going to my happy place

 

Yesterday morning I watched the sun come up from the window in the kids' room. 

This week has been pretty challenging so far.

I guess I deserve it.  I was feeling pretty awesome a week or two ago, 

like I had this two kids thing all figured out.

And then Ellie stopped sleeping through the night.

And then Nicholas stopped sleeping through the night.

Now I'm back into the deep realms of sleep deprivation, where you crave sleep every second of every day.  

And instead of life getting easier and easier as Ellie gets older, 

right now it just seems to be getting harder.  I feel like I spend every moment of every day (and night) working and working and working to simply prevent people from crying.  

It's not so happy.  And because I'm so tired, I can't think of anything we haven't tried already to get these kids to start sleeping again.

So, in the interest of my sanity,
today's blog post is a list of five (of many) reasons why my life is still awesome.
 
1. This view.  We had a bit of a setback this week as we discovered that the lot we wanted to build on has already been purchased.  So I did some searching, and I found a whole list of lots that have even better views of these gorgeous mountains.  We have a new list of favorites to pick from, and it feels good.

2. Springtime.  I went on a walk last week. I wore shorts.  It was 70 degrees.  We saw daffodils, new green grass, little purple flowers. 

3. These two.

 Sure, they're the reason I'm not sleeping.
But Ellie was fussing the other day and Nicholas said,
"It's okay, Eh-wie, I'm going to get a book to read to you."
He ran upstairs, came back with his Book of Mormon, and started to tell her the stories in the pictures in the front.  And she stopped fussing to listen to him.
I mean, can it get any more adorable than that?

4. Nicholas.  Yesterday I told him I needed to change his diaper and he said, "Um, no. My bum is too busy right now."
He made up a song a few days ago that he sings all the time.  It goes:
"I wove Mommy. Mommy woves me. I wove Daddy.  I wove Eh-wie.  I wove me.  I wove Mommy." and so on.

5. Ellie.
 Funny, as I typed her name just now she woke up and I can hear her fussing on the monitor.
Maybe she's teething? Maybe I'm not paying close enough attention to her eating/sleeping schedule?
I don't know.

But gosh, she's so adorable, I still just can't get enough of her.
Maybe it's lucky that I get to wake up during the night and see her again.