Most days are absolutely perfect. I feel so happy and so grateful. I really can't think of anything that could be better. Kathy Dobbs always tells me that these are the last of the "good old days." Nothing spectacular is happening, but every little moment is special. I love staying at home with my sweet baby, I love watching her little personality grow, I love my husband, I love my home, I love my activities, I love life.
Here is a recap of today - nothing momentous, but each special moment makes it a memorable day.
7:45 - I wake up to husband kisses as he brings me breakfast in bed. (Yes, I get up a little late. But I stay up pretty late every night to wait for Tay to come home). He is so busy, but he likes to make breakfast and I love his kisses.
8:00 - I start to watch a legislative budget hearing for the Dept of Health and Human Service real time online. My job is to note all the questions directed to the presenters. This morning's hearing was on elder care and autism spectrum services funding. The public comments and testimonials are so emotional today.
8:15 - Emmeline polishes off her eggs and yogurt, and dumps everything else off on the floor. I get an email notifying me that I was chosen to be a Judge for the National History Day student competition. I am excited to put on my history pants and participate!
8:30 - I keep watching the hearing as I watch my girl in the tub. NOTHING is cuter than her scrawny-pudgy naked little body. I love her giggles.
9:00 - We lather up her dry skin and try to get dressed. This is a process because she can do it all HERSELF. She loves to run around naked, so I wrestle to get her diaper on. She loves the word "shoes" and we spend some time looking at all her shoes. Emmeline is dressed to perfection everyday, thanks to Grandma Hardy Jr. I want Emmeline's wardrobe.
9:30 - We read a book, clean up the breakfast mess, continue to watch the budget hearing. She goes down for a nap happily. She has been a little sick...and so very snuggly. I feel guilty that I enjoy her sick day so much.
11:30 - I have showered, gotten dressed, finished the hearing, and watched Parenthood episodes as I clean up around the house. I keep waiting for my girl to peep - but she never does. She is sleepy. We have somewhere to be, so I finally go wake her up. I love seeing her eyes slowly open and hearing her smile "mama." She knows me and trusts me. I hope I will always be worthy of her trust.
1:00 - On the way home from the store, we stop by the med school to say hi to Taylor. Just three days from now is the final exam for this difficult, never-ending block. He has been studying like a mad man but maintains that he will never be able to study it all. Emmeline knows her way around the med school lounge, opening all the lockers and playing fooseball. She loves and is loved by the med students. I am grateful Taylor has such good friends and classmates. I am always a little nervous that his classmates think poorly of me - like my whole job is to be a provincial wife who just stays at home and cooks and cleans and brings my husband lunch. But that is my job right now, and I actually love it. We leave ice cream balls for the med students. 1:15 - We come home and try to get the groceries inside. I love our campus apartment, but the hardest part is the "long" walk from the parking lot to the apartment when trying to carry lots of bags. Emmeline likes to walk herself, but she has her own ideas about the pace and where to go. We look at every rock and play in the sand. A student who works in the office walks behind us and opens the gate for us. Emmeline grabs his hand and mine and we three walk together. He had no idea he would join our little family today.
1:45 - We put away groceries and make lunch. Emmeline is a huge mess - thank goodness for our rather ugly computer mats that protect the carpet under her high chair and thank goodness for Spray N Wash. During lunch we chat and chat...she is picking up on new words all the time. SHOES! MAMAMAMAMAMAMAM!!!! Pease? MINE!
2:30 - We head over to visit our Turkish friends, who live in our same apartment complex. We LOVE this family. The mom, Seval, is lovely and wise and kind - Emmeline loves her and loves her cooking. She sends us home healthy Turkish food at least three times a week. Her two children, Maryem and Yunus, are so fun and so kind to Emmeline. They play and play. We have a pretty hard time understanding each other...but I think Emmeline is picking up a lot of Turkish. :) They are very traditional, conservative Muslims. Today (Friday) is their holy day, so the Father came home early and we chatted. We talked for an hour about Islam and the LDS faith. The Spirit was clearly present. We are both good people trying to follow God and have happy families.
4:30 - Emmeline is sleepy and keeps trying to pull up my shirt to nurse (we are trying really hard to ween) so we come home. She goes down for a nap and I work on some Girl Scouts work. ( I love this job. I speak Spanish, am paid pennies, and I work alongside fabulous women.)
5:00 - Emmeline wakes up (Mama! Hi! Mama!) and just wants to snuggle. She points to my bed and signs please. I don't go fast enough, so she signs again and yells "PEASE!" We get in bed and snuggle hard. I try to watch a little Netflix, but we both fall asleep fast. Yikes, she is never going to want to go to bed tonight. But she has such a bad chest cough, I want her to rest as much as she can.
7:15 - I am cleaning a little, waiting for my girl to wake up. We were going to take Tay dinner, but I was worried about her being sick, so he runs home. That is the perk of living within a 4 minute walk of campus! He takes a brain break and we get to see him. He is home to eat yummy Turkish food for about 10 minutes and heads back. Emmeline makes him happy by yelling "bye bye DADA!" Emmeline eats Turkish food and blueberries for dinner
7:45 - And nooooowwwwww Emmeline is super awake and ready to play. We play the piano together, but after a while she pushes me away so she can play by herself. We clean the kitchen and the high chair mess and her bedroom. She runs around and plays with her toys while I fold laundry. She keeps taking books to her favorite book nook in my bedroom. I read to her and she practices saying the words. We clean the bathroom - I scrub and she pulls things off the shelves. Everything takes three times as long with my little sidekick. She insists she can scrub the toilet HERSELF.
9:00 - We color St. Patrick's Day cards to get in the mail tomorrow. She gets a little bored of coloring and moves on to the shamrock confetti. Somehow she opens the package - she is a magician that way - and confetti goes EVERYWHERE. It sticks to her toes and her fingers - which both delights her and frustrates her. This keeps her occupied for a good 40 minutes - a fun tactile activity. We Face Time with both Taylor at school and Auntie M. in Utah. Thank goodness for technology.
9:45 - Time for bed. We lather on the lotion, put on jammies, brush teeth, read a couple books, sing a song, and say a prayer. She is good about folding her arms for prayers and then clapping for herself after. This little routine is sacred to me. I love her room, the soft light of the little lamp, and the beautiful baby furniture. We are indebted students, but our home is lovely and full of lovely things. People are so generous to us. It makes me happy to have such a happy space.
10:00 - She goes down with a smile, blowing me kisses good bye. I am overwhelmed by how much I love her and how grateful I am to be her mother. I feel anxious that I am going to forget everything, that time is going by too fast, and that I am bad at documenting her little life. I feel sorry that I don't have a fancy camera to record every happy moment, like the mommy bloggers I follow. I worry that everything is so good, something horrible is coming.
But then I remember the good examples in my life. I think of Ann Lewis, who records her life with words and inspires me, and I think that maybe it isn't too late to document the special moments. I am grateful to live so close to my parents, who we see almost everyday, and grateful that they too can witness how extraordinary Emmeline is and participate in each fun phase. I am grateful for my good jobs that I am able to do while primarily staying at home with Emmeline. They help me to remember myself and my hobbies and my interests. I am grateful that Taylor is a hard worker, that he is driven,
And there is our day. I don't know if Emmeline will care to remember it 20 years from now, but I will. We are happy people. We have family and the gospel and good neighbors and a home filled with the Spirit. I am grateful for all the insignificant moments that make my life significant.
