happy new year.

last night, the neighborhood erupted into fireworks and they didn't stop until after 4.  i had various homicidal thoughts towards all my neighbors, especially when sometime around 12:45 ekb woke up and didn't really settle back down again until close to 4, when i finally relented and just crawled in to bed with her.  not sleeping because of a full human in my uterus, contractions, etc., compounded by not sleeping because of an upset toddler and disrespectful neighbors had me in a fit.  

but.  when i woke up to that sweet face this morning and a brand new year, i was very calm.  new years day at our house so far has looked like this: lots of (decaf) coffee.  candles lit around the house.  clean (or, as clean as our house gets, really).  scrambled eggs with avocado for breakfast.  laundry on.  a pork roast in the oven, black eyes and scratch-made garlic mashed potatoes on the stove.  two dogs curled up on their beds.  grey with a cold front coming in outside.  all of us still in pajamas.  boring bowl games on the telly.  a quick video chat conversation with my family.  in short, a perfect day, really.  when emme gets up from her nap, we will eat our traditional dinner (the cole slaw will be created closer to eating time).  we may eventually put on real clothes and go for a walk or to a park with the dogs, but i'm not 100% sure.  in any case, i am so calm and happy today.  i am so thankful for everything we have - our family, friends.  our warm home.  2012 flew by so fast.  my goal is to be a little more deliberate in 2013.  take it more slowly and appreciate all of this fantastic life a little more.