Too funny not to share **Edited**

UPDATED TO ADD: Hmm. I just read my own post. I really like the quick takes posts, but all my posts read like quick takes, minus the bullet points. Welcome to my stream of consciousness!
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I came across this blog post today, and considering the state of sleep around here and the fact that I threw Nicholas' dirty socks in the kitchen garbage today, I just had to post a link to it here. It made me laugh really hard. Sarah's sleeping is getting better. Under the category of "totally obvious" we have the fact that the swamp cooler (yes, we live in a climate dry enough that we add humidity to the air to cool the house--a totally foreign concept to this girl from the humid Midwest) was (a) making a lot of noise, and (b) blowing right on her when it kicked on at night. By turning off the swamp cooler at night, we've reduced the night wakings significantly, but we've also increased the temperature significantly. We're still working that one out. Last night, she fell asleep at 9:00 and slept until 2:00. When she woke up at 2:00, I thought I'd suffocate in the stuffy warmth of the bedroom. So, once she fell back asleep, I moved her into the crib and turned the darn thing on again. As soon as it kicked on, she pushed up to her hands and knees, crawled over, and snuggled up to me. I can live with that.

Mr. X is on a business trip, and our heaven-sent babysitter came to help me for a few hours today, two of which I spent napping. Oh my goodness. I haven't slept without listening for a baby in sooo long. It was wonderful!

The birthday went well. It was low-key. The kids adored the horse show, and Sarah hated the cupcakes. She thought the whole candle thing was interesting, but to a baby who's never eaten anything sweeter than a banana, that's an awfully overpowering amount of sugar.

We went to mass. Here's the story on that. We've been attending another parish pretty frequently. We went there initially because the mass time (10:30) was long enough after the kids wake up that we don't have to rush, but long enough before naptime that they don't (usually) fall asleep in the car on the way home and ruin their naps.

It turned out to be a small parish with an aging congregation, but a great young couple who are friends of ours often go to the 10:30 mass, we know the deacon, and people are just very friendly. I had taken the year off from our regular parish choir because I just couldn't make the rehearsal commitment. But after we'd been attending for a few weeks, the deacon announced that the music director was inviting anyone who would like to sing to just come up to the choir loft and join the (tiny) choir--no rehearsal required.

So, the next week, I went up and sang, and Mr. X had the kids downstairs. I just ran back and forth, and finally took Sarah up with me during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. There were three little (like ages 7-10) girls up in the choir loft, and they rushed over to ooh and ah over the baby right away.

So, I've been going up to sing, bringing Sarah with me, whenever we make it to that mass. A couple of times, the whole family has gone up there and Mr. X has sung, too.

Then, two weeks ago, we went to the Saturday mass, and we sat in front of a really sweet older couple. Nicholas was having a rough time, so Mr. X was in the back with him for most of the mass, and the couple behind me was very sweet to Sarah, who was squirming a whole lot. We came back the next week, and sat in the same spot, but the kids did great that time. And the music director, who is the only cantor for Saturdays, asked if I'd like to cantor the Saturday mass.

In many ways it would be ideal, since I would only have to come down to the ambo for the psalm and would sing the rest from the choir loft. That way, we can bring the kids up to the loft, Mr. X doesn't have to wrestle them both for the whole mass, and they won't distract the congregation since we're behind them (in our regular parish, the choir and cantor are up next to the altar).

So, we tried it on Saturday. I discovered that it's tough to cantor with a 28-pound toddler on your hip, no matter how well-behaved he is, or with a 21-pound squirmer on your hip, for that matter. But it went OK. At one point, I looked down and caught the eye of the wife in that nice couple who sat behind us for the past two weeks, and she smiled and nudged her husband. After the mass was over, she came up to the choir loft and told me that she and her husband had been praying that I would sing for the Saturday mass--and they offered to come sit with us and help us take care of the kids during mass so I can sing!

How cool is that? I've been feeling bad about not singing, but I was feeling hard-pressed to figure out how to sing for mass, attend mass as a family, but not leave Mr. X to wrestle the kids on his own. I'm going to start singing at our regular parish, too, but we'll probably all go together on Saturday, and then I'll go on my own on Sunday, too. This way, we can all attend together, and I can sing.