One of my friends, having read my post about the bad massage I had a few weeks ago, invited me to a day at the spa with her. We went to the Woodhouse spa todayand had a great time. Totally relaxing. Thanks for the invite Yolanda!

I often over do it with the kids. I think, oh they seem to be doing well, I’ll run one more errand. You never know when you’ve crossed the line from when they are in a good mood and not too tired to all of a sudden they are cranky and screaming. I over did it today. Ian got up at 5:30 so he was ready for a nap even before Ethan woke up this morning. So after I dropped Ethan off at school I decided that since Ian was awake, I would go and get my hair cut. By the time I had to pick Ethan up again, Ian was very tired so I tried to keep him awake until we returned home. (I ended up having to schedule a dr’s appt for Ethan today, but because his dr. is only in town on Tues. and Thursday we had to drive a half hour to Jupiter for the appt). Unfortunately, Ian didn’t sleep as long as I thought he would and then we had to head for the appt. (Before we left for our trip I took him to the allergist and he was given a clean bill of health, he caught a cold while up north and ten days later, it’s a sinus infection). Ian screamed most of the way down to the appt. and Ethan slept. Turns out Ian needed to burp, poor thing. I thought that maybe I was being paranoid but yes, he does have a sinus infection. Then we headed straight to a friends house for the remainder of the afternoon and had dinner there. On the way home it was Ethan’s turn to cry most of the way home. Thankfully he could verbalize that he was crying because he was tired. All in all more packed into the day for them than they could handle. But even in the midst of craziness, God reaches out to me and shows his love for me through others. Two highlights to my day: 1) A friend of mine from way back in the day, high school youth group, sent me a card saying she had been reading my blog and wanted to encourage me and has been praying for me. Her kindness brought tears to my eyes. Also, she must have read my post about my coffee maker because the card included a gift card to one of my favorite coffee shops (can I hear a “Starbucks”). Thanks Marie! 2) My second highlight was that one of my friends offered to watch the boys so I could go to the hospital this afternoon and visit a friend who just had a baby. Congrats on your handsome boy Wenda! It seems as though most people who live in this area are from this area so they have family near to help and watch their kids, or at least have relatives within an hour or so. My friend knows the challenge I have in arranging child care and was so generous to offer to watch them. Thanks Marilyn!

Okay maybe oriented x 1 1/2. Since I’ve been back from vacation I’ve been out of it. (in psychiatry a person’s orientation is always evaluated at each session, whether they know who they are, where they are, the time). I know who I am thankfully but I seem to be disoriented as to the time and what I should be doing. I’ve been forgetting what I am supposed to be doing I think because I am overwhelmed by all the catching up I need to do since returning. I guess that’s why people always say they need a vacation to recover from their vacation. It’s like life is waiting for you to return and once you are back, it’s ready to return to full swing whether you are or not. Piles of laundrey, doctor’s appointments, phone calls, unfinished projects… I also didn’t think about the fact that while we were gone, work was being done on our house, so there was dry wall dust everywhere when we returned. Ian’ s legs and hands were covered in it from crawling around. The boys don’t know or understand about these concerns, they just want me to play with them, feed them, keep them out of trouble. Eventually I will catch up, I will no longer be disoriented and then I’ll remember that I am Christina and it’s 9:43 in the morning on May 29th 2008 and I’m supposed to be taking a shower right now while Ian is sleeping, and that G. Bush is president.

We flew from Maryland to Atlanta to spend the rest of our vacation with old college friends. We usually see them once a year, they have a seven year old and a three year old. The boys had a blast with them, like a non stop play date. Ethan went to an indoor bounce house place a couple of times and wore himself out. Ian and I enjoyed it to:) We enjoyed the Georgia Aquarium, the boys had their faces glued to the the glass watching the sharks and fish in awe. We also did the CNN tour and thankfully the boys were relatively quiet so we weren’t kicked out:) Ethan also went with our friends to yet another indoor play place that had a pirate ship, huge inside sandbox and cannons to shoot across the place. And I enjoyed some good shopping with Becky and Ian:) One night we had babysitters for all four boys and we went out to dinner and a movie with our friends. We keep talking about doing a vacation rental together somewhere in the mountains, I’m hoping this fall. George says they should just come down to Florida because that’s where everyone wants to go in the winter. I reminded him (suprised he need reminding) that I strongly dislike Florida and would prefer leaving the state for vacations. Looks like I have some research to do.

We’ve been traveling for five days so far. I feel like we’ve been to space and back during that time. We flew to BWI on Tuesday bright and early and drove to Hagerstown, MD to stay with my Aunt and Uncle. My cousins and their kids came from PA and the boys had a blast playing with them. We also went to WVA to see my parents. Church on Sunday was at my old church, Columbia OPC in Columbia, MD where we met up with Rick and Keri and my old friend Christina. We spent yesterday with my sister and went to the National Zoo. The weather was great and Ethan loved it. When we were riding in on the metro he said, “Why isn’t the train saying “choo choo?” Then we had dinner with my aunt and grandfather followed by dessert at my sister’s house to meet her boyfriend. This morning we left Maryland for Atlanta and we are now with our old friends the Jackson’s. Just like everyone says, you are more tired after going on vacation than you were before you left.

We are going on a trip to Maryland/DC area and to Atlanta for the next 10 days. I took all three of us to the doctor to make sure we were okay before we leave. I have a sinus infection (figured that), Ethan’s sinus’s look great, and Ian’s ears are making improvements but not all the way cleared up yet. So now I am spending the day packing, knowing that we will be traveling from place to place and stuck in Atlanta airport for a 3 hour layover. It will be crazy flying up to Baltimore for a few days, driving all over the see my family and then flying to Atlanta to stay with friends for the remainder of our trip. Hope we all make it back in one piece:)

I love coffee. I need it, I want it, NOW! My coffee maker is broken. I love my coffee maker. It seems like coffee makers don’t last very long. Mine always break within two years of me getting it. Don’t manufactuers know that coffee drinkers have an addiction and we have to have our coffee every morning? It’s not like I could leave the house at 5am this morning and head to Target to get a new one. Doesn’t seem like coffee makers don’t last long enough or is it a conspiracy against me personally?

Since Ian still isn’t feeling well, Ethan and I went to church on Sunday and George stayed home with Ian. We stopped for lunch on our way out of town to see George’s mom for mother’s day in Sebring. The entire way Ethan kept saying, it is such a long way to Sebring, why is it a long way? George finally said, “Because your grandma and PopPop were silly when they decided to move to Sebring.” Of course, Ethan made the same comment to grandma later that day:) My sinus’s have really been bothering me so I enjoyed a mother’s day treat of a nap followed by going to a really nice restaurant with everyone for dinner. My other mother’s day treat will be an afternoon at the spa later this month with a friend. (a different one than the one I had previuosly posted about:)