Jay got all his ladies flowers back on Friday night, so it was really fun they made it to (and through) Valentine’s day.

A few days ago I sent him a link to a blog post under a “For your not-to-do list” subject line.

I thought the post was funny. I never guessed it would actually inspire him to write me a poem of his own. He sent it to me in French and Spanish both. The meaning seemed still fairly intact and I enjoyed it.

He keeps telling me he’ll send me the original…

~

I noted on my other blog that I was doing really well in the home-keeping department, then the post-ovulatory phase of my cycle began and I totally crashed— physically useless for about 36 hours.

The change was so big I called Jay before he came home to apologize and prepare him.

He reassured me that he wasn’t surprised when he came home to a messy house, just really pleased when he came home and it looked nice.

This is nice on one level, of course, but I had to pretend a pout as he’s been coming home to a clean house more often than not for a several weeks.

I blamed my cycle at first, of course, but looking at my other habits I acknowledged it would probably help to continue taking vitamins and reading my bible.

It’s not (physio) “logical,” but I have tangibly higher energy- and motivation-levels when I’ve read my bible. I remember to read more often than I remember my vitamins, so I’ve seen the difference between the two.

So yesterday, Valentine’s Day, was very nice in several ways.

Having done what I could do (my reading and vitamins), despite feeling *blah* at first, I tackled the house and got a fair amount done.

When the kids got clingy and fussy and weren’t playing together as well, I shifted gears and read with the three of them in my lap for almost an hour.

Seriously. Elisha only got down twice in this time.

Nap went peacefully, and Natasha even fell asleep— with Thorin for her pillow. Very sweet, and *again* I was my most productive with everyone else in the house asleep. Just, it was for life/schooling stuff this time instead of my novel.

I have another pseudo-organizing activity to prepare for while I play clay with the children today, and if it goes well I’ll be describing it later in greater depth.

Have I mentioned that Natasha has been doing “quiet time” for an hour of napping time instead of sleeping? It’s made an earlier bedtime much more natural and effective.

Natasha sacks amazingly fast, and Melody, having no one to talk to, soon follows suit.

~

After nap we all went to Fred Meyer and Melody got her first panties.

Yes, she’s completely out of diapers, at least for the days.

I asked her earlier in the week if she was ready to go, but she kept saying, “Not yet,” or “Two more sleeps.” Then, when I asked after nap yesterday, she said “Yes!”

In our conversation on the way she clarified, No, she is not a “big girl” now. She is a little girl who can use the potty.

Have I created another literalist?

Then for our Valentine’s Day dinner I made tomato soup (because it was red) and heart-shaped grilled-cheese sandwiches (with a cookie cutter; and everyone still got their piece of crust too). Dinner was very peaceful and sweet with the girls alternating declarations of love for different family members, pop-corn style.