And baby makes three...

Jeff and I experienced a blast from the past with "Parenting only one child 101" last week.

My sister, Heather, had plans to visit our parents in Arizona and invited Brinley to go along. Not since the infamous "six hours on an all-night flight from Hawaii with double ear infections of 2004" has Brin flown on an airplane, so she was reeling with anticipation. Which, as all of you experienced parents know, leads directly to illness. (The greater the anticipation, the sicker children will get). Just five hours before her eight o'clock flight Brinley threw up (all over me, might I add) at a picnic in the canyon.

Well! I couldn't very well send her- all shivering, aching and with a 101 degree fever. Caroline gingerly inquired, "If Brin doesn't go.......... can I use her ticket?" Jeff said she could.

Just the, a sudden realization came upon me! Brin had just received her kindergarten immunizations, with flu like symptoms being a common side effect. After a two hour nap Brin was convinced she could fly. But where did that leave Caroline???

Well, I'll tell you where it left her. It left her with great big puppy-dog-disappointed-looking eyes. It left her with the biggest push-over of a daddy in the whole world, who happens to have several frequent-flyer miles. And it left her going to Arizona, too, with less than three hours to pack.

So there Jeff and I were left, two comfortable old shoes with nothing but little Gracie to occupy our time for five whole days. I think I feel in love with her in a way I remember feeling about Caroline when she was my only baby.

She is magically beautiful.

It was nice to have the girls back home yesterday, though. They do so many chores for me around the house that I was beginning to grow weary without them. Besides being my little slaves, they are a whole lot of fun to be around.

Guess who's comming to dinner?

This is a little game I play every night at about 6:00, and the answer is never the same. The revolving door around my kitchen table whirls with excitement as the summer weeks wear on. Between in-town-old-roommates with kids in tow, parents in for frequent visits, friends, neighbors and a husband who travels half of the time I can be cooking for two or twenty on any given day.

One of my favorite things about my neighborhood is the communal sense of child rearing, meaning that I feed (or care for... or take to the pool or movies) which ever little bodies happen to be playing at my house at the time.

So each summer night I think, "Well, Jeff is gone, but Heidi's here and so are two neighbor kids and my sister, so I'll have to set how many places...."

I LOVE IT!!!