...Makes Me Happy

Lately I've been thinking about what makes me happy.  It started when I was folding Gabe's laundry, which I totally enjoy doing.

No seriously, I dig it.  I'm fairly sure that when he starts running around and putting grass stains on the knees of his pants I won't be so enthralled by his laundry.  And I'm pretty positive that when he's a smelly, sweaty teenager I will be teaching him to do his own laundry.  But for now, miniature socks and shirts and pants just make me feel all sorts of warm and happy inside.

So then I started adding to the ...Makes Me Happy list in my head, and of course "Sunshine On My Shoulders" came to mind.  The thing is, sunshine on my shoulders really does make a person happy.  That John Denver was really on to something.

Other items that made the list:

• eating whip cream out of the can
• fuzzy socks
• getting a puzzle right the first time in the Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box game I'm playing right now on my DS (thanks for letting me borrow it, Christina)
• watching Dancing With The Stars on Monday and Tuesday nights.  Tonight's the season finale.  I wonder what I'm going to do with my time now?  I guess I could read, or finish that blanket I started knitting back in 1997, or something else more productive than sitting on my bum and watching TV.  Now there's a thought.
• going in to get Gabe in the morning and seeing that he's just laying there quietly, already awake and talking to himself or playing with his blanket (you really didn't think Gabe wasn't going to be on this list again, did you?)
• going in to get Gabe in the morning and having him smile the biggest "I'm so happy to see you!" smile at me (you really didn't think Gabe wasn't going to be on this more than a couple times, did you?)

Oh man, all this talking about him and now I miss him.  Bret and I have commented more than once to each other how funny it is when we'll put him down for a nap or to bed, thinking how glad we'll be to just have a few minutes to actually get something done, and then before long we'll be missing him.  Those of you that have kids:  tell me when that stops?  During the terrible two's?  The constant-question-asking four's?  The bratty pre-teen years?  The attitude-copping teenage years? 

We went away for a long weekend with Paul and Mandy when she was pregnant with Micah, and Paul said at one point:  "It's hard to be away this long; we miss the kids."  And I remember being quite surprised and thinking 'Really?  After 3 days?  You guys never get a chance to be away as a couple, I would think you'd be relishing this and hoping you could extend the trip even longer!'  My thought now is:  kudos to you guys for making it three days and making it a priority to have couple time away from the kids - "hard to be away this long" seems like the understatement of the year to me, now.

I am off to add a map to my sidebar, idea courtesy of Paul.  Remember - imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (ha - I originally wrote "mockery is the sincerest form of flattery"...somehow it just didn't look right!)