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Ellie caught me off guard when she started singing a new song, recently. “I’m just a little bit caught in the middle, life is a maze, and love is a riddle.” I have the Pandora Children’s Indie Station on in the house a lot…she must have heard and learned the Lenka hit that way. After I stopped laughing in wonder at the fact that she was singing mainstream music and not just kids’ tunes like “This Old Man” or “All of the Raindrops,” I remembered the rest of the song and the lyrics started to sink in.

It was just one of those weeks. The kind when the gold stars get buried by lots of running around, massive daily to-do lists, and feeling overwhelmed by the annoying things that crop up in the midst of the chaos. But they’re annoying. Not tragic. Feeling overwhelmed by the typical life balancing act means our life is settling into a new normal. That’s a good thing. A bright shining gold star right there. 7 months ago, I would have killed to be upset about yet another round of the same obnoxious cold being passed around my family or running out of milk because I didn’t have enough time to hit the grocery. Even though some weeks the gold stars are hard to find, the exercise of searching them out and concentrating on them has helped immensely. So thank you, Eloise, my little two-year-old guru, for reminding me that even though this journey is twisty and unpredictable to “just enjoy the show.”

*Spring Cleaning. It’s good for the soul.

*Back up and running. My body took a beating with this past pregnancy. It has taken me 4.5 months to work my way up to 2 consecutive miles, but running is finally starting to feel better and I’m finally starting to feel stronger. Excellent news, since summer is coming and the baby weight is incredibly stubborn this time around.

*The Amazing My Tot Clock. For the first time in weeks, Eloise slept until 6:30AM this morning. WOOHOO! I am going to irrationally attribute that to our new My Tot Clock, a marvelous invention that came highly recommended by my Kindred Spirit mommy friend. Is there a good chance Ellie’s waking up “late” had nothing at all to do with the clock? Absolutely. But I definitely smiled when I heard her yell from her room, “Mommy! My clock turned yellow! I can get up now! How cool is that?”

*To things that could have gone wrong going right. Mike and I were honestly starting to get a complex. That the universe was against us and that if something could go wrong, it would. So imagine our nerves when we had to take Dorey to the vet this week. One of her back legs is going lame and we feared we were in for x-rays, a slew of tests, and surgeries. Thankfully, we are catching it early enough that joint supplements and monitoring are the immediate name of the game. It’s hard watching our fur baby get old. But we are blessed that we get to.

*Iced caffeinated perfection at my finger tips. And it’s only 70 calories a cup. Let’s just say this coffee drink staved off quite a few rotten mood swings this week.

We are still riding off of a wonderful long weekend spent visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Arizona. It was the first chance we had to visit their new home since they moved last June, and we can see why they are enjoying it so much. We packed a lot of fun into just a few short days: great food, shopping, playgrounds, trains, ice cream, hide-and-seek and lots of laughs. We love you, Auntie Becky and Uncle Adam! Thanks for the wonderful memories.

*World Class Traveler. “But I’m not READY YET!” said no one at the end of a 4 hour flight, ever. Except Eloise. Yep. She really went there. Eloise was a perfect angel for both flights. She only fussed when we were deplaning back in Chicago. She really loves her headphones. And the fact that we let her watch unlimited cartoons and play Toca Kitchen to her heart’s content on the ipad.

*Auntie Becky and Uncle Adam Time. Eloise had a blast playing hide and seek, puzzles and matching games with her Auntie and Uncle at their house. They played “What’s Missing?” at restaurants while waiting for our food. Auntie Becky and Uncle Adam took Eloise to THE coolest playground I have ever seen. They held hands while exploring the Arizona State University, where Auntie Becky works. I’d say these three definitely bonded. Any luck getting “All of the Raindrops” out of your head, Auntie Becky?

*The McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park. This was the highlight of the visit for every single one of us. What a fun place! We road a mini steam engine and a carousel, and explored several nice, big playgrounds. The park exceeded all expectations and was pretty momentous all around.

*SUNSHINE! I could get used to warmth and blue skies every day. Although it wasn’t 100+ degrees, either, so maybe we enjoyed the best weather the great state of Arizona has to offer.

*Seeing your little sister happier than you ever have before: Priceless.

For the past week, Eloise has woken me up at 5:30AM. No matter how long she sleeps at naptime or what time we put her to bed at night, it’s been like clock-work. 5:30AM on the nose. Suffice it to say, we ladies have both been cranky this week. One morning, it seemed like absolutely everything I said (“That’s enough Chuggington for today.” “No, you can’t go to Little Gym in your pajamas.” How about a banana for breakfast?”) caused a flood of tears and screaming.  I understood that it was because she was tired, but my patience was quick to run out. Like every parent out there, I am easily frustrated with todder-isms. I’m quick to get down about the constantly overflowing laundry hamper or sink that’s perpetually full of dirty dishes. It’s maddening to never be on my own schedule, and hard to feel so stinkin exhausted all of the time. Anyone who says they have never experienced these emotions as a parent is lying. It comes with the territory. But this week, every time I lost patience, a little voice in the back of my head whispered, “You’re so damn lucky.”

Hannah would have turned 6 months old this week. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wish to God that I was sleep-deprived and covered with baby purees, struggling to balance time between my toddler, my baby, my husband and my job with all of the normal complaints of a typical mother of two. Missing out on those growing pains with Hannah makes me appreciate the ones I am living with Eloise. To see them differently.

Have I transformed into a saint-on-earth who has stopped complaining for good and will never yell at Eloise/Mike/the dog/the cosmos/an empty room ever again? Hell no. I’m human. I’m a mom. I’m a small business owner. I’ll probably lose my crap for some reason or another in the next half hour. But this realization that time is fleeting and I will one day long for these moments is like a deep breath. Hannah has given me the gift of this perspective, and I hope it sticks with me for the rest of my life.

*Perspective. “There are people who would love to have your bad days.”

* “Donits.” I had been jonesing for a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee all week. One day, after being out and about, I told Eloise we were going to stop for one. “And some donits, too?” (Yes, she says “donits.” She spends a lot of time with my mom and her Massachusetts accent. ) How could I say no to that? So we popped inside for a few munchkins and a mother-daughter coffee talk. Fingers crossed this becomes a lasting tradition, and one day I’ll be old and gray, sitting in a Dunkin’s with an adult Eloise, chatting about her kids over coffee and “donits.”

*A Heatwave. It finally hit 30 degrees this week! WOOHOO! Eloise and I had a great time sledding at the park.

*The lollipop. For what seemed like an eternity, Eloise hated having her hair cut. I refuse to do it myself (uncooperative kid+ scissors = disaster of epic proportions to me), so I dealt with her fussing through a few initial haircuts at Pickles. Luckily, Mr. Jeremy is great at what he does. He’s friendly, fast and extremely patient. He’s won Eloise over to the extent that she was jumping up and down, so excited that it was time for a trim this week. After Ellie declared, “Mr. Jeremy is the best guy in the whole city!,” he gave her a dum-dum.  It was her first lollipop and she was THRILLED. And now she thinks dum-dums are magical pieces of candy that solely exist at Pickles.