Randoms so far this week

• Oprah ended today. I may have teared up a bit while watching her last show. Yup, I did. I've watched her show faithfully almost everyday for as long as I can remember, with the exception of when I was living in random foreign countries. Love her and loved her show. Today, as part of her finale, she emphasized, "Figure out what you're called to do and get busy doing it". I smiled because I know exactly what I'm meant to do in this chapter of my life. I'm called to be a mother to these wonderful little boys and couldn't be happier about it. 

• Yesterday I looked around at the end of the day and saw empty bottles strewn about everywhere, little people and tools shoved into the diaper pail, red jello embedded into the carpet, and a trail of graham cracker crumbs leading up the stairs. So I did what any good mother would do. 

I opened a bottle of wine.

• The boys and I took a field trip up onto the deck on Monday. Our deck is on the top floor, so to get there from the cave takes two flights of stairs and considerable effort with four little ones. Once we were all settled, I realized that I hadn't brought up enough newborn diapers. Hmmmm.... I could either leave all the boys out on the deck alone while I went in to get a diaper (not a good idea), cart everybody back in with me just to change Finn's diaper (ain't happening), OR:

                                                      

Use one of Colin's diapers that I had on hand! 

You gotta "make it work" sometimes....

• My mother-in-law was here today, so Colin and I went to the Shedd Aquarium in the morning. OMG. I'm pretty sure that every single school in the Chicagoland area was there on a field trip. I've never seen so many unruly, unsupervised kids running around like maniacs in one place. It was crowded, loud and crazy and I regretted my decision almost as soon as we'd paid the enterance fee. However, Colin appeared to really enjoy himself. He especially loved the dolphin show and the jellyfish exhibit. Oh how I love spending time with that kid and watching the wheels in his brain turn when I'm sure he's making a new connection. 

When we got back from the Aquarium, my mother-in-law said, "You know... if you wanted.... I could come every Tuesday night until Wednesday night, to help you out and give you time with colin.... you can think about...." I didn't even let her finish..... "YES! Yes, that would be GREAT! Let's get that in writing, shall we?!" She is so darn good with our boys.

I am so lucky to have such wonderful family help around. Not sure where we'd be without them right now.