Love Is Here

It started a week ago as a cold, but I'm pretty sure it's developed into a full-fledged sinus infection. I'm experiencing a great deal of pain across the bridge of my nose; under and behind my eyes; in the very center of my forehead; and, oddly enough, across the roof of my mouth and above and between all of my upper teeth.

Yesterday, I could hardly chew on the left side of my mouth. Today, if you were to spy on me, you might catch me scrubbing my gums with my index finger. I feel like a teething baby. Or a puppy.

We took the girls to the pediatrician, Wednesday; he diagnosed them with the croup and put them on steroids. Baby Chip has been uncharacteristically fussy and, at points, feverish. He has a couple swollen lymph nodes.

But I just keep thinking how blessed we are: that Jim can and will work from home in times like these; that the little kids and I don't have to be anywhere, ever.

And nothing has been able to diminish my happiness that Baby Chip is here, that we're all here. It feels so good to be needed by my children: to be someone they want when they're a little too warm or coughly. Even Cade has shown me, lately, that he needs me (although for different reasons), and it's felt like a blessing and a relief; he's not grown, yet.

So we've spent as much time as possible in our pajamas. We've eaten hotdogs off a stick and heart-shaped, cherry M&M pancakes off the griddle. We've played Fancy Nancy, and, in warmer moments, we've scoured the yard for signs of spring...and found them.

Love is here; spring is coming; what more is there, really?