Changes
I have been thinking about the many changes in my life over the past few years as we get ready for "Cutie Pie Flaherty" (Mariel's name for the baby).  This weekend, amidst normal chaos and exhaustion, there were a few object lessons in how parenthood has changed me.
1- I now prefer to shower with an audience.  If there is a child sitting in the bathroom while I shower, it means that said child is not getting into trouble, wrestling a sibling, injuring themselves, or making a mess. 
2- Nudity is normal.  Someone is generally in a state of nakedness or liable to take their clothes off at any minute in our house (I should clarify that this is rarely Patrick or I).  Mariel changes multiple times a day.  Noella spent part of one morning running around naked except for a strip of pink tulle wrapped around her stomach, tied off with a gold bow.  She looked like a sumo wrestler's hallucination.
3- Potty talk is also part of the normal state of affairs.  Noella is (still) potty training (see point number 2).  Mariel is 5.  So it is not unusual at all to have announcements at various times of the day related to poop, pee, farting, or peoples' "bummies."  It is also not unusual to have an audience while I am going to the bathroom- and sometimes this even gets me an M&M as a reward.
4- Quiet is bad.  I get nervous when there is no yelling, screaming, singing, talking, banging, or other noise.  If both kids are actually awake and quiet, it generally means someone is doing something that they are not supposed to- or they are contemplating such an act.  Despite this, I long for quietness.  Someday it will come again.
5- I worry a lot.  I guess that I always did, but now it is about entirely different things.  Unlike the possibility of quietness in my house, I don't think that this will ever change.
There are MANY more things to add to this list, although most of these thoughts are a bit more melancholy.  I am getting to the sleep deprived/ hormal/ over emotional state of pregnancy and am having a day where I constantly seem to be saying the wrong thing... not a good combination.  So I will let my list end here, and go back to work!