Some days, I feel Dave should get to wear a cape and leap from tall buildings. The stress of the last few weeks means our patience is wearing thin, so we need to take extra special care of each other. (In reality, it means we’re both a bit batty, snarky and short-tempered.) As our shortcomings shine, we’ve gotten better at reigning those bad boys in and trying a little harder. I’m learning this skill from my husband, which is humbling – and I don’t like being humbled. In this case, I happily make an exception.

SO – superhero husband! He woke up Saturday with the baby, made me coffee, took my car back to the dealership and demanded they install the rearview mirror with a digital compass so I would stop getting panicked and turned around while desperately trying to read the tiny old-fashioned compass on the GPS (Yes, my sense of direction is that bad. The word legendary has been thrown at it for decades. No, it isn’t getting any better as I age.), and wrapped up all that amazing with a car wash! As a bleary-eyed and worn-down mommy, this gift of all my dreams coming true in a few hours has kind of reset my parental and wifely joy and patience (the patience was in a small pot to begin with, but it’s growing!) Dave and I figured out early on that I need short, regular recharging and he needs 2-3 annual fishing trips and a weekly boys’ night – more easily scheduled. I gleefully provide these opportunities, and schedule them when I feel he’s not being proactive enough. And Dave? He must simply read my mind, plucking fantasies of digital compasses and mugs of caffeine from the ether and serving them up with a smile. WOOT! We’ve got it good.

We spent the afternoon at Grace and Katherine’s princess birthday party. It was overwhelming and adorable to watch so many little girls running around, mostly because Tess isn’t that far behind them. We still don’t know i\ she’ll like crowns or soccer balls, but we’re closer to finding out! It was nice to socialize with other parents, to chat about teething and getting out of the house while dandying Tess in my knee. We couldn’t let her join the general population, but at least she could be there – and so could we. Fast forward from baby to big kid stage! Adam summed in up nicely: “These princess parties aren’t so bad if you’ve got beer!”

As we left, we decided to try Tess in her bigger car seat, since getting the infant seat into the middle-seat base without almost launching her out of it since she weighs so much (19 pounds!). We tucked her in and realized she doesn’t even look little in it. We looked at each other and realized just how excited we are to welcome Deuce into our family. Just not today!

We ended the night at a new resto with friends we haven’t seen in ages. They don’t have kids, and we made a pact to discuss more than diapers and car seats. I think we succeeded. We’re relaxed and ready for a new week to start – best Saturday in ages!