I Think I'm Amazed

Still no time to write. I will just jot a few things:

• The au pair will arrive November 14. She is called Silvia, she is from Austria, and I am thrilled she's coming. Dave is a little worried about the estrogen level in the house, and about the amount we just spent at IKEA to furnish her room.
• Two lowlights of our trip were (1) I got a stomach flu at Disney (or food poisoning) and (2) I kid you not -- someone rammed my electric wheelchair with her electric wheelchair, out of sheer crowd rage, I guess. "I'm coming through," she said, matter of factly. I could have taken her. I simply chose not to engage in public fisticuffs.
• These hiccups aside, seeing Abby clapping, dancing and singing along to It's a Small World, her little face lit up, was the best thing I believe I'll ever see in this life. In general, Abs did incredibly well on the trip -- she was easygoing, travelled well, slept well, ate well, enjoyed what she saw, didn't mind what she didn't. She was by far the best wayfarer out of the 16 of us.
• S became a little girl again this weekend, including having a princess makeover. She still has her Cinderella hairdo in, three days later, including the sparkly tiara. On a tired ride on the monorail late one evening, she said that little babies like Abby are happy most of the time because they remember their friends from heaven. I thought that was incredibly sweet.
• R has this wonderful little smile he gives when you say something that really makes him happy. We were riding the interminable bus to the Orlando airport from the resort, and he was sitting next to me, prattling on about the various features of a toy "adventure tool" his dad bought him at the Mt. Everest roller coaster. I was struggling to pay attention because I thought I was about to continue the previous night's hurl-fest. I smiled at him and said, "You figure out how things work because you are very smart. I am proud of you." He gave me that little, shy smile -- don't let her see you're happy she said it -- and I smiled even bigger.
• Dave is a most amazing husband.
• The electric wheelchair was absolutely necessary. There is no way I could have made it through one day at that park walking around. My mother in law, who schlepped for four days, amazes me. My children amaze me. My husband amazes me. They all (except Dave, I must admit) whined at the end of each day, but their stamina was awe-inspiring.
• Work is intensely busy. Sometimes I barely think I'm doing it right.
• I went to a meeting of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) today for the first time. It was wonderful. I was giddy most of the rest of the day, much to Dave's feigned (I hope) chagrin.
• Now I am exhausted. I think I'll go eat a Mickey Mouse cookie and go to sleep.