Is it over yet?

I'm hoping against hope that our bout with illness is at least temporarily over. My husband feels better, the pickle in Ragsy's ear is gone (for some reason, an ear infection somehow equals having a pickle in one's ear) and Evelyn is not sick. Yet. But she starts daycare part time on Monday and I go back to work a week from Monday, so Murphy's Law would indicate that she'll come down with something spectacularly bad by Sunday, so I'll have to stay home all the following week. Oh, well - things could be lots worse.

Anyway, everyone is getting healthy just in time for a couple of people to drop by tonight. On the one hand, I'm very much looking forward to it. I love having people over. I'm a lot like my mom in that I'm a feeder. I like to feed people, though I try not to be as persistent about it as she is. With my mom, if you don't eat what she makes, you don't like her. I've never taken not eating something personally, especially now since many of my friends (me, too!) are making efforts to have a healthier 2010.

On the other hand, having people over means I have to clean. This is actually not a negative since I need to organize the house and would like it to be in such a state where it's not hard to have people over with short notice; however, it does highlight two things for me: a) we're slobs and b) Evelyn really doesn't sleep that much. We haven't read the same books apparently. No matter - that's what slings were created for, I suppose. She'll just have to get acquainted with the vacuum cleaner.

Only tangentially related, I've found that our Parents as Teachers educator, combined with Evelyn and Ragsy's pediatrician together make the perfect childcare advisor. I think I'm in love with both of them. We had a visit from our PATNC educator yesterday and she actually helped me a LOT with some of Evelyn's sleep issues (i.e., that she would refuse to sleep during the day, making her so tired she'd stay up until midnight and crash for seven hours).

Although Evelyn is still not a fabulous napper, some of the suggestions I've received have already begun to pay off, with no tears necessary (on either side). And she delivers them in such a non-judgmental, calming way, which is worth its weight in gold. Then there's our pediatrician who always makes me feel like I'm making good decisions, even when she's somehow getting me to change my mind or when everyone else tells me I'm a whack job or spoiling my kids. Hats off to you, ladies.