It's all tied up...

Kennedy: 1 - Cold/Tooth: 1

Kennedy: 1 - Cold/Tooth: 0

With yet another tooth digging its way to the surface and a nasty cold showing up at Kennedy's doorstep yesterday, it was time to forget life's inconveniences and replace feeling like crap with feeling good. 

So, with the sun kissing our shoulders and the wind breathing new life in our musty lungs, we sprawled out on a blanket and listened to the water clap on the rocks, devoured sandwiches and watched ducklings cling to their mother's side as they longed for us to return and feed them more stale bread. 

Sure, the snot still dripped and the cough showed its ugly face every now and then (and I'm sure the gums still throbbed), but it didn't break her spirit.

To every passerby, she managed a smile and an inquisitive point of the finger and you'd never know she didn't feel good.

And to us, she intoxicated our hearts with love and laughter and left us feeling alive and craving more of her.

And four hours and one nap later, we're still feeling the aftershock of an afternoon spent loving on each other and drinking in all that a daughter can fill our hearts with.

To her, it was a day that started with wanting to go back to bed.  Or perhaps just seek shelter in a sand pail for a while.

But it ended in true Kennedy style. A bath, a splash of silliness, a smile and no evidence that she was less than 100 percent.    

To her, there was no white flag given to General Cold and Sergeant Tooth. Victory was hers as she battled two of life's inconveniences and came out on top.

Noodles

Trying.  That best describes the kind of day I was having. 

And as the day went on and the little things in life had become hard, I grew increasingly fragile and needed to let it be known that my day was crap.  So, in the middle of boiling noodles I arranged a therapy appointment for myself.  To my delight, my therapist, Dr. Blogger, had an opening at 7:30 p.m..

So for the next couple of hours, I looked forward to my therapy session.   In between whipping up dinner, feeding the dogs and bathing the babe, I carefully sorted out the day's events which I would tell Dr. Blogger about come 7:30.  I had every intention of lying on the couch and confessing all of the things that had tried my patience as a mom, elevated my blood pressure and led me to eating two cookies and half a slice of chocolate cake today.

I even relished the idea of having a "serious" session with Dr. B. since usually my sessions with him are more on the lighthearted side.  I was eager to get my life's bumps out on the table and off my chest.  And lucky for me, Dr. Blogger is a good therapist.  He has always listened to me with careful consideration as I've sprawled out on the couch and confessed my daily happenings.  He never says much, but occasionally he'll brighten my day with a comment. 

So when my appointment neared and then past without me stepping foot into Dr. B's office, I wondered why I had played hooky.  What had stopped me from going?  One minute I'm hurrying to upload pictures from today as to not miss my appointment and the next minute I'm still planted in the same spot looking at the same pictures and caring less that 7:30 has now become 8 o'clock.

And then, just like that, I had my answer. 

It was this face that made me realize that I didn't need to list all of the reasons why today was so trying.  Kennedy's noodles had changed my noodle's thinking.  I had forgotten about life's beauties and blessings, but she reminded me.  She reminded me that I did laugh today, that there was some sun shining through all the clouds of the day.  I remembered her smile as we danced around the family room and the way she lit up when I placed her on Marley's back for a "horse" ride.  And most of all, I remembered the noodles.  As she intently watched Sesame Street and ate her noodles, I intently watched her get noodles stuck on her forehead, chin, cheek and hair.  And the thought of it still makes me want to bottle that moment up forever.

Among all the disasters of today, there lived a noodle-loving girl who can make me forget appointments, appointments which at one time I thought were important.  It seems there's a new therapist in town.  Thank you, Dr. Kennedy.

F is for Fork

Fork by Kennedy Hokenstad. 

 F is for fingers are much easier. 

O is for overrated. 

R is for rather use my fingers. 

K is for keep in mouth and don't let go is my new favorite game.

and since I have your attention...

B-l-i-s-s

It's Saturday night.  I've got a glass of wine in hand.  There's a fabulous aroma drifting from the kitchen that I did not create.   And the babe is bathed and safely tucked away for the night. 

Blissful.

But before all this bliss was bestowed on me, my morning was oozing with bliss and some of it had dripped its way into my afternoon.

First, I was granted a peaceful leave to spend some quality time with one of my favorite girls this morning (thanks, Jen, I needed that). 

And although I didn't see her when I arrived home, the house looked and smelled like Cinderella had been up to something while I was away. 

Next stop on the bliss train, taking my little mermaid for a swim.  I also took my daily shower whilst in the pool; therefore, killing two birds with one bliss infested stone.  

And the last drip of bliss turned my little Miya from a vagrant back into a dainty dachshund as she returned home from the doggie spa wearing pom poms in her hair.

And to think I have a full day dedicated to ME just around the corner.  Today felt like tomorrow should.  

Life is good.

Happy Mother's Day!