Hard to believe!

Well...it's official.  Michael has waved goodbye to babyhood.  He has stared the challenge of potty training in the face and has emerged triumphant!!! This weekend has produced both potty and poopy victories.   I am SO proud of my little guy.   This has been a difficult and tiring few weeks,  but we have prevailed and big-boy underwear is our reward!!!  He has mastered the potty and in his own words "diapers are for babies!".  Tomorrow I am going to take a bag with the last few diapers that reside here at our house to a friend at church. There will be NO MORE diapers here at the Henricks' house.  It is really difficult for me to believe that I am finished with diapers. ( at least until I have grandkids. ) What will I do with this skill of mine? You see,  I am an expert at this very thing, diaper changing.  Over the years, I have perfected my speed and technique to such degrees that I DARE SAY I might be able to win an award - if only there were a contest for me to enter.  I have spent so much time changing diapers, so much money buying diapers; it is a strange finish line to cross plagued with many feelings - relief and sadness, joy and disbelief.  It's all there, and because I am a mother, I know that this will not be the last time that a final step produces both sides of the emotional coin.  I just wonder when the next time will be!

The Mom

As I was putting Meredith to bed tonight, I told her that I was going to need her help tomorrow because I was going to be gone all day.  She said "You want me to be the mom?"  And I said "Sure!  What do you think you will do while you are the mom?"  She said "Tell Daddy to clean up after himself, tell Michael to go potty, and take good care of everybody."  I would say that she has got it down!!!  I have NO DOUBTS that she will do all of those things tomorrow.   

A good day

I really like Thursday.  It is one of my favorite days of the week.  Today was a great Thursday.  Mostly, we were home all day long.  I cleaned and did laundry, sewed a little, and Meredith and Michael had 2 friends come over in the afternoon.  Even though there were 2 extra kids in the house, there wasn't any fighting (at least sibling fighting) that I had to get involved in  so it was worth having their friends over.  Lately, on Thursday afternoons, we have been "borrowing" my friend Susan's grandma as a new friend of ours.  "Miss Betty" is in her 80s, and lives in a retirement home.  She is such a sweet lady and Marky and Maddie  enjoy reading to her and talking with her.  Michael and Meredith look forward to playing with the bin of toys in Miss Betty's room, and we all look forward to making her smile with our visit.  It has been the best way to spend an hour on a Thursday.  We hope that Miss Betty never tires of our visits.  Tonight the little ones and I went to the gym (working on those 5 pounds!) and now we're home just chilling out. Patrick is in town, but is really busy with a project at work so he hasn't been home yet tonight - my encouragement to "work like a woman" has not yet proven to be fruitful - could be a long night at the office for poor Patrick.  The weekend coming up is promising to be amazing.  This Saturday, speaker and writer Angela Thomas is coming to our church for a women's event.  I get to be apart of the event on Saturday, but the AWESOME thing is that I get to go to dinner with the planning team and Angela on Friday night.  I can't believe that I get to go, and I am SO grateful and excited!!  I think that it is going to be such a fun weekend.  Well, it's a happy night here in my clean house.  I love enjoying how hard I work during the day; it is insanely rewarding.  Pretty soon I will be saying TGIF!!!  Nighty night.