good morning

I don't have time to write the thoughtful, reflective "mothers day" message I planned to! I need to build in extra time this morning to give E a bath so that her ears won't smell like sour milk all day, and so that her hair will be nice and clean for the family photo we're taking this evening (for my church directory). I hate posing for formal photographs, and I believe David does too, but he agreed to this. If the picture comes out good I plan to buy the photo package. If it's not good, we'll just look funny in the directory.

David is working today and doesn't know yet about the rest of the week. So E may be with Erma again all week. As soon as we all get to grips with "daddy day care," Daddy gets more work than he's had in months! But that's a good thing.

My first mothers day was wonderful. The service at Meeting (church) was very nice. Emma was dedicated along with two boy babies. She wore a cotton dress made for me 40 years ago by my great-aunt Nell. David and E and I went up to the front, along with our parents who were there, and the other two families. The minister gave an inspiring message to the congregation about helping parents raise children in a spiritual community, and he took each baby and walked them around to show people so they would recognize the child. Emma watched the minister like a hawk the whole time (he has a great voice and was wearing a tie with Tigger on it) and wasn't bothered by him taking her from her daddy and walking her around. After Meeting we all came back to our house for lunch and a long visit of watching, holding, and talking about the grandchild. It was really special to have all of E's grandparents here. They're special people. And you know what else? I am so proud and feel so lucky that both David's and my parents are still married to each other, and healthy, and involved in our lives. Every family has its own degree of "dysfunction" I'm sure, but we both truly lucked out to have such great parents. They're an inspiration to me and I hope E can say the same about us one day.

Okay, yikes, look at the time! Time to wake the babe for her bath (yes, I know, something you shouldn't normally do, but vanity wins out today). I've been awake for an hour now and need to leave in 90 minutes. As I've mentioned before, it takes me a while to wake up sufficiently to get out of the house. An hour and a half might just be enough!