The other day at the hospital I saw a bumper sticker that said "If indoor plumbing doesn't bring you happiness, what will?" The editorial bit in the Cooks Illustrated magazine I read this week quoted from Lonesome Dove--"If you want any one thing too badly, it's likely to turn out to be a disappointment. The only healthy way to live life is to learn to like all the little everyday things." This subject is one I have been considering myself for some time. It seems it keeps cropping up. This life is meant to be hard so we can learn things--but in this life we are also meant to have joy. It is possible to feel joy when you are sad and when things are hard and when you are busy and when you are tired. God, when creating the universe, took regular, purposeful moments to "see that it was good." He did this even when he still had plenty to do (especially since I don't buy the literal interpretation of 'day' in that portion of Genesis. The actual word from which it was translated means something closer to 'a period of time.') In the midst of a lot of work with still a couple billions of years worth of work left to do, God thought it was important enough to pause and say--"Hey, this is good stuff." He further thought this pause for appreciation was worth having his prophets write it down for lots of people to read about afterward. As long as the scriptures are, there is still plenty that has been left out. Like with Hemingway (I promise not to bring him up all the time) if the words escaped the cutting room floor, you know they are important and very intentional. So, therefore, I continue to strive to learn to see the good things in a day--even in a really bad day. If all else fails, I know I can count on indoor plumbing to lift my spirits.

I can already see that these code names are going to trip me up. Even though they are things I actually call the kids, somehow it seems like more work to type that than their names. So, to make things even more interesting, I will also refer to the progeny as I, E, and e--respectively. The people who care about who is which will be able to figure it out, and the people who can't figure it out aren't likely to be the ones to whom it matters. Besides, it's much easier to type. I don't promise to not deviate from other boundaries I have, do, or will set.

e visited the pediatrician on Friday. E and I were terrifically helpful during the visit and earned compliments from the doctor. (a friend sent them little back packs after e was born [thank you!] and when I have to take them to appointments, I fill the backpacks with little amusements. It helps. I also sometimes resort to using the portable DVD player. No, I don't feel like a bad mom because of it.) It was a tolerably good visit for e, though the pediatrician, like the home nurse last week, was worried about the fulness of his fontanel. She is going to confer with the neurosurgeon to see if he should go back in for another head ultrasound or something. Meanwhile, the change in the kind of formula used to fortify his milk seems to have helped with his retching. He still does it occasionally, but he probably always will. It is much better. It is so good to have the whole family under one roof.