Pay it forward

A quick update on Sunday's post, for those of you concerned I was losing my mind (and I kind of was): I was so hung up on what the books were telling me on napping and scheduling and psychobabble that I ignored my mommy instinct. After paying closer attention to Jackson yesterday, I realized something was actually wrong.

After a call to the pediatrician and a quick trip to CVS, our little buddy is back to his normal self. He's hardly perfect but at least we're over that hump of screaming for no reason. I even managed to photograph an ear-to-ear smile from him for the first time today...and make a batch of cookies, do a load of laundry, shower (and dry my hair and put on make-up), AND eat lunch! The angels were smiling on me today, I'm sure of it!

But back to my original headline...

I've mentioned before that we're so lucky to have an incredible group of friends out here that I really consider a second family. When we had Jackson, we didn't cook for two weeks. When Chad had his knee surgery, a friend took the day off work to stay at our house with a one-week-old baby all day long (three others volunteered - there was literally a list of takers!). And we've had more than one email from people who have said, "I'm free on [fill in the blank]. Why don't I come over for a few hours so you and Chad can go to dinner?" Umm...you don't have to ask me twice!

So last week when I was making lasagna for us, I made extra: One for some friends of ours who just had a baby girl and another for Chad's family friends who just moved to town with their three-week-old. In those first few foggy days of parenthood, I appreciated more than I can say how nice it was to open the fridge and find something to eat when I couldn't even remember if I'd brushed my teeth. It was time for us to pay it forward.

We didn't invite ourselves in, just did a little drop-and-run with a smile on our faces. Even if they hated the lasagna, it made me happy. And if I ever feel like I have time in my life again, I'll be doing things like this even more often!