To doer

I'm a "to-do-lister" which is a great thing on most days. But sometimes the little things get overlooked. The rocking. The singing. The silly faces. The patience and time it takes to rock a baby to sleep and simply sit there cuddling her while she dreams. I do these almost everyday but sometimes I rush through them. I don't soak them up. I get frustrated because I'm thinking about all the to-do's I have yet to do that day. The laundry, the vacuuming, the grocery shopping and carpooling. 

So, yesterday, after having a particularly nasty day the day before full of Evelyn crying and me being...not my best, I decided to have no expectations, no to-do list, and no chores - on the necessities (carpool, dinner, etc) I lived a simple day and it delivered simple pleasures like: 

Evie's smiles 

Rocking a snuggly girl and successfully putting her down because she was that asleep because I took just a little extra time with her. (I even had time to go start a fresh bread recipe while she napped!) 

We enjoyed the sunshine when LB got home from school and went for a walk, babywearing and holding hands :) 

Soaking up the sunshine and the warmth of a snuggly, sleeping baby

Front porch swinging with my girls and by far my favorite moment of the day. 

Lily, Evie and I sat out on the porch swinging in the sunshine for over an hour. I didn't look at my phone (except to take said pictures!) and we didn't rush back inside for things that were unimportant. We sat and we talked. I had one of the best conversations with my 4 year old which including such gems as these:

"What do you want to do when you grow up, Lily?"

"I want...to take a shower by myself. And I want to drive by myself. But, you can ride beside me in the front seat, Mommy. And, Daddy and Evelyn can ride in the back. And I will take you to work everyday and pick you up from work everyday. I will drive you everywhere." (Oh.my.word.)

And this,

"Daddy is an engineer. What does mommy do?"

Straight faced answer: "You're a princess, of course!"

I know we'll have more front porch swinging conversations to come because I will make the time to put my to-do list down, stop and listen. Somethings are waaaaaay more important!