1. Claire is the most delicious baby you have ever seen. It is literally impossible to pick her up without kissing her. I am so head over heels in love with her.
2. I am so thankful for good friends, and for their love, and patience and encouragement.
3. My husband just seems to get better looking all the time. I think he's so much sexier now than when we got married.
4. George is reading "Driving Force: The Natural Magic of Magnets" written by an MIT professor....and he loves it.
5. Ian boy will be 5....5!!!! In 17 days....how did this happen?
6. Grace is so completely The Princess and the Pea...she's started randomly throwing things out of her bedroom at night because she "just can't sleep with them around her."
7. I *may*, I *might*, I (Oh please, please, please, for the love of all that is good and holy, Lord) *could possibly* be driving home with the kids to stay in NH and Maine in August for like 2 weeks!!!!!
8. I am almost done Bleak House, and seriously, I am just so thankful for Charles Dickens. No modern author (okay, maybe Douglas Adams) even comes close to the scathing wit, the deep figurative allusions, and just the complete mastery of the English language than "Chuck" (as Nate so irreverently calls him).
9. I *may* have a lead on a treadmill......I hope, I hope, I pray, I wish.
10. There is salad in my fridge. :)

Happiness...

I love my husband. He's been working his tail off. It is the thick of the crazy-busy season at work right now. He is overworked, stressed, stretched, and exhausted. Yesterday he left home at about 6:30 am, and got home at about 10:30 pm, which is about an hour later than normal. He didn't even get so much as a chance for a drink of water until 12:30, and didn't get time for "lunch" until 5:30. He has a million and one loose ends he is trying to hold together and remember. This morning he left at about 4:30 am since he had to be at a jobsite at 5:30.

Well, yesterday, George finished his 1st grade phonics work. He was so very excited and said he couldn't wait to tell Daddy. I knew Nate wouldn't probably get home until after bedtime so I said we could call and tell him. Nate's phone was repeatedly busy so George just left him a message. I could tell he was a little disappointed. When Nate got home I asked him if he got G's message and just told him he should try to remember to make a big deal out of it the next time he saw George. He was about half awake as I told him this, and I thought I'd probably have to remind him later, too. Now, you must understand that Nate is not one of these people who writes notes or cards or whatever to people. He does not see a need for it usually and dreads doing it when he "has" to. So, I was so incredibly thrilled to see the joy on my son's face this morning when he showed me what Nate left him.

1. BK Mocha Joe.....those things are so flippin' awesome!!!!!!!
2. It's Friday, which means tomorrow is Saturday, which means the day after that Nate will be home.
3. Watching George get so excited about finding new books at the library and read them voraciously.
4. We had a fantabulous time camping last week. It really was wonderful.
5. Charles Dickens....that is all.
6. Nate got home before the kids went to bed last night and we all prayed together before bedtime.
7. My parents found a car!!
8. Did I mention the Mocha Joe's?? And also making my own "Frapuccinos" at home...yummy!!
9. I have a cool idea for a Father's Day for Nathan...and I need to go work on it!!
10. w@h ....so thankful.
5.

Why am I blogging on a Sunday?!?!? Because Nate is happily being climbed upon by the children on the couch while watching Nascar (I believe our descent into redneckhood is almost complete) and the baby is sleeping, and I am just stinking lazy. There are things I could be doing (always) but I just don't feel like it. I layed around this afternoon while 3 out of 4 kidlets napped and I slept in this morning. It's nice to feel a bit of the stringent tenseness melting out of me, being replaced by a semi-relaxed state of sleepiness.

Ah yes, I actually have content to document here. I went to the Dr. this week. It was mostly an exercise in futility, but I guess it's good to know things are "as they should be" pronounced by someone with letters after their name. I went because I've been having this weird abdominal swelling every month around the time I am ovulating. The Dr. said he really didn't think there was a connection between the swelling and ovulation, but if I really thought there was, maybe I should do something to suppress my ovulation, like start running 5 miles a day. He also said I should lose 10 lbs, and maybe that would help, but he really didn't have any idea what is going on. Some good has come of this, though, since in relating the story of the visit, some knowledgable friends have given me some ideas as to what it actually could be, and some ideas of things that could help. I am going to be looking into doing a cleanse soon, and thinking more along the lines of endometriosis. Regardless of what exactly is going on, I think Nate is more inclined towards our getting a treadmill now. If it is ovulation, endo, or some GI thing, exercise will help. Another thing exercise will help is this growing off and on battle with my....well, for lack of a better word...chemical balances. I refuse to call it depression, as it isn't to that point yet, but the times between the struggles are getting smaller, from years to months to weeks and I can see down the paths starting to reopen before me now the glimmers of dark places I have not been to in a long time, and have no wish to revisit. SO, I think getting a treadmill and MAKING it a priority to get daily exercise will be good on many fronts. I dream about running all the time now. I am looking and trying to be judicious and a good steward and just waiting for the Lord to bring the right deal along. We shall see.

On an entirely different note, I am really trying to decide which of Grace's "mispronunciations" is my favorite...."Dark Baiter" (Darth Vader) or "Sweeping Booty" (Sleeping Beauty).