Sweet November: Lucky

I haven't been able to get over this feeling lately... a feeling like things are too good to be true. Everyday I feel happy to be where I am in life. I think back to a few months ago and this is a complete polar opposite to the way life was going back then. I feel so lucky to be in a better place than I was, and having been in that not-so-happy-place only makes me that much more appreciative of life these days. I can't put my finger on any one single reason for the feeling, I'm sure it's a combination of many things... but it all adds up to one happy mama.

The simplest things in life now seem so much more enjoyable. Just being able to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning seems like this wonderful thing. Being able to take Jace to the park every day and watch him interact with other kids... being able to cook delicious meals and enjoy them as a family for once... being able to take time to myself while Jace sleeps. Seems pretty simple... pretty standard. But, when you go from a place where you're never sleeping, never relaxing, never with your family at the same time... this seems pretty great.

I know most of this is possible because of the fact that Tate works as hard as he does at his job, and I'm able to focus on taking care of Jace and the house while he does that. And for that I feel appreciative and very very lucky. For some families having two working parents works just fine, but for us life functions much better when we have our seperate roles. At some point I will go back to work... but I don't think we will ever again work opposite shifts. Being a stay-at-home parent and a working parent (a.k.a. no daycare) is much too chaotic long term, and eventually it caught up with us.

I'm so glad that at this point in Jace's life I'm able to spend so much time with him. Everyday he does something that makes an imprint on my heart. The way he sucks his fingers clean after eating, the way he sticks his butt out slowly before sitting down on his couch or on my lap, the noise he makes when he's running around outside, the way he curls up like a perched monkey on my chest before bed, the funny little Miss America wave that he does, the way be crouches like a baseball catcher while he plays with his toys... everything he does I'm able to be apart of, and every change he goes through I'm here to see. Sometimes life gets so crazy that we forget about all the simple little things that make daily life something to be thankful for.

This week Jace and I have spent everyday at the park. Usually there are lots of kids around and Jace just loves to run around with them and scream jibberish at them. The kids are always older than him, but it's sweet to see that every one of them has been nice to him and understands that he just wants to be a big kid too. I took Jace to McDonald's for dinner the other night because kid's eat free T-Th evenings here and the McDonald's by us just built a huge new playplace that is actually age appropriate for Jace. There was this super sweet boy who was around 5 years old that kept helping Jace dribble a basketball and was really gentle with him. It was great to see because sometimes "big kids" like to plow over the toddlers! Jace was loving playing with him, even more than he loved his kid's meal.

His kid's meal came with a juice box and since I'd forgotten to pack a cup of soy milk for him I actually let him drink it. It was his first experience with straight juice. Usually I'll put the smallest splash of V-8 juice in his water and call it juice, but this was the real deal. It was hilarious watching his face as he drank it. He kept sucking it down with wide eyes and refused to set it down for fear that I would take his "treat" away. Of course, I took a picture... because I'm a mom and it's what we do. :)

This morning at the park in our neighborhood there were no kid's nearby to play with... so the entertainment had to come from me. Jace HATES swinging now... he is petrified if you even say the word "swing". Who knows... it must be a phase. The one thing he does love is the slide. The park near our house has just one wooden play area with a tall slide. There are no steps to get up to the top so in order for Jace to go down, I have to carry him up as I climb up the wires. Lets just say... it doesn't feel very "safe"! But, he loves being up at the top and going down the slide together... so I continue risking our lives by climbing up with him balancing on my hip. (Just kidding mom, it's not dangerous I promise!)

The other thing he loves to do to get my heart pounding is run over to the pond and get a little too close for comfort. Boy, is he fast... I have to sprint just to get to him before the grass starts to slope down into the pond. I've been working with him to get him to understand where "too close" is. He seems to understand, but you can never be too careful! It's really sweet though because he'll stop at the "too close" point and wave to the water because one time I told him we had to "say hi" to the water from a distance and not get to close. I guess he took that literally.

Tate gets back from Minnesota today. He left Monday morning so it's been a long few days at home without him. I had to laugh on Monday morning when he was on his way to the airport to head to the blizzard going on in Minnesota... because at 10 am it was already 79 degrees in Charleston. I don't think he's enjoyed the weather much this week, but luckily for him this weekend is supposed to be beautiful here. I'm looking forward to spending the weekend as a family and taking Jace somewhere fun since Tate doesn't often get to see Jace in his "element" with other kids. Not quite sure where we'll go yet... but I'm looking forward to it already.