Walking Backwards

Back from Houston now and totally exhausted. Nicholas skipped school today because we need some time to recuperate. I was planning on dropping him off and playing catch-up myself, but then we woke up late and then I found out there was a substitute and then I realized that Nico needed a bath before we went to school (he didn't have one the entire weekend because of thrown-off schedules) . . . so we are playing it cool and staying home today. Days like this always make me wonder why I go through the stress of sending Nicholas to school at all. I really know why I do - he needs to be around kids his own age, I need the break, he needs time away from me, etc. - but this morning we are just really enjoying having nothing to do together. It makes me wish we had downtime like this more often. I know, though, that this idea is going to be sorely tested when winter break starts in just under two weeks.

Houston was fun, but tiring. We didn't get anything done because Nicholas wasn't keen on letting us sleep at night or taking naps during the day. Because of this his behavior wasn't the best; not that we expected it to be under the circumstances, but we weren't going to press our luck by taking him into new and challenging situations that he would be unaccustomed to (like the mall during Christmas shopping season). We mainly just watched tv at the in-laws. I saw my sister-in-law's new house which is very cute. Joe helped his dad put Christmas lights on their house so that he could live vicariously through that (we haven't bought x-mas lights yet and don't plan on doing it for years). Joe's dad got a hernia when he almost fell off of the ladder, putting a damper on Joe's over-eagerness to get more lights. We played a lot of skee-ball. Glad to be home, though.