In Which Sleep Will Happen Shortly And It Is Awesome

Just popping in here: Connor is currently asleep and I don't have to wait up for the night nurse since it's one of her days off, so I'm going to try for an early bedtime tonight!  This almost never happens, so I'm super excited.  Eden is a bit put-out that our typical bedtime routine will be interrupted, but hey, she'll live.  We've got to be up by six tomorrow so that she can get to her three-hour swim practice on time, so a little extra sleep is going to go a long way.

For me, anyway.  She's not planning to go to bed early, because she is a teenager and I'm pretty sure going to bed early is A Thing That Teenagers Must Never Do.  It's a rule or something.

So both kids had good days today, Jeremy is fine, the cats are causing trouble as usual, I didn't manage to burn the house down today, and all that sort of stuff.  On to the sleep!

Hooray for sleep!

~Jess

In Which We'll Be Visiting A Lot Of Waiting Rooms

February looks like it's gearing up to be a month of appointments; Connor will have an audiology, dental and neurology appointment, and Eden will have a dental appointment and, once I get it set up, her annual well-check visit as well.  So we'll be plenty busy in the next few weeks.

Connor's due for a new pair of hearing aids; his current ones are five years old and are starting to drain batteries faster and faster.  Hearing aids have changed a lot in the past few years, so it will interesting to see what he ends up with.  I'm curious to see what color he'll pick out if he has a choice; he pretty consistently chooses orange and blue for his AFOs, so we'll see if he follows that trend again for his hearing aids.

I'm fine with whatever color so long as they stand out against our wood floors.  Every once in a while if I get lazy and leave them on the coffee table when I take them out for Connor's nap, one of the cats thinks they make a great toy and runs off with them.  So I need something high contrast to find them under whatever piece of furniture they've been shoved underneath by a little kitty paw.

Anyway, hopefully whatever hearing aids the audiologist recommends will be as robust as these have proved to be over the years.  They've been dropped, thrown up on, chewed on by a cat and a teething toddler, and thrown up on, among other things.  I'm still amazed they've lasted this long!

~Jess

In Which We're Back To Business As Usual

I don't have much to report today!  Eden had a half-day of school due to it being the end of the semester, so I spent the morning doing as many chores as I could, and then the afternoon running various errands and carting the children around to physical therapy and swimming.  Traffic was bad enough that we didn't get home until after nine.  Connor immediately crashed, and Eden went to bed early because she was so tired.  

So it looks like other than the unusual half-day today, things have pretty much gotten back to normal around here, which is a relief.  I'm taking the kids to the lunar new year celebration and the Asian Art Museum up in Seattle this weekend, so I'm trying to get caught up on as much as I can around the house before Saturday so I can go with a clear conscience.  Hopefully it won't be too crowded for Eden; this will be the first year I've taken her and she's not a big fan of crowds.  I know Connor will enjoy it; he absolutely loves the lion dance and the taiko drumming, and he's been plenty of times in previous years.  

I'll probably pack some ear plugs for the Little Miss and we'll give it a go!

~Jess

In Which Things Are Looking Up And I Look Back

Connor went back to school today!  This means that I can once again start looking forward to such events as gaining back a bit of my sanity and the basic mores of personal hygiene.  When your child can literally keel over and die while you are in the shower, you take really short showers.  Either that or you get up before six in the morning while the night nurse is still there to take them.  Guess which option I've been choosing.

Anyway, so Connor was just as excited to get back to school as I was to take him there, so that was nice.  He apparently had a great day, though once I got him home he crashed hard and napped for nearly three hours.  Apparently they gave him a good workout.  I'm really glad that he loves school so much and was ready to get back to it.  Both my kids are this way, actually.  Eden's favorite day is Monday, because that's the day she gets to go back to school after the weekend is over.  Eden is a strange kid; she's perhaps the only teen I've ever met who is actually enjoying her middle school experience.  I remember spending most of my eighth grade year wishing I was as far away from school as possible, so I can't really relate.

