Today was a good day – still hot here – but a good, good day!  We went out to see our friends’ new house which is so fabulous!   I am not an envious person, but I have to say that I am totally jealous of their house!  It’s not the house so much (even though, oh my, it is gorgeous) – it’s the setting.  This house sits on 5 acres (I believe) along a small river and it is just serene.  I honestly feel like we took a vacation today just from the 2 short hours we spent there.  We sat out on their patio and ate sandwiches, played with the dogs, watched for bald eagles, went down to the river shoreline, and discussed the new wildlife they’re seeing such as snapping turtles, various birds, and critters in the river.  It was a peaceful way to spend a Sunday!

Some friends had us over for dinner and cake to celebrate… the birthday.  Their 2 year old was very excited to sing “Happy Birthday” and even though I’m not a birthday person, I couldn’t help but enjoy watching and listening to his excitement!  As he led everyone in the singing, I did dream a bit about my birthday two years from now when M will be old enough to sing to me.  That will be fun  🙂

I was adamant about getting home in time for M’s bedtime.  With the house being so hot, and us always being on the go due to that, M has not been getting good naps this weekend which, in turn, leads to an “off” bedtime routine.  We are very regimented about bedtime.  Bath-PJ’s-Books-Nursing & Lullabies-Bed.  All of this occurs prior to 8:30 (a 7/7:30 bedtime was not working for us – I tried!).  Both Friday and Saturday nights resulted in 9:30 and 10:00 bedtimes due to the chaos of the heat and being anywhere but here late into the evenings.  Yikes!  So tonight, I was insistent that he be in bed by 8:30 and that he get as normal a routine as possible.

I love M’s bedtime.  It is the set time of the day that is solely focused on M – nothing gets in the way of it.  M’s bedtime is all of our time.  I give him his bath while B preps M’s room and bed, we both comb his hair and play with him after his bath (before his PJ’s go on), it takes both of us to get his jammies on (wiggly baby), B reads 3-4 books to him, and then I get him for nursing and lullaby time.  As I sat in the basement rocking him tonight on the sofa sleeper, singing lullaby after lullaby to him as he nursed and fell asleep, I thought about how much I’ll miss this time when he gets bigger.  I wondered if I’ll still sing to him every night when he’s, say, 2 and 3 years old.  Will he let me snuggle and sing to him when he’s bigger?  I don’t know – and I think I’d rather not know because I fear that the answer may be, “no.”  My heart breaks a little just typing that.

My day started with total peace out at our friends’ house, and it ended in total peace with my baby in my arms.  A perfect Sunday – and a perfect way to end a chaotic weekend.