let my crazy family know how much they are loved by me every single day

• made the “i love you” sign to the machine when she was feeling shy a bit during her first performance

• tickled bear bear til she begged me to stop, then she begged me start again

• snuggled fat baby against my chest until she was able to go back to sleep last night

• what have i done for the man? hmmmmmm, that’s not good.

• carefully combed the dread-like tangles out of bear bear’s curly hair

• slathered diaper cream on like frosting for fat baby’s tushie rash

• helped the machine clean up a nasty mess she made. she really should have cleaned it up all by herself, but it was really nasty.

• trimmed the cats’ nails

• climbed the mountain of laundry and have almost reached the summit

• i scooped the machine’s pee out of the litterbox. she claims she just couldn’t make it upstairs to go in the toilet. i don’t know what to say except that it was easy to clean up.

• i let bear bear pick out her own outfit this morning. it involves a lot of yellow.

• i got up with fat baby 3 times last night (ear infection) and remained my sweet, loving daytime-mama self rather than the groggy and somewhat irritated middle-of-the-night-mama i can sometimes be

• the man is on his way home sick right now and i plan to allow him to rest while i feed, bathe and tuck in the little ladies. he did this for me last time i was sick and the favor has not been forgotten.

• found a positive phrase to let the machine know it’s time to quiet and settle down. she loves yoga’s lion pose so now i say “quiet as a lion please” instead of “GEEZALOU CHILD WOULD YOU STOP MAKING ALL THAT RACKET. WHY CAN’T YOU SIT STILL AND BE QUIET FOR JUST 5 MINUTES.” i think this new approach will minimize the damage to her energetic spirit. plus, i got stickers to use as rewards.

• let the bear pick out a new little book at the store when her heart was broken by having to leave gym childcare.

• let fat baby ride in the backpack for over an hour just b/c she loves it

• did not give the man a hard time for getting home at 8:30. he was able to get extra work done so that our weekend away will be more pleasant

• kept the first floor clean today after massive cleaning efforts yesterday

• taking care of sick children, nuff said

• walked bear bear and fat baby up to a playground they don’t go to very often. had a snack picnic and lots of fun

• spray painted the machine’s leprechaun trap

• let the man off the hook about being home by 5 so that i could go to spinning class

• skipped my walk this morning to let the man sleep in a bit. he definitely deserved it after two grueling weekends in a row.

• took all three girls to the gym with me to give the man a bit more down time.

• praised the machine again for all of her helpfulness.

• made a big fuss over the awesomely odd colors the machine chose to color a picture.

• took a nap with the bear today b/c she’s been extra snuggly lately

• stayed home this evening to let fat baby go to bed at her normal hour while the rest of the family went to the Y for swimming and ice cream

• gave the machine extra big hugs and told her for the millionth time that she is my #1 helper (she really is)

• found the man’s favorite swim trunks before he took the big girls swimming this evening

• stayed home most of the day (tho’ i really wanted to get out) so that bear bear could recover from a crazy weekend. she is a bit of a homebody, like me, and often wants to stay in on mondays.

• tickled fat baby until i was sure her little face would break from laughing

• praised the machine for not dragging her feet getting ready this morning for school.

• dragged all 3 kids around this afternoon to run errands so that the man could rest from his crazy weekends of work. he’s still grumpy tho’.

i have been struggling with how to document this goal, so i’ve decided just to jump in.

nickname guide:

daughter #1, 5yo = the machine
daughter #2, 2yo = the bear
daughter #3, 7mo = fat baby
husband #1, 34yo = the man

• danced with the ladies to they might be giants wonderful children’s cd

• bought the bear the kind of clothes she likes to wear (knits, comfy) rather than the super cute options

• cleaning the house so that the man will come home to a fairly tranquil environment after yet another long weekend of working the home show

• will do wash this evening so that the man has clean skivvies (the ultimate expression of love in his eyes)