The best part of my day....

Sometimes I'm so relieved when the kids are finally in bed and all is quiet in the house. I think that's one of the reasons I've started to become more of a night person.

I've always been a morning person as opposed to night. When I was younger I couldn't even manage to stay awake for any of the late shows. I think 10 o'clock was always the limit for me. When I was pregnant with Hunter I would often be in bed as early as 8:00, but usually around 9:00. When I was pregnant with Rylie, Hunter started a new phase of being difficult to put down to bed at night. I got into a really bad habit of laying down with him to put him to sleep, and I would usually wind up falling asleep with him.

Although it's quiet at night, and that is something I wish for many times during the day, it's still not the best part of my day.

I love going to get Rylie from her crib in the morning. She is usually smiling the minute she opens her eyes and sees you there. Sometimes she wakes up and just hangs out until one of us comes in to check on her. This is completely opposite of Hunter, who used to cry as loud as possible so we would know he was awake. As much as I love to see that smile, it's very close, but still not quite the best part of my day.

After work we go straight to daycare to pick up the kids. Sometimes, like yesterday, Seth goes to play golf and I pick up the kids by myself. I walk in and sign them out. I go through the first door into the 4 year-old room, and then on to the door to Hunter's room. As I open the door I see him sitting at the table next to the door that leads to Rylie's class. It's snacktime and the kids are all waiting patiently for their snack. Hunter sees me and his face lights up and he comes over and gives me a great big hug. He's always so excited to see us when we get there, and I'm always excited to see him and Rylie. Yesterday, since they hadn't had snack yet, I told him we could wait so he could get his. He asked me to sit down in the chair next to him. Poor kid doesn't realize that I would break that flimsy little chair if I did that, so I sat on my knees next to the table while we waited. After he got his snack I went on in to Rylie's room.

I love how she just drops whatever she's doing and runs over to me. She always has the biggest smile, and when I pick her up she gives me the biggest hug that her little body can manage. She grabs on to me and waves bye-bye to the teacher and other kids, and off we go.

Once we get in the car we usually talk about what they did that day. Hunter chatters about his friends and we usually can't understand more than 5 words, but he's getting better. He loves his teachers and he talks about the things he and his little friends did, even if he had time out.

In the space of that 10 minutes, picking them up and driving home, that is the best part of my day. Mornings are usually so crazy that we don't even have time for breakfast. I miss them so much when I'm at work, all I can think about is what we could be doing at home. And after about 5 minutes at home, I'm wishing I was back at work because the whining starts almost as soon as we walk in the door.