Okay granted, I'd moved to a new town my eighth grade year and had managed to break my collarbone during the summer, so I spent the first four months of school wearing a back brace under my clothing that pulled my shoulders back so I looked like I had ridiculously good posture, I had to use a luggage carrier for my books instead of a backpack, and all my clothing had to button at the sleeves.  Also the PE teacher told me that since I couldn't exercise I had to be the 'classroom monitor' and sit in the room with a clipboard writing down the names of anyone who did anything wrong, or he would fail me.

And also I was painfully shy, socially awkward, and had read every book ever written by Mercedes Lackey, which didn't help matters.  Every time I have to meet a new group of people I still have flashbacks to the time that Crystal I-Can't-Remember-Her-Last-Name told me to sit at a different lunch table because "I don't like you and no one else at the table likes you either."  I asked her which table she'd suggest, walked over, put my tray down, excused myself and then went and sobbed into my gym towel in a bathroom stall for forty-five minutes with my feet drawn up on the toilet seat so no one would see me.  Then I got detention for being late to social studies. Yeah, middle school.  Good times.

Um, anyway, got off on a bit of a tangent there.  But overall it was a good day, and I'm glad the little guy is feeling better and back in the classroom!  And I'm also glad Eden enjoys school as much as she does.  She's got enough stuff going on without having any Crystal Whats-Her-Faces in her life, so let's keep it that way, right?

~Jess

In Which Connor Stays Home Again And I Become A Criminal

It's day ten of the Epic Sickness Saga we've been embarked upon around here.  I'm currently making black rice pudding with salted coconut as an afternoon snack and doing all of the laundry in the house.  Connor is amusing himself by watching The Pirates of Penzance and attempting to stick his finger aaaaaaaalll the way up his nose by way of commentary. 

He's gotten to that stage of his illness where he's still sick but really, really bored with sitting around.  Mostly he just wants to listen to "The Pirate King" and "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" over and over again, and he pounds on his tambourine until he exhausts himself and signs "don't like" through the rest of it.  When he's not coughing up a lung, that is.  Or napping.  He's doing a lot of upright napping.  Being sick that long can tire a little body out.

So we're staying home today, except for the trip I had to make up to my favorite coffee shop, since I managed to walk out on my bill there.  Again.  See, I pretty much always pay at the register first, and so if I sit down and eat first my brain apparently short circuits and I forget that I owe them money.  I even joked with the waitress as I was sitting down to remind me to pay so I didn't walk out on them again, and then I totally did it anyway.  I blame extreme sleep deprivation.  Also I think my brain hates me or something.

To make it even worse, I wasn't the one who remembered the next morning that I hadn't paid.  Eden piped up during breakfast and said:

"Mommy, I know something you forget!"

Then she wanted me to guess.  As Connor had stayed up until three in the morning the night before, I was not in a guessing mood.

"Just tell me," I said.

"You forget to pay for food!"  Then she laughed at me and gave me a round of applause.

Clearly I am setting a stellar example for my children here in terms of fiscal responsibility and, you know, not doing stuff that's illegal.  Huzzah.

Luckily the coffee shop folks are very, very nice people and realize that I'm not doing this on purpose and that I will, in fact pay them once I realize I have stiffed them, but I'm sure that this is getting old.  And let me tell you, it was embarrassing enough the first time I did it-- let alone the second or third.  I gave them my phone number this time so they can call me if I do it again though, because this is getting ridiculous.  I am so not ready to start a new career in unintentional petty theft.

This is what parenting has evidently reduced me to-- I used to be able to write complex, nuanced fifteen-page papers on topics like the Order of the Garter's possible connection to "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," and now I can't even remember to close out my tab not even half an hour after I've joked with the barista about not closing out said tab.

Sigh.

