Sunny Days

Jayson and I are 99.99% firm in our decision not to have any more kids. However, any time I see a newborn little baby, I get a little lump in my throat and really want to have one to just hold and love and smell for a few hours and then give back. I am 100% done with being up all night, feeding all the time, and constantly being attached to a little miniature human being. I am so happy that Charlie sleeps through the night, feeds herself, and is very independent. In fact, having older sisters to play with helps a lot because if I'm busy doing something, I don't have to worry about keeping her entertained.

So, one of the joys of finally having all the girls independent is that now that the weather has turned absolutely beautiful, they all play outside together whenever they can. And playing outside all day long leads to excellent bed times. We have a gated back yard, so we can send them out without having to worry. Not that we just send them out and ignore them -- we go out too when we can, but it sure is nice being able to make dinner in peace while they play outside and run off some energy.

They're really into bubbles, chalk, and riding bikes. Today, they watched a butterfly fly around the yard. Until Lydia called for me and said, "Mom, the butterfly is in our bubbles." I came out to inspect the big bubble tray they use for making giant bubbles, and there was a butterfly submerged in the bubbles, with one little leg still trying to hold on, and it quickly faded.

A little later, after they had been outside for close to an hour, Audrey came up to me to show me how clean her hands were. I was a bit surprised. They had played with bubbles and gotten sticky, then chalk and they got dusty, then back to bubbles. They had been crawling around on the deck and searching for toys in the piles of junk on the porch. "Those are really clean!" I said. "How did you get them so clean?"

"I licked them," she said, very proudly. Wonderful.