No, I am not suggesting that I am the elephant on top of the ball :) I am merely trying to portray that life is definitely a balancing act these days.

Tonight, at dinner...I could have sworn that I was at the Wacky Kids Fun House. Our daughters were at the table singing at the top of their lungs these various Christmas songs. I don't think they were songs that I had heard of before. But, the girls seemed to be trying to exercise their lungs and goodness knows...who wants to get in the way of exercise, right? Nikolai has now realized that he can be selective in his meal choices. So, amongst the singing....he begins to throw his food. Directly in my face. It was a good throw too. It was square in my eye and between my eye brows. He didn't miss a beat..he started shaking his head from side to side so that he could dance along to the beat of his sisters.

Meanwhile..B doesn't know whether or not to laugh or what while all of this was going on. I couldn't find a paper towel in sight. I just threw caution to the wind and wiped my face off with my hands. As only a good husband would do...he handed me a nice glass of an adult beverage.

We looked at each other and started laughing....not only was the noise level so loud in the house that dogs from Mexico could hear it..but, N really loved throwing down his sippy cup and laughing while it spilled on the dog. Food was flying... it was a moment that either could send you to the funny farm or a moment where you just have to laugh. I decided to laugh.

We haven't found the right balancing act with N's sleep yet. Nor our girls. They still want to come into our room everynight and sleep with us. "Nightmares" is what they keep telling us. We believe that while the family bed might work for some...it makes us irritable. With toes and elbows in our back and up our nose, we aren't getting much sleep either. Meanwhile...N sleeps through the night now because he has screamed his way through the day whenever I try to put him down for a nap.

I have to smile and laugh because if it were quiet and normal around here...then, I would know something was wrong. And that would not be good! And I was reminded today (not that I don't already know this) that I am a very lucky Mom.

We were at a restaurant for lunch and these women passed our table and saw our children and she smiled at them and looked at me and said "You are a very lucky Mom".

Indeed I am.