~Jess

In Which The Sickikin Returns

I took Connor to church today since he's been so much perkier-- he woke up smiling and laughing, and seemed to have a lot more energy.  He started rubbing his eyes halfway there and by the time the service started he was a cranky, sleepy mess.  He spent the entire service either sleeping on me or doing his best impression of a Victorian waif dying of consumption.  Good times.

So it looks like he'll be missing yet another day of school tomorrow, as by this evening he also had a runny nose and it's entirely possible he's coming down with some entirely new and exciting bug.  He has a tendency to cluster every illness he plans to get for the entire season into a couple of weeks, so this isn't surprising.  Once his immune system is down I think whichever germ got there first just throws open the doors and lets all the rest of them in.  I guess we'll just have to see what the next few days look like, right?

~Jess

In Which My Cats Display Their Elegance And Dignity

So we bought a second cat bed for the cats, because I was tired of listening to them fight all day over which one got to sleep in the bed in front of the fire.  Basically what was happening is that Cricket, who fits perfectly in the bed and who is getting old and crabby so deserves it more anyway, kept getting kicked out of the thing by Loki, who would then only put about a third of his body in it.  I'll admit that he is a really big cat and doesn't quite fit completely in it even when he makes a strenuous effort, but I suspect he did it mostly so Cricket couldn't use it.  Loki is kind of a jerk.

Anyway, so the local pet store had their cat beds on sale and I picked up a larger one so that Loki would actually be able to fit his entire body inside the thing.  I stuck it next to the fireplace and turned the fire on.  Both cats completely shunned it and continued fighting over the smaller, evidently far superior original bed.

So then I had the bright idea of sticking the wool guinea pig bed inside the new cat bed, as it's basically Cricket's Favorite Thing In The Entire World.  This means neither one fits in their bed of choice, and I can now present to you the Most Dignified Cats Ever:

Way to go, cats-- you are a credit to your species.  Good thing you didn't belong to Charles Baudelaire, or he would have written some seriously different poetry.  

Crazy cats.

~Jess

In Which Connor Finally Feels Better And We Encounter A Sticky Situation

Connor felt better today!  I'm extremely excited about this.  He's also excited, and celebrating by never, ever going to sleep again.  I am slightly less enthusiastic about that development, but hey, I'll take it  if it means he's feeling better.  He's still tired and has that nasty cough, but he had a lot more energy today and his temperature didn't go over 100 degrees.  I'm pretty sure the worst is over, and I'm so, so glad he's on the mend.

Since I had respite care today and felt comfortable leaving the kiddo since he was feeling better, Eden and I went out for some special time together.  We hit the bookstore and then ate at a Japanese restaurant, where I discovered that despite her initial insistence to the contrary, she has no earthly idea how to use chopsticks.  She gave up after the first bite and used a fork to eat her nigiri and maki instead.

 This isn't really surprising, as Thai people use a fork and spoon to eat-- the only time chopsticks are generally used in Thailand is when Chinese food is served-- but I believe the waitress found it rather amusing that the very, very white person (I practically glow in the dark) was obviously comfortable with them and the Asian person at the table had no clue.  I think it's a good skill to know, especially as Eden has expressed interest into going for a business degree and may someday have to know business lunch etiquette, so we'll have to work on it at home.

There's also the unfortunate fact that since Eden is a first-generation immigrant from an Asian country, people are going to automatically assume that she has mad chopstick skills.  This is one of the stupid little stereotypes that nobody really thinks about but definitely exist.  I think it's ridiculous, but there's not a whole lot I can do about it.  While it goes against my grain, I think that it will probably be easier to just teach her how to use them rather than put her in a position where she'll have to explain that not all Asian cultures use chopsticks to her friends every time she goes out to eat a cuisine where they're appropriate.  That might get old really fast.

In the end, basically this is an excuse for me to eat a lot more sushi, so hey, I'm not going to complain  too much.

