The Little Things That Keep Me Going

I could not wait to come home from Hawaii and see my sweeties, and I was overjoyed to reunite with them (well, after I got over the fact that Rose's first salutatory utterance was, "Can I open my present now?").  However, I'm not gonna lie--sometimes it's hard to bear the incessant demands of motherhood.  Lately Simon has been super picky in his clothing preferences (he usually prefers none), and he's really annoyed when his diaper gets the slightest bit wet.  I took that as a cue that I need to start potty training, but we went through all 8 pairs of his new undies in the first day.  Looking back on it, it doesn't seem like such a big deal, but a couple of days ago I was just really grumpy and annoyed for some reason (probably still high on Hawaii and disappointed to come back to reality).  Anyway, today is much better, because every so often I witness little treasures that keep me going.  Example: a couple of nights ago we asked Rose to say the bedtime prayer.  Simon was already sleeping, so we had her whisper.  Here's a transcript of the event:

Rose: [whispering] Dear Heavenly Father...(increase in speed) inJesus'nameamen
Sevak: [whispering] We're thankful for this day...
Rose: [whispering] We're thankful for this day...(even faster) inJesus'nameamen
Sevak: [whispering] We're thankful for our family...
Rose: [whispering] We're thankful for our family...(approaching warp speed) inJesus'nameamen
Sevak: [whispering] Please help us to sleep well...
Rose: [whispering] Please help us to sleep well...(seriously, fast) inJeenamen
Chrissie: [whispering] Good job, Rose.
Rose: [yelling] I did it quiet!

Oh, what a gem of a prayer.

And then today Simon installed a lovely modern art display in my bedroom.  It's actually kind of cool looking, with well-balanced undulations and an interesting blue focal point in one concavity:

But the show was the best part.  I lay for a long time just watching him travel all around the perimeter of my bed to retrieve one sole bottle of water from our emergency preparedness supply, then retrace his steps to strategically place it in his display.  This process was repeated a gazillion times...a near Sisyphean task.

Later on he added a pile of colorful eggs and ripped-up labels to balance out that blue sippy cup.

I'm going to leave it up for a while to remind me of how grateful I am to my children for making my life beautiful. :)