One of my favorite writers, Ann Lamott, published a journal she kept the first year of her son Sam’s life. The book is called “Operating Instructions” and is a must-read for new parents, along with anyone who thinks laughing is a good thing. I also recommend it for high school kids as a potent contraceptive; let them read about late-night crying fits and baby bowel movements and then see if they’re so quick to get frisky. Anyway, one of my favorite entries in the book consists of only a single line, written after Ann spent an entire night up with her crying baby: “I hate Sam. He’s scum”. While I wouldn’t call Akiva “scum”, there have definitely been moments when I’ve compared him to a mossy, amoeba-like creature of some sort.

Today, however, Akiva is my golden boy. He slept six hours straight last night! I feel like a new woman, bouncing around at 5 a.m. while the boys both slept, flipping laundry, taking a SHOWER instead of a 30-second hose-down, and even working on my new article in blissful silence.

These are the gifts, people. I take ‘em where I can get ‘em.