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return to "normal"

from now on, this is how we do ALL
our gingerbread houses.
i have been guilting myself for not blogging for weeks now. how was christmas? (charlie's first!) how was new years? how was thanksgiving, for that matter, and the visit with the family? how have i not managed to document all of these precious moments in our family's life?

well, here's how: the mama in this house works. and if this blog is and always has been about the balancing act - the utter tightrope walk! - of being both a marketing professional and the best mom i can be, then my silence reflects the focus the past several weeks have required. but now ... knock on wood? ... it appears that we might be sliding into a routine. and now, maybe now, i can begin again to write down the struggles and joys we face.

and when i am in doubt, i just look at this little face:

don't worry, mother, i am wise in ways
you cannot comprehend.

and then i realize, it's all ok. a few months of blogging silence do not a disaster make.

*   *   *
so how were our holidays? overall very nice. lowkey christmas at home (or as lowkey as it gets with a busy three-and-a-half-year-old who doesn't understand why we can't play with every present we open and have to keep on opening more). (why DO we have to keep on opening more? thoughts for next year ...)

we made a quick trip (too quick) to baton rouge to see friends and family the weekend after christmas. that was wonderful too. except that john came down with the flu while we were there. so when we got back, the week of new years was even weirder than it would have been because my husband and i had to take turns staying home with john until he was better. new years was of necessity the quietest i've ever spent ... we watched a movie, paused at midnight to say happy new year, and went to bed not long after.

but here it is 2014. we're settling in in texas -- i love my new job, the boys are thriving in their new school, we're figuring out what a "normal" day looks like ... and in the midst of so much change, these kiddos are an anchor. here's to a beautiful new year. (one week late.)

*   *   *
and my final thought for today: in the car this morning on the way to school, john said to me accusingly and appropos of nothing, as he often does lately, "mommy, you a bad guy."

my response was not to tell him not to call mommy a bad guy.

i hit the IMPORTANT stuff: "john, please use proper english, my love."

"ok, mommy. you ARE a bad guy."

thattaboy.



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