The first day of the rest of our lives

This is us as we headed out the door yesterday morning. Yep, we were out the door early enough to stop to take a picture! This picture cracks me up for two reasons. Number one, I guess yesterday was the day that Liam decided to start spontaneously smiling for the camera. He has never willingly done that before - my shots of him smiling are all either (a) candid or (b) obtained by tickle. And number two, I love Mallory's deer-in-the-headlights look here. I never ever ever use flash when I have the choice not to, and yesterday morning it was both ungodly early and pouring rain - no way could I get away without it. I think the poor thing is a little stunned, especially since Chad fired off several shots to make sure we got a keeper.

Yesterday, I did both the daycare drop-off and the pick-up simply because I wanted to. Today is a different story - I am on my own with the kids for three days this week because I have to be. Chad will be able to stop in at home tonight for a bit before heading to his next destination, but he is doing some early morning presentations in the districts, and is spending the night before at each one. I set my alarm for ten minutes earlier this morning and didn't fare too badly, getting into the office around 8:10 (with 8:00 being my 'official' start time). Mallory was actually awake and singing in her crib before my alarm even went off, and she is going to crap out on Cindy this morning for sure, because she was still up and singing to herself long after we put her to bed last night. You'd think her first full day of daycare would have wiped her out; apparently not true.

That's more than this mama can say for herself, because my first day at work did wipe me right out, and then I stayed up later than intended last night to watch much of the Project Runway finale. (I tried to stay away from all the spoilers, since the finale aired in the US several months ago; but the winner was totally sprung on me during a Today Show appearance, and then parodied on Saturday Night Live, so there was really no way, short of living in a cave, to keep myself ignorant.) Tonight will be low-key and early to bed for sure. Really. No, really, I mean it.