I took a nap today. Not worth mentioning for most folks, but it's been at least two months since my last nap and I'd forgotten what a nap could be like. This was a wierd nap. I was stuck asleep. I knew I should be waking up but I couldn't get out of the sleep. It was a fairly short nap in reality (maybe 45 minutes) but it sucked the life out of me and I awoke more tired than I was beforehand. Perhaps the screaming children interrupting my potentially blissful rest made my body/mind fight back and shut down completely. I've been up for about three hours, drank some green tea, took my vitamins and ate some homemade organic pineapple upside-down birthday cake and I'm still weary.
. . .until bedtime--then I'll wake up.
(if you're wondering what the kids were kvetching about, it was cinnamon toast)

In ten years of parenting, I've learned a few things. . .
-wiping another human's bottom really isn't that big of a deal
-sleep is a luxury
-you experience physical pain when your child experiences physical pain
-you experience emotional pain when your child experiences emotional pain
-the labor pains you go through are nothing compared to what is to come
-preparing a hot meal for your family is a showing of your love, but don't count on eating until it's lukewarm and everyone else has left the table
-they grow up too quickly
Yes, Emily is ten today. She's been an amazing experiment for Martin & myself. Poor first children. They really do get the worst of it.

someone rifled through the van a couple nights ago. pretty much just made a mess. left my educational audio tapes, thrift store books and grocery bags strewn about. as far as i can tell, all he/she took was a small bag of change--mostly pennies, and a ten-cent pair of sunglasses. today emily found his/her diabetes medic-alert tag. now, i'm not saying that i wish this person to go into shock and not be identified as diabetic by the paramedics. i'm just saying that karma is a fascinating thing.