First Week

I came back from Texas with a cold (caught on the way there, presumably), and though I feel much better now, I feel like we are running a few days behind.  I was good the first day back about pushing through, and managed to get the downstairs cleaned, suitcases unpacked, and laundry washed, but then the next day I just crashed.  

Chris was working doubles up until yesterday, so I was on my own mostly, and that day, I was the complete opposite of housewife.  We wore pajamas all day.  Or rather, Nora wore her pajamas and I wore maternity (read: gigantic) yoga pants and one of Chris’ long-underwear shirts.  We ate easy foods and traded pedicures (this was the first time I actually agreed to let her paint my toes when she asked, and she loved it…but, let’s just say, I had to keep the nail polish remover nearby).

We watched some Charlie Brown, her newest obsession, and we might have filled up the bath tub in the middle of the day just for something to do. Why not when there’s a new bath toy to play with from Grandma?

After all that, I might have…just maybe…taken a three hour nap with Nora.

I can’t remember the last time I was sick.  It rarely happens, and hasn’t happened since we moved here a year and a half ago, so being under the weather was the perfect excuse for a few lazy days in.  

We had a low-key New Year’s Eve at home, Skyping with a few friends early in the evening, then Chris and I were in bed by midnight.  I had planned for a big New Year’s brunch, but between my cold and Chris’ work schedule, it didn’t happen until yesterday when we had our “fake New Year” breakfast. Nora and I let Dada sleep in until 10:30 to make up for all that working he’s been doing, then we had brunch complete with black-eyed peas, apple-beet-carrot juice, and a pineapple upside-down cake.  

We talked about our New Year’s resolutions.  I’ve shared mine already, two of which are family goals: selling the car (yes, we decided to go for it!) and letting Nora watch less “TV” (we were getting lazy and letting her watch an hour or so every morning so we could snooze on the couch — now we are limiting her to 3 hours per week, which still seems like a lot to me, but we’re taking baby steps).  We asked Nora what she wanted to do and after a long silence she said, “Ummm, paint more.”

“You want to do more painting this year?” I asked.

“Sometimes I want to paint more, but not today,” she said, very earnestly.

We laughed, and then told her that was a wonderful resolution.  So, I guess one of my resolutions has to be making more opportunities for Nora to paint.

This first week of 2012, I already feel like I’m a bit behind.  I haven’t finished up my traditional New Year’s “stuff purge” and I’m still sifting through my favorite photos and videos from last year to share this week, but the calendar waits for no one.  I have a full docket of website building for a while, plus a busy January-February teaching schedule planned.  

Break time is over, time to get dressed and g-o-i-n-g.