I get presents! Fun!

I need to preface this post by telling you this:  I rarely get presents.  I even less frequently get presents I'm really excited about, and I especially don't tend to spend money on myself unless absolutely necessary.  I have been debating buying some face cream and getting my eyebrows waxed for months now, to give you an idea of how frequently we're talking about here.  So imagine my joy!  My surprise!  At seeing the UPS guy drive up to MY house and give me a package yesterday.

How exciting is THAT!!!  I've wanted to read this book forever.

Then today, another delivery truck pulls up and I get a package from a differnt friend.

Organic coconut oil, organic coconut flour, and two different kinds of Badger Balm Kid's Organic sunscreen.  Oh my word, can you believe it!  What a wonderful couple of 'present' days.

Day 10

We've been invited to a birthday party on Saturday, and S and I decided to make the little boy a gift he'd like to use during in the car time.  We opted for a felt board book - and I made one here as a prototype just to make sure our design worked well.

Day 9

Dear David,

It’s been nine days since you left, and I know I was supposed to write every day, but, well, things sort of fell completely to pieces.  It’s been rough, I can’t lie.  Clara has gone from being a sweet baby to transforming in the course of an afternoon into a toddler – a toddler who screams in a shrill tone usually reserved for dog whistles and refuses to be put down under any circumstances.  Oh, and has also decided to nurse whenever she can.  So that’s fun.

At first I thought maybe we’d just unfortunately hit a tantrum stage, and then I debated whether her sixth tooth that’s been coming in for days now was just really bothering her, but more and more I think she’s just missing you, and wants everything normal again.

It’s getting harder and harder.  I know that military wives do this *all the time* and people are without their spouses all over the place, but it doesn’t lessen my difficulty, knowing this, it just makes me feel crummy for feeling the way I do – so I don’t want to think about it.  It’s hard, it just is.  Everything takes so much more time, everything takes So. Much. More. Energy.  Oh my word.

And then to discover that you are going to be gone until likely Sunday evening, instead of being home on Saturday as we’d assumed?  It is breaking me, it really really is.

Day 5

Dear David,

ONLY ONE WEEK UNTIL YOU COME HOME!!!  And tomorrow, well, that's a big day because it's the LAST day you'll be in Ottawa.  Bright and early Monday morning you'll be heading off on the second stage of your trip, this part being the tough bit where you actually attend the super intensive classes.  I'm so happy you took the time to visit my family for me, and still managed to get so much work done.

I called in the big guns today and had some friends babysit the children while I went to the grocery store by myself - it's the first time I've been without them since you left and it was really, really nice to be able to move quickly.  When I got home I made a salad to bring to the baby shower this afternoon, and then once the children woke up from their naps we went to Family Fun Day at the park.  It was fun, but a bit old for Samuel.  Then home again, some sleeping, and then off to the shower which turned into the Most Fun Afternoon Ever.

We ate so much we didn't need to have supper, which is good because I'm exhausted.  Children bathed and in bed, I forgot to take a single picture, and church tomorrow.

Day 4

Dear David,

Things I am looking forward to:

1)  You coming home in EIGHT DAYS.
2)  Finishing this toothpaste:

Why did I buy this toothpaste?  Of all the toothpastes I could have chosen.  Ugh.

Because yesterday was just so awful I really knew we needed to get out of the house.  That first sweep of cleaning out the bookcase in the children's bedroom resulted in a stack of books that I donated to the library.  I'll let you look at the shelves downstairs with me and go through the ridiculous number of parenting books.  Have we used these books?  And then we picked up the mail and bought some sunscreen that isn't working and went to the farmer's market.  Oh!  And bought my parent's a housewarming gift!  You'll like it.

Tomorrow - I've packed it full of as much stuff as I can to keep busy.  We have plans until suppertime, so I'm hoping the children will be exhausted and sleep really well so that church on Sunday is a pleasant and uplifting experience instead of a lesson in how loud I can yell.

I can't believe we're not even halfway done with you being gone.

You would have loved the honey garlic sausages I bought for supper from a farmer at the market.  They were delicious - even Samuel ate them.  Clara didn't, but she's in a bad mood.  I'm not certain, but she may actually have a sixth tooth coming in.

Day 3

Dear David,

Well, we're sick.  And today has just been a total write-off, really.  We woke up and from first thing in the morning until bedtime we barely even went outside.  In the late afternoon I finally took everyone out in the backyard, just so that we could get out of the house and get some fresh air.  Nothing helped anyone's mood. 

I would really like today to end, actually.  Just for it to be dark and for Clara to go to sleep already and for Samuel to stop acting crazy and for me to go to bed. 

I didn't take any pictures today, not of the endless drippy noses or the pitiful meal offerings or the medicine bottles.

It's just all been Very Aggravating, you know?  I tried to vacuum the livingroom, but the carpet setting wouldn't work, even when I reset the vacuum thingy, and so everything wasn't vacuumed properly and was Taking So Long.  And what did it matter anyway since the children dropped stuff all over the place anyway.  And I tried to clean the dishes as I went through the day but failed.  And the clothes smell musty - even though I just washed them.  And everything is gross and sick.

I'm looking forward to our call tonight.  Only 9 more days until you're here again.

Day 2

Dear David,

So it started last night when I took Samuel out of the bath and realized his hair was just...so floppity.  I tried to cut it, but I was just making a mess of it all.  So he went to bed.  And then I tried again this morning, and man, was I ever wrong to think I could cut his hair.  So we went to the barber.  He was alright there, not great but okay.  That barber is so nice.  And the room was filled with old men waiting to get their hair cut.  It was like an old fashioned barber shop.  Samuel didn't want to go initially, but he managed it.  And Clara was happy to sit in the stroller.  Oh, the lady barber was there.  Anyway, I took a picture.  The picture.

He looks like a little boy from the 50s.

You can't tell from that photo but Samuel and I spent a lot of time weeding yesterday, and then today I trimmed all of the dead heads off the irises, and swept the pavement.  I felt Very Productive.

We went to playgroup today, which was fun, but we miss you.