If you're happy and you know it

Shit, now even my blog post titles are baby related.

On another note - how is it possible that it's Valentine's Day weekend? I feel like we just wrapped up Halloween, and here we are, a month and a half into the new year. 

And, on another note....happiness.....

Do you know what makes you truly happy? Like joyfully happy? 

I've just recently discovered that most of my joyful happiness is found in my son and the ability to be his mom, but it's made me stop and think about other things that give me that guttural happiness. 

Life is short (and this time of year, I'm harshly reminded of that), and so I'm really trying to take note of the things in my day that just make me damn happy...and when they're happening...to stop, think, and thank my lucky stars. 

Things like-

::: My first hot cup of coffee and the Today show. I love me some Willie Geist, I'm not going to lie. 

::: A latte in the mid morning because it feels like such an indulgent treat - and keeps me powered the afternoon like nothing else can.

::: Walks in my neighborhood around 10am. I like to see and hear the kids on the school playground, the construction of the new houses being put up, the idiots that blow through stop signs (I actually HATE that), and saying hi to the same people that are out walking at the same time day after day.

::: A clean house - and these days I'll even take a neat house.

::: When the temperature is just perfect. I think my favorite temperature is 62 degrees. And not to go completely Miss Congeniality but - you can wear whatever you want, you can have the windows open - but you can still cook dinner without wanting to blast the A/C and go to sleep wanting to get under the covers.

::: Visiting Joel in the office...because it's kind of like seeing your teacher at the grocery store and I get this mixed sense of pride and nervousness and its weird but makes me happy.

::: Madeleine Peyroux pandora station going through the house because it feels like I'm walking through Pottery Barn.

::: That first glass of wine right around 5pm, when I can literally feel my body switch into turn down mode.

::: FaceTime sessions throughout the day because they make me forget how much I miss my family

::: A new, but not hard, recipe for dinner that goes just perfectly. It doesn't happen that often lately, but it just makes me so happy when I find a recipe that turns out to be a hit. Lately, Leo has been having a lot of fun watching me get dinner started, and it's becoming one of my favorite times of day to have him in the kitchen with me.

::: The twenty minutes that Joel and I have together right when Leo goes down. It's like this perfect block of time when we can actually relax, feel like badass parents for conquering another day, and right before extreme exhaustion sets in.

.....and when I think about all of those little things that make me happy in just a random, no big deal, kind of a day, I think that I've got a pretty good life over here.