Today was a good day.

Today was a great day. Nothing out of this world great, in fact it was a pretty ordinary day, but all day I couldn't help being appreciative of where we are in life at this moment in time and felt like documenting it because this season of life is so short.

I worked last night and actually had a pretty tough assignment, three couplets, one discharge, then was switched into the newborn nursery around midnight with lots and lots of cranky babies (was it a full moon last night?), then was taken out of the nursery around 5am and got two new couplets to admit about 15 mins apart right before shift change. But the best part? Even with all the transitions my workflow was pretty seamless. I didn't feel stressed, got all my work done, the night flew by, and I liked what I was doing. In fact, I would go as far as to say I love my job lately. Did I mention I don't do Labor & Delivery anymore? Um, yea..... it was giving me panic attacks. That was something I had never experienced before and man are they a doozy! I was clenching my jaw like mad during the night from the stress and anxiety and was sick to my stomach when I had to go in. Postpartum moms and babies out of utero are much more my thing.

Came home this morning to a happy two year old and six year old, both dressed and fed by their dad, who is the most amazing hands on dad I've ever met. Seriously, his patience astounds me. And he doesn't bat an eye about taking care of his children, he does a dang good job of it too and Sawyer and Scout adore him. Nothing is sexier than seeing your husband be a stellar dad to your kids.

I took Scout to daycare at 8:30 and Matt walked Sawyer to his elementary school in our neighborhood. The weather was perfect, felt like a crisp fall morning! I came home, went to bed, and got a full five hours of interrupted sleep. Woke up in the afternoon and picked up Sawyer from school. After we walked home I convinced him to go with me to pick up Scout from daycare so we went and got her together.

After dinner, Matt mowed the lawn while Sawyer read a book to me and showed me his spelling test that he got a 100% on today. He has been rocking first grade and it makes my heart happy to see him proud of himself. Sawyer then played legos while Scout sat on my lap in the rocking chair and 'read' a book about baby animals to me. Lately she has talked a lot about "adorable hippopotamuses". She also has really been into Shopkins, whose popularity baffles me since they are miniature toys of  household objects (think lamps, cups, vases, etc.), but apparently they are all the rage with little girls. Sawyer has really been into keychains, namely Minecraft ones, and sure enough the first day of school we saw all these little boys with Minecraft keychains swinging back and forth off of their backpacks.

Maybe it was the fall weather making me feel whimsical or that the kids were playing so well together, but I said we should take them to Target to pick out a new Minecraft keychain for Sawyer and a Shopkins toy for Scout so away we went. I remember as a kid coming home from school one day and my mom had bought me a Skip-It and had it sitting on the fireplace waiting for me when I got home. It wasn't my birthday or any special occasion, just a "I love you and thought you would like this" kind of gift. As a kid I just thought that was the coolest and I still remember what a special day that was. Which speaking of my parents, I was randomly thinking earlier today how my parents were so awesome in expressing their love for us. Not once did I question whether or not they loved me. Their love for me wasn't ever even a doubt in my mind, even when I was a difficult teenager and I would venture to say each of my three siblings felt that same way. That's pretty amazing. If only every child could feel that way. That's what I want for our kids. Yes, we may get frustrated and yes we may really being screwing up this parenting thing, but if they always feel as loved as I did, then I will feel like I accomplished something as a parent.

After Target we went out for frozen yogurt, then came home and put the kids to bed. I put Scout to bed first and all was well until I heard her crying in her room. I couldn't understand what she was saying through her sobs. Finally I made out, "I'm stawveen".  Well geez, if the poor kid is starving I can't send her to bed in that condition :) So I made scrambled eggs and a banana with peanut butter for both kids and they gobbled them up. Now that she had some sustenance to make it through the night, I put Scoutty back to bed where she promptly wrapped her arms around my neck like a koala bear and wouldn't let me leave so I sat on her bed and held her little hand until she fell asleep. Then I tucked Sawyer into his bed as he proceeded to tell me all things about Minecraft like "Ghasts, "the Nether", "Hero Brian" and "Steve" and I tried my best to act super interested. Told him I love him and how proud of him I am for being such a nice big brother today and doing well in school.

I don't always appreciate this stage of life, and am sure our neighbors don't appreciate this stage of life either as Scout likes to scream multiple times a day and Sawyer seems to thrive on getting her to scream. The neighborhood may even start a petition to get us to close our windows. But today, in all it's normalcy and ordinary life moments just seemed extra special. Life is good.