9:30 p.m.

My little angel is fast asleep for the evening. (The photograph to the left is from his last treatment for today, taken moments before bedtime.) My husband is laying on the couch strumming the guitar while watching The Fray perform live on TV. I'm in the same pajamas I was wearing last night (...which means I should retract my eye-rolls about my husband taking Ethan to Home Depot in his jammies riiiiight about now) and starting to feel the nighttime come alive around me. Uh oh. I'm about to down an iced cold Coke to get me nice and caffeinated as the nighttime stretch begins. I may or may not have also gotten Oreos to, uh, help the Coke go down? Don't tell my Stroller Strides teacher. (Hi, Silvia! Love you lots!)

The sound of Ethan's lullabies and his noise machine (ocean waves and thunder -- this boy loves to sleep with as much noise as possible, just like his mom! I can't fall asleep without at least the television on!) are coming through the monitor and down the hallway. I'm always so preoccupied with the house needing to be cleaned, this done, that done, this project completed -- that I've never sat down with nothing to do but blog, blog, blog and realized how relaxing nighttime can be.

I think I can get used to this!