Laughter and Tomato Powder

Today's not-so-favorite moments included . . .

. . . getting a call from the pediatrician saying that Daniel's thumb has a small fracture. Poor kid.

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . watching Joy and Daniel have a blast running around with some neighbor girls.

. . . cooking some good solar cornbread, and salvaging a chili recipe. I thought that adding bouillon and tomato powder made an enormous improvement to the flavor and texture, but Phillip didn't notice any difference. Weird.

. . . hearing the kids laugh together in their room after we put them to bed.

. . . this evening as I got Daniel ready for bed, I commented to him that pregnancy sure can be hard on a mama back. Phillip must have heard me, because he gave me a wonderful back rub after the kids were in bed. Bless him.

And another thing . . .

. . . Joy has a dozen different ways to bug Daniel, but he does one thing that is always guaranteed to make her wail: he pulls her hair. He always lets go when I ask him to, and often grabs a clump of his own hair as if to say, "This is OK, right?"

. . . this afternoon I got to thinking that, although parenthood has probably made my life more complicated and stressful than it would otherwise have been, it has also blessed me with countless sweet moments and opportunities for growth. I wouldn't trade it.