Eewwww!

Sign seen in the ladies' changing room at the gym this morning:

"Please only use the hairdryers for drying the hair on your head. This is for reasons of hygiene."

Mostly better

Last night was the first night that the kids slept through. They were waking up every night from midnight to 3am which wasn't helping anyone's mood. Things are calming down now. I'm getting back into the swing of things and feeling better.

I've got a lot coming up at the school with a meeting Monday night and the school fair in a couple of weeks. Got to get everything sorted and priced up for my stall and help with the leaflets and publicity. I've also got another newsletter to write and a flyer about the school garden plus food to prepare for International Day. I'm thinking hot wings, key lime pie, Hershey's Kisses and mini pastrami on rye sandwiches. For some reason the British have a thing about pastrami on rye being a quintessential American dish. They say you always hear people order it in movies.

We've also been seeing lots of friends and Jenny, Kieran and their kids are coming down tomorrow for the day. We had hoped to go stay with them in Cambridge for the weekend but our heads are still spinning after the trip so they're coming to us and Jason and Kieran are going off to some big football game for the afternoon. Hopefully the weather will be nice so Jen and I can put the kettle on, turn the kids loose in the yard and catch up with each other.

Got the jetlag, run down, post-holiday blues...

I'm trying to dig myself out of a slump. I'm feeling blue. I now it's part post-holiday sadness, part jetlag exhaustion and part return-to-real-life slog so I'm just trying to ride it out. I'm not very good with change or the unknown and we're about to enter a big phase of both and I know that's on my mind too. (More about that once details are finalised and no, I'm not pregnant).

I'm just trying to suck it up and go through the motions until I feel better. Toby is back at school today and J is out with Rosie so I have a little quiet time. I'm also feeling the effects of almost a month spent 24 hours a day with the children and a lot of that spent taking care of them when they were ill. I'm drained and homesick. Not a great combination.

As for the change and uncertainty, well it's happening. I don't want to stop it happening but that doesn't mean I won't worry about it. I generally like to worry about things way ahead of time, then when the crucial moment arrives I can deal with it with some perspective. The problem with the unknown is that I don't know exactly what I need to worry about so I just worry about everything. Does that make sense? I blame my McClendon heritage for this particular character trait.

So to recap - I'm sad, homesick, tired and worried about everything. Yea, that about sums it up.

Riding the jet-lag roller coaster

Made it home about 1pm yesterday. Everyone was so tired. J and I sorted through a mountain of mail, unpacked most of the bags, ordered pizza then the kids and I went to bed at 5pm. I woke up at 11pm, used the bathroom, got a drink, called Mom, checked my email and went back to bed. The kids woke up about midnight and were up until just after 3am when we finally passed out again. Jason had stayed up to wait for the grocery order and he went to bed about midnight in the children's room and slept through. The kids and I woke up at noon.

I know we should be more strict about sleeping and waking to get over the jet lag but I'm just too tired to fight it. Apart from the time change, I'm also dealing with a sleep deficit from a week of chicken pox. I was up and down all night at Mom and Dad's and that on top of the jet lag is really kicking my butt. I'm sitting here yawning as I type.

Everything at the house is fine. Karen, our cleaner, had been coming in every week to check everything, clean and so some other odd jobs so we came back to a sparkling clean and tidy house. Even though I washed all our clothes at Mom and Dad's the hamper here is already full (how did that happen?) and we've got half unpacked bags and stuff all over the place. Toby is back at school on Tuesday so I need to get his uniforms sorted out. I've had three emails about next month's school fair and we've got a playdate tomorrow afternoon with Joe. Life picks up where it left off.

Home

Safe and sound. All in one piece. So tired I could vomit.

Spoke too soon

Still in Texas. Rosie is really ill. Nothing serious, just a bad case of the pox. We were due to fly home yesterday but after a lot of discussion, me in tears in Kellie's kitchen and Jason spending ages on the phone negotiating flight changes... we're now in Texas until Friday.

J has to go off to New York for a few days with work and I'm back at Mom and Dad's with the kids and a shedload of medicines, creams, sprays and oatmeal bath stuff to try and keep Rosie comfortable and unscarred.

What a vacation it's been.

Quick one

Well, we knew it had to happen. Rosie has chicken pox. We went out to lunch with Mom and Dad on Wednesday and Rosie was wearing a little halter top. I kept looking at her shoulder thinking I could see a few spots but they were flat and only a little bit pink. After lunch we left for Kellie's house in Houston and yesterday morning I had another look at the spots and they were raised and there were more on her back, stomach and hairline.

She's doing well, only about 20 spots in all, and no fever or illness. She's been more tired and cranky but that's about it. We're supposed to fly back to London tomorrow so I'm hoping the spots stay as mild as they are now. The majority of them are in her hairline and on her head, so not very visible. I've just put cream on them and a few are already crusted over so, touch wood, I think we're going to catch a break this time.