belly laughs

laughter is truly the best medicine.


i am a naturally stressed out person.  for as long as i can remember everyone tells me to relax and i have no idea how... honestly just no clue.  but try laughing for a minute.  you just feel lighter. 
that whole statement that it takes more muscles to frown than smile is so beyond true.  it hurts when my jaw's been clenched for an hour or so and im pouty, but it is so effortless to smile. 

well i've been having a rough weekend full of just cleaning, making baby food, and taking care of josh, pickle and audrey.  yes, josh is a grown man but i end up cooking dinner or cleaning up after dinner or having to remind him of something to do and it's just like one thing after the other with me.  so needless to say, my jaw's been clenched a lot this weekend and finally NOW i have a minute to myself to just sit without having to rush to complete another task.

well, during audrey's bath i decided the quickest way to get rid of the bubbles and get her out of the tub was to just scoop them up and splash them out (she was in her baby tub in the big tub since the kitchen was occupied with fresh dinner for our guests).  poor mommy was just in a hurry to get one more thing done that i was completely taken off guard when audrey started laughing as i splashed out the bubbles.  and not just her usual squeal and screech.... this was something i hadn't heard since she was about 4 or 5 months old - a full on belly laugh.  and it wasnt a fluke either.... she kept going and going with each splash.  she was so contented and amused by mommy violently splashing bubbles out of her tub and into the big tub that she had this deep giggly chuckle....
it was so cute that grouchy momma i was being couldn't hold it in and laughed SO hard that our guests came upstairs to see what i was laughing at.

being a mom is entirely exhausting and tiresome most days, but moments like those remind me just how rewarding it is above all else.