10.31.21 - Joy status: Halloween on FB

Halloween is one of the best days on Facebook. I love all your costume and decor pics!

12.18.20 - Joy status: COVID vaccine

I'm seeing a lot of posts in my newsfeed of friends who are healthcare workers getting the vaccine. Feels so hopeful!

10.23.20 - Joy status: a long list

Joy Inventory:

TikTok put Calvin back to sleep.

• This morning Calvin woke up before everyone else and cuddled on the couch with me for a good 45 minutes--watching TikTok, lol.
• My long work commute gives me time I wouldn't otherwise have to stay in touch with a lot of people I care about.
• Last weekend I got to spend time with Neil and Ellen in person, and it was great. In fact I barely slept (relatively speaking) because I kept staying up late to talk.
• Sarah also got to join us for lots of the weekend. I love how long she's known my family (17 years now!) and how comfortable she is around all of us even though we are so yelly.
• Henry also joined and we played uninterrupted tichu and it was a really close game! 1005-1095 I think. I love close tichu games.
• I felt particularly useful at work yesterday. Good feeling.
• My office area faces a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows and this week when it was breezy leaves would flutter all around me.
• Clara and Jane play pretend together frequently, and I'm so grateful they have each other for company.
• Earlier this week we received some awesome kids Halloween books from Beth and several Halloween shirts, toys, and treats from my beloved in-laws.
• We're going to the pumpkin patch tomorrow with the one family with kids who has been spending time with us these last several months. Really glad we have them to join. Apparently they are also psyched about it.
• Next weekend we are going to "Erin's Halloween Candy Hunt," the event we've been counting down to in this house (literally, with a paper chain) since it was 45 days out. It's basically an easter egg hunt, but Halloween themed. It's going to be great, and it's entirely private so it cannot be cancelled unexpectedly.
• Jack often calorie counts the dinners he makes just for me, so I can better track what I'm eating. Such a sweet gesture.
• Our Director of Operations at work has decided to just...redo the office kitchen? And it's adorable. Lots of new colors and storage, backsplash, etc., feels halfway to a home kitchen. I really like it.
• A few of my friends who have left FB over the years have created a Discord channel for a group of us to keep in better touch, and it's been a great connection and outlet the last few weeks. So glad they thought of it.
• Last night when I pulled into my parking spot, Clara was standing in the nursery window and saw me. She started grinning hugely and as soon as I got out of the car she started shouting hello to me. Very sweet.
• Most nights when I get home from work, I walk in the front door and there is a moment when each of the kids realizes I got home and starts beaming. Calvin usually starts bouncing up and down on his butt reaching up for me to pick him up. Also very sweet.

3.31.20 - Joy statuses

9.13.19 - Help holding the baby

Not long before Calvin was born I made a FB status telling people if they wanted to come hold him for awhile I would welcome it. I think people who haven't had newborns don't really understand how helpful it can be to just take a turn holding the baby so the parent can get anything else done. Anyway, when I made the status I had two FB friends message me to say they'd be happy to take me up on it. I kept them in mind, and last week or maybe the week before when I started to feel overwhelmed with being alone in my apartment with Calvin all day, I contacted both of them to see if they were still interested. Both said yes. :)

So on Wednesday of this week, my friend Wynette came over around 1:30 p.m. to help out. She held Calvin for a bit but he actually fell asleep, so she put him in his swing and insisted on helping me with whatever I liked. So she helped me clean up and she very thoroughly vacuumed our living room and kitchen, including cleaning under the fridge. While she did that I worked on a few things in the back room. I also had a little bit of CER work that needed to be done before the end of the day. I hadn't had a chance to get to it yet, but since Wynette was around I was able to go in my room and really focus, and when Calvin inevitably woke up she took him and kept him busy so I could finish. Plus it was just nice to have her company and to be able to chat while we got things done. On top of all that, she brought presents for every person in my family: a new outfit (overalls) for Calvin, a book each for Clara and Jane about being older siblings, and a Target gift card for Jack and me. By the time she left I felt so rested and mollified with what I'd gotten done. It was a much needed break.

Impressed with Calvin's head lift.
Waiting for Wynette to arrive.

Then today Jack's former classmate Nicole also came to help hold Calvin. She was delightful. She and I kept up a conversation pretty easily for basically the whole time she was here: approximately 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. In fact at noon I let her know that Jack was going to pick up Calvin around 1:30p and she said she could stay longer. It felt as if I blinked and it was already 1p. We talked about kids, job hunting, relationships, how we each ended up with the men in our lives (I love telling those stories). And while we chatted she walked Calvin around and I cleaned, organized his dresser, baked muffins, just got all sorts of things done. It was uplifting both in having the pleasant company and in being able to get stuff done around the house, and by the time she left I felt great.

7.23.19 - Amazon baby shower

I made this FB status last week:

Several people commented or privately messaged me to say they'd love to come visit and hold Calvin. That was already encouraging. Others commented asking for details on how to send us diapers, and Ellen suggested we just make a small Amazon registry to make it easier for people. So a couple days later I did just that, and I just linked the registry ad a comment under the original status. I didn't really feel comfortable linking it as its own status because it seemed too demanding, but Ellen posted it herself with this comment:

I didn't expect her to do that and was touched by her help. That status was only two days ago, and the next day we got a whole bunch of diaper pail liners from Henry and new baby bottles, pacifiers, and a breast pump from Nick.

Nick had all his gifts wrapped, which was sweet.

Then today we were inundated with Amazon boxes. I came home from work to a huge stack of them piled against the desk. Clara and Jane kept trying to scale them to "get up high" so Jack thought we should probably open them and put them up.

For the next 20-30 minutes the girls rotated between helping Jack open boxes (90% of which were diapers and baby wipes) and showing off how they could pick up individual boxes of diapers by themselves and move them around (from chairs to the floor to chairs again to the bunk bed and back to the floor, etc.) They were just extremely busy moving boxes of diapers, and Clara kept declaring "Mom, look! I'm so strong!" They would stop occasionally to help Jack open even more diapers and baby wipes, and despite almost every package being the same product, they got excited every time, haha.

I expected a lot of gifts from Nick because he had commented on Ellen's status saying he would "take care of it" and immediately after nearly everything on our registry had been bought! His generosity is stunning. And sure enough, the bulk of the gifts were from him, all of them gift wrapped too (which made for more fun as the girls untied glittery bags containing--you guessed it--diapers and wipes).

But to make the event even more touching, we also got gifts from multiple people I hadn't realized or expected. For example Kelsey bought Calvin a very Calvin-looking onesie. Erin got us more diaper pail liners and diapers with funny notes attached, we got more diapers and wipes from Einar, Jen R., Neil, and Jack's Grandma and Aunts Cheri and Linda, and Angela sent us an Amazon gift card. As we opened gift after gift after gift not only was it an increasing relief in terms of supplies but it was also so touching in terms of feeling taken care of and supported by friends all over the country.

Anyway, after awhile Jane and Clara got busy building an apparent fort out of boxes of diapers in our bedroom while Jack stayed in the living room and finished breaking down boxes. Finally there was only one unopened box, and Clara helped Jack with it. It was more diapers, and to my delight Clara exclaimed "Again!! Holy moly!" Lol. I didn't even know she knew that phrase.

Jack raised the crib as high as it will go and managed to pack all the diapers and wipes underneath.

Between all the baby supplies we still have from Clara and Jane as littles plus all the supplies we've gotten for this unofficial baby shower, we are in great shape for Calvin's incoming. I'm so grateful for all our friends!

2.28.19 - February joy statuses

1.31.19 - Joy statuses

12.31.18 - December joy statuses