~Jess

In Which We Have More Of The Same

It was another lively day of moping around on the couch for everyone's favorite Connorbot.  His cough seems to be getting worse-- he threw up several times today because he coughed so hard he gagged-- and he spent most of his time asleep yet again.  His fever is doing one of those "now you see me, now you don't" acts, and I'm not finding it particularly amusing.

I did have some company today though, as our pastor stopped by to say hello, which was lovely for me and probably not so great for her, as I spent basically the entire time she was here whining about how hard my life is right now.  But she was very gracious even though I made her late to pick up her kids, and not only was she fantastic company but she even brought me chocolate, which was much appreciated.  I was running low enough that I'd started eyeing the candy bars Eden got for her birthday from a friend, which she keeps in the pantry out of a misplaced sense of trust that I won't go insane from lack of chocolate and eat them all.  You'd think she'd know me better than that by now.

My parents also watched the kids for a couple of hours while I went to choir practice tonight, which was also very nice.  It was basically the first time I'd left the house to do anything except take Eden to school and buy more Tylenol since Saturday, so I was really ready for a change of scenery.  I felt a bit guilty leaving the house with the little guy feeling so punky, but I really needed the break.

The PA at Connor's doctor's office did call with some good news in the late afternoon; Connor's chest x-ray came back normal.  Hopefully that means that this is just some sort of especially nasty bug and not aspiration pneumonia.  They want me to bring him in tomorrow morning for another x-ray if his cough continues to get worse overnight though; hopefully it won't be necessary.

Feel better soon, kiddo!

~Jess

In Which The Sickikin Is Still Sick Around Here

So this morning when Connor continued his epic performance of The Saddest Sad Sickikin That Ever There Was, I went ahead and phoned the doctor's office to get him an appointment.  We have kind of an open door policy there, because my child is, well, high maintenance.  We're lucky to have found such an amazing doctor.

I took him in for a strep test this morning, and then we had the doctor's appointment and a chest x-ray in the afternoon.  The rapid test for strep came back negative-- thank goodness-- and we're taking a 'wait and see' approach for now.  The results on the chest x-ray aren't back yet, but I'm assuming that if it were something dire they would already have called.

Connor spent the whoooooole day asleep.  He slept in his wheelchair on the ride to the doctor's office.  He fell asleep five minutes after his throat culture.  He fell asleep during the exam, slept the entire ride home and then zonked out on the couch for another six hours.  I don't think he was awake more than about two hours total the whole day.  Around eight in the evening he started popping a fever again; he was at 101.3 before I got the Tylenol on board.  This come-and-go fever thing is justlain weird.

So at any rate, I'll be staying home with him again tomorrow.  I hope he catches a break soon!

~Jess

In Which More Sickness Happens

It was yet another glorious day on the couch today; Connor's fever improved but he now has a cough that makes him sound like a chain smoker.  So I'll be taking him in to the doctor's office tomorrow, and he'll be home from school again.  I'm hearing a bit of crackling in his lungs, and I'm sincerely hoping he hasn't picked up a case of pneumonia on top of whatever this bug is.

Get better soon, little guy!

~Jess

In Which The Sickikin Is Still Sicky

Connor didn't have a single seizure today, which was awesome!  I suspect it's because I kept him on his max dose of Tylenol the whole day, so he didn't have a chance to spike a fever.  He's still definitely under the weather and will be staying home from school tomorrow, but I'm hopeful that he's over the worst of things.

So I have nothing to report; I spent literally the entire day sitting on the couch watching my kid breathe.  My mom stopped by for lunch and to drop off some food since we were starting to run low and I couldn't leave the house, and that was about the extent of my interaction with the outside world today.  Tomorrow will likely be more of the same.  I just hope the little guy gets to feeling better soon!

~Jess

In Which Connor Is A Sickikin

Well, today was not particularly fun.

