Horse fence.

Today I put my phone down for twenty whole minutes!

I finally synced my iTunes to my new baby and so all day long while I am working I carry it around with me and sing Reba McEntire songs at the top of my lungs while the baby trails me, dancing.

He really likes "I'd rather ride around with you" and he yells "Again! Again!" each time it ends.

I cleaned everything today because we are hosting Shabbat tomorrow as Saturday is E's birthday. I found out that he is 18 years older than me so someone can do the math on that and get back to me. T just turned a mid-thirties number but a lady never tells her age to I won't go and spoil it for her. And just so you know, I am only 19.

Well, in this blog anyway.

It occurred to me today that I haven't shared just exactly what a normal day around here looks like in a while. Things change gradually and then one day it just dawns on us that it's different.

For instance, Monkey no longer allows himself to be closely watched. He's very sneaky, very naughty and he thinks this is all very funny. Every now and then you can find him perched on the glass coffee table, snickering. Or standing on the closed toilet lid, holding his breath in anticipation of getting caught.

It really keeps us all on our toes.

But a normal day now consists of a much later nap for him, which means a much later nap for me. The kids come back from school at different times and so I have alone time with R each day. On Mondays and Thursdays while she is in Hebrew school I have some quiet time with J and of course, Monkey hogs me all morning, every morning.

It's been really cool to see each child growing in the last six months. This is the first time I have lived with a family and been an intimate part of the family's development.

I now call the kids to dinner and on most nights they come to the table and sit down and eat. We tell stories and talk while we eat and now that E's office is local and T is reaching the LARGE stages of pregnancy, they are often home for dinner and the six of us crowd in around the tiny, stupid kitchen table.

Bed time is no longer a fight.

The kids clean up their toys when asked, although I rarely ask because it is just so much easier to do it myself while they are not home.

R dresses without screaming fits. Again, most days. Of course we have bad days too but you may recall that when I started here every day was a bad day. (This blog was born out of a need to survive or to at least tell my story if Long Island killed me)

Tonight I made pesto and chicken, a dish the kids had never tasted or seen and they ate it, even J, the picky eater. He said he didn't like it once, I told him that was not allowed and he climbed up into his chair and ate every bite. He even finished first.

I'm not tooting my own horn, just marveling at how far we've come.

In 6 months.

This afternoon's normalcy was interrupted by a fencer.

E and T put a deposit on a fence LAST YEAR when they moved into the house. They received a call back YESTERDAY and were informed that a team would be arriving at the house at noon today.

At 11:45 the doorbell rang, while I was in the middle of feeding the baby lunch.

T had planned on being home for this, but she wasn't yet because he was early and she was running late (not an uncommon occurrence although she admits it and plans for it) so it was up to me to go show the man the property line that the fence would follow.

The trouble was I had no idea where it was and I was wearing slippers.

Still, I grabbed a coat and went outside and with T on the phone I tried to follow her directions. It felt like a treasure hunt.

"Stand on that piece of slate." (Which reminded me of my sister -- 'You know that green thing in the back yard?' <3) "Follow it all the way to the left, to the tree line. There's a stake in the ground under an evergreen tree."

There was not stake.

But under the corner of the retaining wall was the grill cover.

As I hacked my way through evergreens and birches and what I am sure was poison ivy (thankfully my slippers are boots) I searched for the nonexistent stake. All I found was mud.

"This isn't in my job description."

She laughed and told me to give up. The fencing company had been given instructions to build 11 feet out from the wall. She decided to just work with that.

I put the cover back on the grill and headed inside.

The fence went up, and then back down when T got home and found the stake. It wasn't 11 feet out. It was more like 6. The poor guy had to fill in his holes and move them but then he got the fence back up.

He put up exactly enough lengths to fulfill the deposit amount they had made the year before. It's a beautiful raw wood horse fence and I can't wait to take pictures of the kids along it. All fifteen feet of it, because apparently that's what their deposit was worth. It stops randomly in the center of the yard along the retaining wall.

But the man was incredibly nice and he did a good job, cleaned up, took down a rotted fence on the other side of the yard, had a glass of water and headed on his way, leaving us with a more distinguished property line.

Well, in that one corner of the back yard anyway.