Just a snipit

Whew! Life is good, so good, but it turns out that being mom of a two year old and 3 month old, part-time pediatrician, wife, and church member leaves little to no margins in a day's time. There are so many photos from our wonderful Christmas in Minnesota and weekends with Nonnie and Papa. They'll be posted, eventually. But I've given up on setting goals and deadlines for that, because it seems each evening I set aside ends up filled with either housework or patient charts that are still to be completed after the kids go to bed on a work day. So instead with this spare minute, I'll just leave a blurb about today.

Today is fun and crazy, and this quiet moment may last only a moment. It started with Abigail smiles and giggles, some quiet moments before Jonathan woke up. Then Abby sat in my lap while we played trains and tractors. Later Abigail rode in the Baby Bjorn while we went out on a bug hunt, magnifying glass in hand. Houston is chock full of bugs at every moment you don't want them (i.e. when company's over, or when you step out in the night to get a glass of water and find you're sharing your kitchen with an uninvited guest), but I guess we went out looking during buggie nap-time, because we mostly just found ants. But Jonathan enjoyed watching them just the same.

This afternoon we have Jonathan's dear friend over, since his mom is sick and the nanny we share has a son home sick today, too. At this moment I have two two-year-olds and the baby each asleep in three different beds, and I even convinced the dog to sleep in his bed in the living room instead of our room, where he kept barging in on naptime to the delight of Jonathan's friend. Just before lunch I attempted nursing Abigail and putting her down to a nap, which would allow me to do lunch and nap time with the boys with two free hands. I left the boys in Jonathan's room with instructions to share and play, while I watched on the video baby monitor from Abigail's room. After coo'ing with Abby a while, I tuned back in when I heard Jonathan say, "Thank you, Nathaniel!" On the monitor I watched Nathaniel pouring "tea" from a tea pot into a tea cup Jonathan held. Jonathan returned the favor, serving Nathaniel from the tea set he has "borrowed" from Abigail's Christmas stash. Watching these two preschool boys have a tea party on their own was just hysterical, and I was quite impressed with their manners, to tell the truth. Moments later Jonathan exclaimed, "cranes and dump trucks and back-hoe loaders!"... an enthusiastic interjection that's appropriate for any moment in our home, which I guess brought a missing masculine tone to their little tea party.

Well, Abby didn't agree with the initial nap plan, but we did get lunch and stories accomplished anyways, and then eventually all three down in their beds. Now I'm resisting the urge to fall asleep myself with hopes to at least unload the dishwasher before someone's up and going again.