Connor had ten seizures today, which was about ten more than I hoped he'd have.  He just seemed absolutely miserable.  We spent the entire day at home, so I had a sad, cranky little one and an extremely bored teenager on my hands.

The kids are off of school tomorrow, so Connor has another day to recover, which is good.  I seriously hope he's feeling better tomorrow though; his doctor's office won't be open for the holiday and if he continues this trend I may end up needing to take him in somewhere.

I really hope he feels better soon.

~Jess

In Which I Have A Party Girl And A Couch Potato

Connor had a rough day today, I'm sorry to say.  He had six seizures and seemed to feel just miserable in general.  He spent pretty much the whole day on the couch.  The seizures of course knocked him out for the day, so now he doesn't want to sleep.  Poor little guy.

Eden's birthday party was today too; it's difficult when one kid has an important occasion and the other gets sick.  My parents ended up coming watching Connor while I took Eden and her two friends to a roller derby bout.  I'm very glad they were able to take care of him, or else I would have needed to cancel the party, which would have disappointed Eden terribly.  My parents are awesome.

Anyway, so after presents, cake and ice cream we went to the bout, which was really exciting for me.  It's the the first one I've been able to go to for a long time, and I was so glad to get the chance to see everyone and cheer on my team!  I really miss roller derby and all the fantastic people I don't get to see on a daily basis while I'm not skating.  Since I couldn't be out on the track, I had to make up for it by cheering everyone on as enthusiastically as possible.  I probably embarrassed the kids terribly with how loud I was screaming, but that's okay.  Embarrassing her child is an important part of every mom's job, right?

Eden and her friends had a great time, and the party was declared a success.  Hooray!  I just wish that Connor had been feeling better; it was tough leaving him at home while he was sick.  Hopefully tomorrow he'll be on the mend.  No more seizures, okay little guy?

~Jess

In Which I Am Sick And A Good Sharer

I caught some sort of nasty bug and have been sick as a dog the last couple of days.  I basically spent every minute I wasn't doing something child related sleeping.  As a result my house now looks like a bomb went off inside it, but I'm at least on the mend.

Unfortunately, I was apparently generous with my germs and Connor is now coming down with the bug.  He had five seizures today, threw up a few times, and just seemed to be generally miserable.  He's finally down again after his latest round of nausea, so I'm headed to bed.  I'm still not fully recovered myself, and Eden's having her birthday party tomorrow so I'm going to have plenty to do.  Hopefully Eden doesn't come down with it too!

~Jess

In Which I Look Ahead

We had a busy day today, and I'm pretty tired!  From the way my throat feels right now, I suspect I might be coming down with a bit of a cold.  It's that season, after all.  The kids still seem to be feeling pretty good though, so that's a relief.  It's tough when everyone gets sick.

It's been interesting hearing about Jeremy's first days of clinical rotations as he gets settled in to the new phase of his schooling.  Obviously there's a lot he doesn't share with me since the privacy of patients is really important, but it's great to hear the enthusiasm in his voice when he talks about his work.  I'm so glad that he's finding it so interesting, and I think he's really going to be a fantastic PA once he's finished.

I've been trying to do some more serious writing in the past couple of weeks; I'm starting to look forward to the time when Jeremy graduates, and while it's still almost a year away it's not too soon for me to start thinking about my plans once he's home.  If I want to eventually return to school, I need to start building up a more significant body of work.

Since I've been out of college for ten years now, I doubt my professors would even remember me-- let alone be willing to write me recommendations for graduate school.  That means I'll have to rely largely on my writing skills to find acceptance into a good school, so I need to work hard-- especially if I'm going to attempt to win a grant or scholarship, which I'll likely need as Eden's education will be our priority.  Most low residency graduate programs with a focus in English or creative writing are extremely competitive, and scholarships are even more so.

