January 13

This morning we sent Caleb off to school, took Daisy to preschool, and Lily and I were left alone with no agenda. We snacked, snuggled, played, laughed... and took selfies. Because why not?

Selfies with my big camera are not the same as selfies with my iPhone. Still, we had fun.

She may not be looking at the camera, but isn't she sweet?

This was the result of my attempt to take a picture of Lily while she sat in my lap. She was trying to see her picture on the back of the camera.

And again, trying to see the back of the camera. I know none of these pictures are great, but I treasure them because they capture exactly who Lily is right now: curious, cheerful, and absolutely squishable!

And sleepy! After we picked Daisy up from preschool, Lily went down for a two-hour nap. I had to fight a bit harder than I'd like for it, but I'll take it.

I wasn't feeling well when we went to pick Caleb up at the bus stop; the best way I can describe it is that I suddenly felt extremely pregnant, with weird pains and hot flashes and dizziness. It was really distressing, and even though I was wearing Lily zipped under my coat in the ring sling, I was ready to sit down on the sidewalk while we waited for the bus. Luckily, the bus finally arrived and I waddled home as quickly as I could, threw my coat and hat and scarf and Lily on the floor, and flopped onto the couch. The kids were all pretty concerned, because this type of thing is totally out of character for me. Caleb pushed  chair up to the kitchen sink and filled a sippy cup of water for me, with a straw instead of a sippy lid, Daisy put away my coat and hat and scarf, and Lily kept toddling up to me and giving me hugs.

Eventually we all retired to my big bed, where we watched PBS until Chris got home. Chris handled dinner while I rested and drank a lot of water, and now I think everything is fine.

While Chris made dinner, Caleb finished his 100th Day of School shirt. That's right - Friday marks the 100th day of school, and to celebrate, all of the kindergarteners were asked to make a shirt with 100 of something on it. Caleb initially wanted 100 light sabers on his shirt, but after a stroll through the craft store, he happily settled on sparkly foam star stickers. It's taken two evenings to finish, but tonight he finally got the shirt decorated to his satisfaction.

And boy, is he satisfied! I'm really proud of myself, because aside from helping him choose the stars, then count out 100 of them, I've resisted my crazy organizational tendencies and let him do the whole thing himself. 

Though it doesn't look like it, I think there are 55 stars on the front and 45 on the back. As I took these pictures, Daisy stood next to Caleb, leaning in and wanting to be in the pictures, too. The whole time he worked on his shirt, Daisy sat rightnextto Caleb, desperate to help in any way possible. In the end, her role was to collect the paper backing from all of the stickers and throw it away. She was thrilled to have a job!

Goodness, I love these two! 

Caleb finished his shirt right before dinner was ready, and we ended up having a lovely family dinner, complete with cooperative children, pleasant conversation, and lots of laughter. Nights like tonight give me hope for the future!