the eagle has landed.

or...

the blankie has arrived.

i woke this morning to the thought that just maybe a priority overnight mail package would be on my front porch. at seven a.m.

c'mon. it could happen.

no such luck.

even big h went to the door this morning when he got out of bed to see if it was there.

pins and needles around here lately.

nothing too crazy about our morning. went and picked up nana from the car repair place to be her personal shuttle for the day. came back home. put goo down for her nap. she cried for thirty minutes. went down and slept for twenty minutes. TWENTY.

you know she's sixteen months, right? sixteen-month-olds sleep for a long time. twenty minutes is not a long time.

got her up. had lunch. piddled around the house. then, decided to run errands with nana and the kiddos. let the kids play and release some energy. buz was going to be home late, so we picked up dinner to take home.

got home and got ready to eat. checked the front door. overnight blankie #1 arrived from marino. sweet, sweet overnight marino. backup blankie in place, ready to be washed and stored somewhere easily accessible. hmmm...no other boxes or bubble mailers. the mailbox. of course, it would totally fit in my mailbox, right? no package. just the bright orange "come get your package from the post office" notice. it's 6:11. post office closes at 6:30. nana says, "RUN! RUN NOW! GET THERE IN TIME! I'LL FEED THE KIDS!"

i'll be honest. i sped. got there before the door closed.

give my bright orange card to the nice lady. she took two other cards back with mine. she comes out with two packages. very, very big packages. too big to be blankies.

"i'm going to have to look again for yours."

she takes two more cards from two more people.

comes back with two packages. this time one is too big and one is too small.

"ma'am, i'm going to spend some time back there looking. i can't seem to find it."

the blood drains from my face.

three more cards from three more people. i'm giving the play-by-play over the phone to my mother-in-law who literally can't breathe she's so nervous for me.

comes back. three packages given to three people. and then, the warm lady smiles. package perfectly sized for a pink blankie.

i went on an on about how much i appreciated her looking so hard and wished her a merry christmas so many times, i was positive she got the point.

i opened the box before i got to the door. and then, because i'm a mom, i started crying. it was like i was a successful member of the search and rescue squad.

pink blankie found. goo was already asleep when i got home, so tomorrow is the day. pink blankie #1 and 2 are washed, dried, and smelling like good, clean wisner smell.

it's like christmas around here.

oh wait. it is christmas around here.