So I've got to make sure to practice my skills as much as possible in order to have a chance at getting a slot.  Cramming extra writing in on top of my current sort-of-single parenthood, caregiving, and all the other obligations I have right now is a challenge, but I've got to make it a priority if I want to meet my goal.  I love being a mother and a caregiver, and those are my main concerns right now, but that doesn't mean that's all I want to be.  I think it's important to remind myself sometimes that I'm not defined solely by my role as a mother, and that there are dreams it's important for me to hang onto if I want to be true to myself.

~Jess

In Which Eden Has A Birthday

Eden turned sixteen today!

She requested lasagna and lemon bars for her special birthday dinner-- is this kid American or what?  She specifically requested made-from-scratch lasagna, though, so I spent about half the day making it, because I am insane.  It tasted delicious, but I have to say that lasagna out of the freezer section is pretty good too and doesn't involve a ridiculous amount of preparation time.

Also since I made the sauce first and then cooked the noodles before assembling everything, it smelled like lasagna in my house for the entire day and I basically wanted to forget putting it together and simply stuff the pot directly into my mouth.  Garfield and I have a lot in common.

So after school and physical therapy, my parents came over and we ate, chatted, opened presents and then played a rousing game of Chicken Foot before bedtime.  Overall I think she enjoyed herself.  We'll be having a birthday party for her on Saturday and we're bringing a snack to her swim practice tomorrow, so it's like a whole week of birthday celebration for her!  I don't think she minds.

I spent a little quiet time thinking about Eden's birth parents last night-- that's the one day when I can be absolutely sure they're thinking about Eden too.  With the time difference between here and Thailand, Eden's birthday technically happened yesterday over there.  I'm sure that day holds a lot of painful memories for them.  I think of them often-- especially Eden's birth mother-- and hope they somehow know that our shared daughter is safe and growing up well.  It's not likely we'll ever meet, and it's entirely Eden's decision whether or not she chooses to seek them out at some point in her life, but I wish them peace, wherever they might be.

So, onward and upward.  Here's to sixteen!   I can't wait to see what amazing things our girl does with the next year.

~Jess

In Which Sweet Sixteen Is Fast Approaching And I Kill More Trees

We planned Eden's birthday party for this weekend today; she turns sixteen tomorrow!  She has no interest in driving any time soon, which I am extremely thankful for, but sixteen is still a huge milestone with or without a license.

She's growing up so fast!

We received her new birth certificate in the mail last week, so I'll be running that stuff down to the adoption agency soon and then starting the process of getting her citizenship taken care of as well as changing her name on her military ID, school records, etc. 

It was pretty strange to see our names listed as her parents instead of her birth parents, and while I'm really happy that we've got her new birth certificate it also felt really strange and made me a bit uneasy, like we were trying to rewrite history to erase her first parents or something.  While I know that the birth certificate is mostly a formality and a sign of our adoption, I still wish they were listed on the form somewhere too.

Anyway, while her adoption is now finalized, children from Thailand enter the country on an IR-4 visa, so her citizenship isn't automatic (a good explanation of this problem can be found here).  It will add yet another chunk of paperwork to our giant file on the adoption, but it's really important to make sure we complete it before she turns 18, or she'll have to take the citizenship test.  That would stink! 

Also we'd like to travel back to Thailand sometime in the next few years to visit, and we need to have her US passport before we do that.  So while it's a hassle, I'll fill out the darn paperwork and get the ball rolling.

~Jess

In Which There's A Whole Lot Of Snoozing Going On

We had a long day today!

Connor stayed up until around three in the morning-- probably because of the storm.  Then we had to be up by half past six to make it to Eden's swim meet on time.

This was a home meet, which means the parents all pitch in to help run things.  So we were there for eight hours and Eden had four races, each of which was less than three minutes long.  The area I was volunteering in ended up being really slow, so I got quite a bit of reading done.  Connor spent most of the time either snuggled on my lap (for limited periods of time, as it was pretty hot in there) in his chair banging on the iPad, or sacked out in between bleachers.  I got the impression he was extremely bored.  I can't say I blame him.  The things we do for our kids, right?

