  *

CAM lost her second front tooth this morning!  We actually thought it would go for sure last week, so we brought her tooth fairy pillow with us to New York.  Nope.  Darn thing hung on.

It was barely there this weekend and Monday we thought, "oh ... it's going. She's hanging on to it to have the thrill of it coming out at school, but it's coming today."

Nope.

We could twist it about 360 degrees around and wiggle it and jiggle it, but it would not come out!

Mick was convinced she was going to swallow it while she slept.

Nope!

This morning I woke CAM up for school and she covered her head with her blanket.  I was in her closet looking for her gym uniform for today when she bolted upright, "MOMMY!  My tooth came out!"

And a dreary, gray, damp and cold, rainy Wednesday turned into a morning filled with smiles and joy.

*  *  *

Truly: some mornings are okay!

--Jen

Three Things.

You know that game two truths and a lie?

Three truths:

1.  I have officially been sick for the entirety of March and now one full week into April. This cold is relentless.

2. Someone hit my car the other day, with the kids in it, and ran. I got his plate and they caught him but now he's lying about what happened.  The kids and I are fine -- my back is tweaked, but I am not aware of anything worse (I am almost afraid to write that, for fear something will rear its head).  The idiot hit my left rear bumper and essentially drove along my driver's side. I was scared to death for CAM, but she seems fine.  And WHM was, luckily, on the other side of the car.  So my car is trashed and Lord knows how we'll deal with it ... but we are okay!

3.  I just submitted my first-ever assignment as a practicing attorney!  I'm quite sure it's awful -- but I still feel pretty great. I never thought this day would come, and I wasn't sure I'd like it if it ever did. But I did enjoy the project and am grateful for the opportunity.  Finding someone to not only take a chance on five-years-out-of-law-school-with-no-legal-experience me, who additionally is willing to work around my teaching schedule, is a gift.  With all our struggles lately, I'm pretty thankful for this opportunity and hopeful that it's a sign of things changing for the positive.

I'm going to go have a happy afternoon!  I hope you do, too!

--Jen