Harper is in the midst of dropping the nap. For other moms and dads out there, that could be enough said! Days of no nap, she is out by 7 pm without any hesitation; days with a nap, she is not out until 8:15ish. Many might think 8:15 is not so bad, however, given that by 9 I am in my sweats and barely functioning with much beyond  my tv, book(rarely), or computer/ipad(often).....8:15 is late! Tonight was one of the non nap nights. These have presented me with some frustration on other nights. One particular night, about a week ago, when Dave was on duty and I was not feeling well, she protested bed. Now, a thought you might have here is how did she protest and what is so wrong with letting her work it out? Yet, her protests involve calling me because she needs an animal, a fix of the blanket....and so on, even to the point that one night when asked why she had called me to her room, she proclaimed with sad confidence, "I don't have a good reason!" I worked hard to not laugh that night.....2 years old and she had figured too much out! So, anyhow, back to that night in the frustration- I walked upstairs and literally and figuratively put my hands in the air and asked, "I don't know what to do. You need to sleep. This is a big girl room and I guess if you can't be a big girl, you will have to go to another room by yourself." As soon as the words escaped, I thought: how would we finagle that in our little house...we do not have an extra bed or bedroom where I could move her.....oh, how I hoped she would not bite at this idea! But, just then, across the room her sister piped up, "Harper, please go to bed. I don't want you to leave. I like sharing a room with you and if you left, I would really miss you." I knew at that moment, thanks to the empathy of a four year old, moving Harper was not the solution to the problem. Just no more long naps, some more patience on behalf of mom, and the understanding that spring weather will be here soon allowing us to get outside and tire out enough for the beloved early bedtimes! I did relish the sweetness and sincerity of the sisterly love I had the opportunity to witness. A story I had to write, to be sure to share with them when they are 14 and screaming at each other!

I apologize for the lack of posting lately; the flu came to our house and has stuck around, uninvited. As of today, all three of the girls are on antibiotics....Dave is standing strong and hopefully it will remain that way. Paisley was taken down the hardest of all, hitting the high 103's for a few days...I knew it was going to get me when I spent the night next to her, but I can't sleep away from one of my kids when they have a high fever. I will feel better tomorrow now that I have begun a zpack, and there will be more writing...I promise that to myself.....and to whomever will read this.

Just saw this quote on pinterest and coudn't help but post it here. Dave declared that one of his resolutions this year was to de-clutter his life. Of course, lacking my own thoughts at the time, I decided to hop on board.  Slowly, I am working to de-clutter closets, the basement-uggh- and various aspects of life. So, this quote just struck me at the right time!

The power of dogs...

 

It comes as no surprise to me that this dog can do this, but I was struck by someone else's desire to show the pictures...what a smart, kind, loving animal.....who doesn't love labrador retrievers?!  

We spend so much time thinking about what we can do for other people when so often it is the little, simple acts of kindness that change someone's day....a nice reminder from a loving dog and its owner. 

Perhaps I just found my New Year's resolution...though of course losing that last 10 pounds is always on the list....I will try to do one meaningful thing for someone else once a month. Hopefully, I will actually do many more than that, but saying I would do it each day or each week is much harder to track and remember....though, that will be the goal.....then, I will track the once a monther's here!