Cicadas and dandelion fields, pine-scented humidity. The first day of summer was hot and sunny and blue-of-skies, and exactly the way the first day of summer should be. It was hunting for Christmas trees and swishing flies and knobbly bare knees and little girls who smelled of sunscreen.

There is a seasonal energy in the air. Summer! Christmas! Holidays! I keep getting all excited about the season and then I remember that before Christmas rolls around, I have something a lot bigger to get excited about: Baby B, ready to greet us in a matter of days. And that thought makes Christmas preparations seem incongruous. Instead of putting up decorations I should be folding teeny-tiny little jumpsuits.

Then I look at Madeleine and think “I can’t wait to spend Christmas with my two babies,” and the excitement builds all over again.