We’ve been so lucky as a family that I feel I’m becoming blasé about a life that’s so chock full of awesome it should leave me breathless with joy. Dave came home last night, and met up with us at Adam’s for a spontaneous family dinner. We sat on the patio, laughing at our kids and catching up before coming home to our dream house and sleeping in our own room – only the ‘reveal’ version!

I spent a lot of time proving I could stand on my own two feet; that I didn’t need anybody to help me along. Now I look around and realize that the people in my life are the ones who make my life. Dave, who inspires me to make brave and exciting choices every day and who brings me monumental amounts of joy through his mere presence. Tess, our actual miracle baby, whose first tiny diaper I’m holding in disbelief and who astounds us with her smile and smarts. Mom and dad, who took a house dream, added some crazy awesome spoil-our-kids-rotten ideas and organized everything from the sewer repair to the epic historic appropriateness battle – on top of cheering us on in our parenthood! Generous doesn’t even come close. Dave’s parents, who send us sage words of advice and somehow manage to always be there when we need them, even from far away. Our siblings and friends, who share laughter and roll eyes where appropriate – who keep us sain from all over the world. Even our nieces and nephews! Grace doesn’t understand why she can’t help with Tess, and yesterday when we told her again that she can’t touch the baby or bring her her pacifier, she pouted, “Oh, but she’s so cute!” I’ve never been more proud of my goddaughter or actual daughter in my life! She is just so cute, and so is Grace.

I’ve been letting the little things get to me lately: the dust, the work/life balance struggle, the messes and dirty dishes. Really, we’re living the dream. The dishes?! So what? I’ve been missing the forest for the trees, and that stops here. Tess turned 5 months old yesterday. She’s a vibrant, yelling infant full of life and opinions she doesn’t have words to express yet. We are so, so lucky to be living this life – and will be paying more attention to all the treetops as the next months roll by.