Nathaniel is home. And it's the weekend!!!!

Gosh.  I fall to pieces without him, eventually.

The week of his absence was just fine.  Not my favorite week, but we were surviving.  I started out with a great attitude, ever dog-walking, making healthy dinners, and vacuuming.

But I marvel at single parents, or those whose husbands are in the military and have to leave for longer periods of time.  3 days was just fine.  Day 5 was the end of me.
Day 5, where we had a night of ear pain crying, Lucy barking before 6, a doctor's appointment which really cut into homework time, hours of homework, piano practice...and there was just no chance of bathing them.  They were so tired, and they fought a lot.  I needed that back-up help to step in and talk to the screamers, do a little google translate for homework, get Lucy out from under my feet, but mostly, I missed having a friend to encourage me and rub my arm when I'm going in a bad direction.

At the end of that day, I was fried in every way.  Physically used up.  Emotionally, couldn't even cry.  I kind of wanted to punch the wall, cry, hug someone, write a book, pray...but I just stared at the wall until I decided I just needed to put Lucy in her cate and go to sleep, at 8:45.

And then Nathan was home.  We team-worked the home work, the dropping off and picking up from piano lessons, the bathing, the snack-making, and laundry.

I nearly cried with joy when he took Lucy for a walk.  Ahhh, and I sat in a chair until they got back, just relishing it...Team work is my favorite.

Now all of my possibilities return, and I have emotional energy, even though the weather is draggy and freezing.

This weekend we're going to put up Christmas lights!  We're going to build a dog house!  We're going to eat lentil soup and drink wine!  I'm going to kiss Nathan's whiskery face!

A few pictures from the week:

I sent this one to China to ask Nathan where the hey this tube goes.  It was spraying water all over the bathroom.  I was pretty sure it belonged in the perfectly sized hole, but I had to make sure.

Lucy stuck her nose in my precious berry syrup.  We ate the remainder anyway. Got to.

This was day 5, and I thought this was the last straw, when there were in fact 12 straws after this one.  

Happy kids after Daddy came home.