My Big Nights In

Now that I'm feeling better and the contents of my stomach are staying in their rightful place, our evenings can get back to normal. I've mentioned this before, but I love our nights at home. I read the facebook statuses of my footloose friends, and while I'm glad they're having fun, I truly don't feel any envy.

I love coming home to a toddler who races over to hug me tight, a baby whose smile, while usually already present, grows even bigger because she sees me, and a husband who has already started dinner. Someday the kids will have activities and homework and JP will probably have his own demanding job (so we hope, though while a second paycheck would be very nice, I have to say I'm enjoying the status quo), but right now, things are pretty easy. We eat dinner together, we talk about our days, we laugh while Claire attacks her spoon of sweet potatoes. We clean up the dishes, Landon plays, Claire watches. We take baths- both kids in the tub with me, or Landon taking a shower while Claire gets a quick sponge off. Then, my favorite part, the playing before bed. Even if it's only 5 minutes, and due to Landon's recent habit of taking FOREVER to eat his food, it frequently is only that long before it's upstairs for a book and a tuck-in, but it's still my favorite.

Lately we've been playing a board game if Landon finishes his dinner in a timely manner (we don't do dessert incentives because I refuse to bargain with food; I don't like the concept, particularly with a growing daughter, and it doesn't seem to do much but add a lot of "how many bites?" and "does this count as a bite?" and next thing you know everyone is mad and no one has dessert), and that has been really fun. But there's something extra laugh-inducing about rolling around in mom and dad's bed.