Joy

Right now I'm feeling rather calm and happy. In the 8 days since we got back from Europe, I've been struggling to get back to life. I came home with a souvenir cold that I'm finally getting over. I had been kind of out of the swing of mothering for 16 days, which I'm embarrassed to admit left me very disoriented when I came home and thought about getting back to the primary caregiver role. My mom was wonderful and stayed until today to help me recoup and re-acclimate. She helped me clean the house and helped us put up sheetrock in the basement. Last night I spent the night with dozens of elementary school girl scouts at the zoo.


And today I got back home and my baby girl was so happy to see me. (she always is, but I never get tired of seeing her happiness.) She was clapping with open hands! Before today it's always just kind of been getting her hands near each other. And even though she was crabby at me, likely due to her first tooth finally trying to make an appearance at 11 months, I felt content. I'm now able to look back and see that I have had some great things happen in the last few weeks. Yes, going to Europe was at the top of the list. But I also got a B in Spanish, so I am finished with college! And as of Friday I am down 28.6 pounds! I'm starting to really see it. I am fitting (well) into shorts from a couple years ago. I no longer look 9 months pregnant at all times. And I can see my cheekbones again! I looked in the mirror tonight and smiled because I felt good. It has been a really. long. time. since that has happened.

Maybe I'm easy to please, because it doesn't seem like much; but I'm sitting in a clean house watching Grey's Anatomy and thinking about my baby clapping, my older kids being relatively well behaved today, never having to go to college again, and not having to buy a larger wardrobe for the summer and I am happy.