As Close As It Gets

After a ridiculous day yesterday, today was refreshingly redemptive. Really, yesterday would be best forgotten, though honestly it was so ridiculous it was laughable. Almost. The part about New Baby not liking any of the food I ate was not so laughable, especially at 18 weeks, but it wasn't so terrible either. It's only the second day like that of the entire 18 week period. Still. That made for one exhausted Mommy by 3:00 when we had to pack up and take off for swimming lessons.

Actually, let me be more accurate. It was 2:50 that we packed up. We have a loaner car while the main vehicle is in for some repairs. We have to get it in shape so that we can trade it off for something we can all (physically) fit in! Anyway, this loaner vehicle is great except that the key doesn't turn. I had the same trouble in my Corsica in college, so I know that if I yank on the wheel hard enough, eventually something will click and allow the key to turn. We sat at the grocery store on Monday morning for 10 minutes attempting this trick before it worked. Hence, my rule this week is that we leave 10 minutes earlier for every commitment to allow for the key-turning-fight I will need to have with the car.

We got to swimming lessons on time, early, in fact. I responsibly hooked my keys on the key-hook in my purse and congratulated myself for my organizational skills. Ten seconds later, I decided that there was no reason to take my purse in when I was so tired (my purse is a diaper bag with an identity crisis; it's cute, but it's heavy!). It honestly never crossed my mind that I should take it for the keys until Miss Mouse was dressed and showered after her lesson.

Thankfully a kind man named Kevin ran the spare set of keys down to us from the repair shop. When I confessed that I had left them in my purse in the car, he assured me that everyone has done that and that he himself has done that, too. Then he hastily added, "Well, not with a purse! But I've sure left them in the car before." My embarrassment was definitely tempered by his grace and humor.

At the point we finally made it into the car, and after the 10-minute fight to turn the key (Why didn't I ask him to exchange keys with me to see if the other one worked better? Because we were sitting in a parking lot with traffic already backed-up behind poor Kevin, mainly!), I decided we should all go home and tuck in bed before I could cause anymore problems!

Once I got the girls to bed around 8:15, I thought I was home-free. No more food to potentially start on fire in the oven (Miss Mouse doesn't even bat an eyelash when that happens anymore), no more toothbrushes to potentially mix-up (I haven't done that....yet); I just really thought I had "made it".

Then Mike came home. Then we began talking which means I usually play with my wedding ring. And then.....

as I was rolling it around in my hand, it fell...directly behind me....straight into the 2-inch hole where my stationary bike pedal attaches into the bike. If I had tried to do that, it would have been impossible! Mike had to take the side off to get the silly thing to drop out of there. Grrr! At that point, I finally gave the day up and went to bed.

This morning I woke up to this! From the get-go, this day promised to be better. Redemptive, as I said before. Little Sunny wore a pink and orange hair clip to match her bright pink and orange dress. I loooooove these fun colors together, and I looooove that she was a made-up animal called a "picky" that was hiding in a hole made of couch cushions.

When Hubert got tired of fetch this afternoon, Miss Mouse called for a bike ride. I let her pick the directions, so everytime we'd come to a corner, she'd ask me which way took us farther from or closer to home. Guess which she picked every time? She got us pretty much as far away from home as we could get and not head into the river. I'm sure she biked over a mile today. We were on the ride (I pushed Sunny's trike which still needs a new front wheel carriage....mental note: order that tomorrow!) for over an hour. On the way home, Sunny's hands got cold; Miss Mouse had mittens, so she shared them with her little sister. All the way home, the girls alternated wearing the one set of mittens. It was dreamy! Really, this day was something I think a mommy needs - to know that all those discussions about "how we treat our sister" are sinking in, to know that it is getting through when I ask "Which do you think is more important to God? That you get the toy first/longest or that you and your sister show love to each other?"....Just being out together, no Internet, no telephone, smelling the spring, admiring the flowers - tulips and dandelions in equal measure was such a beautiful experience.

This was as close to perfect as it gets.
Our plum tree's blooms survived the terrible wind yesterday and continue to smell deliciously edible.

Those are Miss Mouse's mean-lookin' Puma tennis shoes and blue bat. She sort of reminded me of a cat about ready to pounce on her prey. What you can't see in the picture is the sound of Sunny shouting "Don't pop it!!!". Miss Mouse refrained herself but just barely.

It seems there has been a lack of Miss Mouse pictures lately, but there are quite a few coming up. I'm just saving them for the right time and right post.

Here's to lots more of these gorgeous days!