When we got home, I put Connor down for a quick quiet time, left Eden doing homework at the dining room table and nipped back to my bedroom for a bit of my own quiet time.  When I got the little guy up forty minutes or so later it was to discover that Eden had gone to bed-- at 5:30 in the evening! I guess the swim meet was pretty tiring for her.  Since Connor looks like he'll go down well tonight too, I might even get some extra sleep.  Even the cats are of the same frame of mind; they're both conked out in front of the fireplace right now, and normally whenever the house is quiet they decide it's time to sprint around and yowl like banshees.

Hooray for sleep!

~Jess

In Which It's A Bit Gusty Out

We're having a pretty impressive wind storm right now; the trees are whipping around outside the house and knocking against the fence. I hope there's not too much damage done-- guess I'll see in the morning.  I'm making this fast because our power keeps flickering and I don't want to leave the computer on too long.

Connor is awake though, so I probably won't be going to bed any time soon.  The wind is loud enough to even keep him awake.

The cats are reacting to the storm by alternating between yowling and running around the house at top speed.  You'd be amazed at just how much noise a stampeding cat on a laminate floor can make!  I think Eden was asleep before the wind started though, so she's probably still out.  That kid can sleep through anything!

~Jess

In Which The Kids Are Doing Well And Loki Hogs The Bed

The kids are pretty much settled back into their school routine now, which is nice.  Connor's been making some recent strides in physical therapy; yesterday he stood up leaning against a play area with his knee braces on but without any other support for almost a minute, and he actually spent some time playing with his toys, which is more than we've seen out of him for a while.  It's hard to hold the kid's attention long enough to motivate him to work on something, so I'm happy to see him making some progress!  We'll keep working on his standing with braces for a while and see how far he goes, and when he gets bored we'll switch to something else.

Eden's been making some incredible progress in PT as well; she's currently working on hopping on one foot, which is really awesome. She's come a long, long way in the past year!  She decided she wanted to try on my high heels today and went wobbling around the room laughing; it made me remember trying on my mom's heels as a kid and doing the same thing, though I was quite a bit younger at the time.  I'm so glad I get to make some of the same special memories with her.

We've been keeping the gas fireplace turned on quite a bit, and the cats have spent most of the past week fighting over who gets to sleep in the cat bed in front of the fire and who has to take the blanket, which is clearly inferior in every way.  Loki, who almost always wins because he's about twice Cricket's size, likes to  stretch out on the blanket and then put just his head in the bed while Cricket plops down on the bare floor next to him and looks pitiful.  This is because Loki is kind of evil.  An adorable striped fuzzy ball of evil.  Apparently sharing was not one of the lessons Loki got high marks on in kitty etiquette school.

Crazy cat.

~Jess

In Which I'm Back To Business As Usual

Hello!

The holidays are over, Jer has left for California and the kids are back in school, so it's time for me to quit my own vacation and start writing again.  It was so, so nice to have Jer here, and while we miss him a ton, I'm glad that he'll at least be closer now so we should be able to see him more often.  I'm already planning a field trip down to see him as soon as I can!

I have what are probably the only children anywhere who were actually happy to go back to school from Christmas break.  Towards the end of the vacation, Eden mentioned about eight times a day that she wished it was time for school now.  I've got two kids who like their routine in a major way, so I probably shouldn't be surprised.  Goodness knows I wanted them to go back to school too.  I love my children to pieces, but I also love my alone time.  Sweet, sweet alone time.

So everybody celebrated when Monday rolled around!  I spent the first day the kids were back to school doing nothing but napping.  I took about a three and a half hour nap, and it was amazing.  Then I spent the second day doing nothing but getting together with friends.  I finally went back to work doing things I actually needed to do today, and just in time because the house is starting to disintegrate at a rather alarming rate.  But I really had to have some quiet time and social time first!

~Jess