Thank You

Marin loves the show Little Einsteins. I try to only let her watch one show a day, but she watches it enough that I have the theme song memorized. At the end they sing, "Let's give a hand, and hear it for the team!" I was singing this the other day, (oh yeah, it happens all the time- often even long after the show is over) and realized I should give a hand to my "team", or at least those people and things that make my life a little easier. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes an army to raise two and take a dog along for the ride.

Thank you, Geneva Cleaners for offering a Car Hop service to pick up and drop off my dry cleaning. Seriously amazing to not have to haul two hot and sticky babies- one in a 20 pound car seat, one insistent on traveling with no less than three dolls- plus 15 dirty smelly husband shirts into the store. Literally, this service makes me smile. If only I could do this everywhere.

Thank you, Costco for making carts with a respectable handlebar height. Why must I bend over the cart at Jewel? The Costco carts are nearly a dream to push.

Speaking of Jewel... thank you to the nice lady behind me in line the other day. As Emilie screamed her head off from her car seat in the cart surrounded by groceries and I frantically dug things out of the cart and threw them onto the checkout belt, the nice lady behind me in line said, "I know it probably seems loud to you, but that is the sweetest little cry." A sympathetic "I've been there" smile from a mom instantly negates all of the mean glances from well, just about everyone else in the store. Including the 21 year old bagger who literally said to me, "Um, I think it's nap time!"

Thank you, expensive hose. Almost the best advice regarding lawn care that I ever received: Don't skimp on the hose. I am thankful for heeding this advice every time I coil our hose up into tight uniform circles. The old one that was a jumbled messy ball of rubber seriously stressed me out.

Thank you, grill for making summer cooking basically effortless. This is how I prepare summer dinners: set the meat out to thaw in the morning, cook up some veggies as a side, possibly a salad and some fruit, and when Jason gets home he throws it on the grill, I pour us a glass of wine, and we sit outside recapping our day. I. LOVE. SUMMER!!!

After dinner, way too many nights we take a walk to get ice cream, or i-c-e as we have taken to calling it in our house, since we have to spell it in front of Marin so she doesn't demand it. And after we've spelled i-c-e, we pretty much know what the other is talking about, so we never bother to spell out the rest. Thank you, breastfeeding, for allowing me to burn 500 extra calories to compensate for the absolutely glutenous amount of i-c-e that I have consumed this summer. And thank you, Grahams, for your delicious homemade ice cream, without which I am pretty sure I would not be function.

Thank you, swimming pool. You are the only way we have beat the summer heat. Even baby Emilie finds you refreshing. Additional nod of thanks for having a zero depth edge, so I don't have to worry quite as much that Marin will jump to her death as soon as we arrive. Double bonus for all the kid friendly activities so we can stay for hours at a time and not get bored, and triple bonus for having fun things for mom, too, so when dad joins us on the weekends, I am able to sneak away for a ride down the slides.

Thank you splash park, for providing a great way to mix it up. Your highest scoring points are that you open early and that you are free.

I have mentioned it before here, but seriously, thank you to the inventor of the baby swing and velcro swaddles. Without you, Emilie would not sleep. We swaddle her up like a little burrito, just like we did with Marin, and Emilie instantly falls asleep and sleeps through the night most nights. The swing, is the only way I can type this blog and eat dinner without a baby on my lap.

Thank you playdates, from bringing the mess to someone else's home.

Thank you to Jason, for working so hard so that we can have this life. And thank you to Caleigh, our babysitter, for working so hard so we can enjoy
this life.

Thank you Grandma Aunts. For your loving arms.


I don't say it enough, but thank you to my parents, for helping watching the kids more than most grandparents, I'm sure, so that we can do most of what we do. You are so awesome. Lindsay, too- you have never once said no when we have asked you. Thank you to Jake and Katy, for loving my children as if they were your own.

Last but not least, thank you God, for the daily blessings of my family.