I was tired this morning. Really tired. So when I woke up at 7:30 to tell Dan good-bye and realized no one was crying or talking or moving yet, I went back to bed. Then at 8:00 I got up and fixed myself a cup of coffee and had a solid half hour of peace and quiet to read my Bible and start my new study. It was pure bliss.
Then they woke up. And things got busy in a hurry. Actually, that's not true. Our mornings are pretty slow around here when we want them to be. We lounged around, red some books, played on the floor, had waffles for breakfast. When Ellie took her morning nap, Caroline played with a box of packing peanuts for at least a half hour, probably longer. I did laundry and dishes, made some phone calls, etc. But mostly I just enjoyed my girls today. When Caroline woke up from her nap before Ellie, we played in the massive piles of pillows on my bed -- mostly because I was sleepy and it was a sneaky way to convince my busy girl to snuggle for a few minutes.
Some mornings, like yesterday, everyone is up at the crack of dawn (and some mornings, it's before that). So when I realized we were already done with breakfast by 7:30, I decided we'd pack a quick lunch and go to the zoo. It was 10 before we left, but that gave Ellie a nap and me a chance to get a little laundry done. It was perfect weather and all 3 of us enjoyed it thoroughly.
I got to be here on Wednesday morning when Ellie really took off with the crawling, learning to sit herself back up when she made it to her destination. I was here this morning when Caroline decided her babies needed real names, so she named them Bob, Babe & Mommy (brilliant!). And right now, I'm watching my two girls play together, Caroline simultaneously performing and teaching Ellie how to drum, Ellie crawling towards her sister, grabbing for anything she can (and occasionally making big sister quite distraught in the process as she is beginning to disturb her plans...).
Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of days when no one sleeps and everyone needs it and the to-do list is 100 miles long and has to get done with both girls hanging all over me. And I am no fun to be around on those days. But on days like today and yesterday, I am reminded of how richly blessed I am to be a stay-at-home mommy. I am forever grateful to Dan for working as hard as he does to allow us days like these. And I pray that God will remind me of this blessing often and deeply both now and in the years ahead.
