100 Days of Happiness Day 9

I find that a great deal of the joy I feel as a parent is from seeing my kids happy. There is something so pure and satisfying about making another person, in particular my own child, feel happiness. Often times, this may or may not come at the parent’s (my) expense. Think: long hours on your feet in the blistering heat at Disneyland, waiting in the single-longest line that exists on the planet simply to briefly rub elbows with Merida, the princess from Brave. Or: Christmas Eve, when though you are exhausted to your core and your fingers bleed from wrapping, and really you just want to sleep off all the sugar cookies you just ate… you stay up 4 additional hours to make sure the morning will yield the ultimate in joy. This is what we do. And it truly brings immeasurable happiness to see the look of utter elation on a child’s face.

So today is Quincy’s day to celebrate her birthday with her friends. Yes, her *actual* birthday was January 26. That was 5 weeks ago, if you’re counting. When you’re the second child of four, these things happen. I tell myself, in our world of instant gratification and over abundance, it is actually a good thing to make a child wait a bit to celebrate her birthday. It’s okay to wait for things sometimes. But this is only how I make myself feel better because really, I haven’t been able to wrap my brain around letting 6 ten-year-olds spend the night, when I know good and darn well it will mean little to no sleep for them, Owen and/or me.

But tonight it’s on. Til the break of dawn – literally… And my Quinny girl is happy. And that makes me very, very happy.

*Also, it makes me happy that I have the type of husband who took all 7 girls to buy a treat and is currently at the Lego movie with them, while I stay home to (have a glass of wine) bake the cakes they will soon be decorating.

100 Days of Happiness Day 8

The day began an hour later than it typically would because Owen slept in. That, in and of itself, was glorious. It was actually almost light outside when I came downstairs. When the girls were off at school and my baby dude was sleeping, I went for a run. In the sun. It felt and smelled springish.  Then the pinnacle of day, a lunch date with my favorite boys:  John D Hutch, and his face twin, O Jiminey… Sushi it was. A great day, indeed.

100 Days of Happiness Day 7

Oh, this lady and her sandwiches… when will she shut up about them? I know, I know… 

I do love a good sandwich, though… And today I bumped it up a notch and used bacon, which for me, is pretty indulgent. I feel it is important to indulge from time to time. Not every day, not all the time – otherwise it doesn’t feel much like indulging at all and loses its specialness. More like every now and again… And then it feels important. Like a big deal… So when I saw the bacon in the fridge this afternoon, I thought why not? Why not indulge… 

So I fried it up all crispity crunchety, and made myself a really fantastic little sandwich. I even got the super seedy heel of the bread, which I love. So yes, this made me happy.

100 Days of Happy Day 6

I moved to Seattle in the beginning of November. It was raining the day I settled in to my apartment in Queen Anne. It proceeded to rain the next day and the day after that, and every single day for two weeks straight. The sky was the perpetual bruisy-gray I’ve since come to know so very well... All day and all night streams, fountains, rivers of water poured off the roof, into the street, onto the bare trees. I sat inside and wondered when it would stop so I could go for a run. I looked at the dark tumultuous sky and hoped for a shred of blue, but it did not come. In desperation I went for a drive. I ended up in West Seattle as the rain continued to dump. My windshield wipers were cranked up to the max, pumping and swishing water that seemed neverending . That *was* neverending. I was blanketed under the dark clouds… When the f*ck would this stop, I wondered? I cried in my car. A really good cry. It was never going to stop. This was Seattle. And I had moved here. Purposefully. I was raised in SoCal. I spent summers on the beach. Heck, I spent winters on the beach. What the hell was I do doing here? I made a resolution then. I would go home and run. I would put on my ball cap and my jacket and even if it was dumping, I would go out. I also told myself that I would try to appreciate what Seattle had to offer, which was the most spectacular trees I had ever seen… and bodies of water that sparkled at sunset even when it was raining. I did it. I ran down Highland Drive at dusk while it was raining. There was a tree growing on that street that I made a concerted effort to appreciate. It was old and thick with droopy branches. It was beautiful. I was wet but my heart was going and I enjoyed myself. And that was the day things changed. Do I get upset when it rains non-stop here? Sometimes. But most of the time I can go outside and find a huge slice of beauty to sink my teeth into… And sometimes, even in late February, the sky surprises me, and instead of dark gray, is bright brilliant blue. The beauty around me never ever disappoints. It always makes me happy.

100 Days of Happiness Day 5

Oh hello. It’s Owen here… I know my mom posts a lot of pictures of me and talks about me a lot, because… well, I’m a pretty big deal around here. You might be seeing me quite a bit for this 100 Days of Happiness thingy my mom is doing. I’m almost 9 months now, so yeah… I’m getting big. I don’t really care for crawling much. In fact, I really just want to walk to tell you the truth. When my mom tries to sit me down on the floor I do this really neat trick where I make my entire body stiff as a board so she can’t put me in the sitting position. She has to stand me up, which is where it’s at. I hang on to the furniture and bounce and laugh… Pretty soon I’ll be running all over this place and it will be soooo fun. I can already see all the things I want to do – like climb on the stairs, open all the drawers and cabinets, jump on Henry’s dog bed…  I’ve been working really hard on getting my teeth. I have 3 and a half – two bottom ones, a top one and a new edge of a top one… I love to eat, too. I eat everything. Broccoli, sweet potato, avocado, chicken, salmon, apples, yogurt, oatmeal, noodles, peas, puffs, you name it – I’ll eat it. I’m doing much better with my sleeping and that makes my mom so happy. I will wake up maybe once per night, but that’s no big deal and soon I won’t even do that. There are always a lot of girl children around – which is fine by me. My sisters are always close and love to play with me. Brooklyn sings to me and reads me stories. Quincy holds me and plays toys with me on the floor. Peyton carries me, changes my diaper, and takes me on “the baby express” which is a game she made up just for me. Gosh, I love them. They always have friends over who play with me, too. Girls are pretty great. Sometimes during the day they leave and it’s just me and mommy. We do errands and take walks outside. I love to go sit in my Daddy’s office. He bounces me and throws me around the most. I think it makes mom nervous, but Daddy is strong. He always plays my favorite song for me, “Three Little Birds,” by Bob Marley. I get soooo excited when he puts it on. So that’s what’s new with me… Like I said, I’m sure you’ll be seeing lots of me. Love, Owen Jeffrey (or as mommy calls me: O Jiminey)

100 Days of Happy Day 4

Sometimes when I wake up it is not the happy voice that greets me in my head. It is a more critical voice – one that tends to remind me of my shortcomings, of the things I am not, but should be… This voice points out my flaws and tells me the day will be long and hard. I try to ignore her, but she is persistent. I know she is wrong… I am good and strong and the day can be great. 

So I have to dump her out of my head. 

Going upside down is a little magical. Blood reverses, thoughts fizzle, and the voice that should hush up and go away – does. As a child I did 50 cartwheels in row, for no other reason than it was fun. I felt lightheaded and free. I get that same effervescent feeling as a 40 year old adult doing handstands. It’s a quick shot of happy.