The Week of a Thousand Days

It all started on Monday night. As I slept alone in my bed because Dan was gone on a quick business trip, I could hear the house being pelted with rain. Unfortunately and unbeknownst to me, the temperature was so cold it was immediately turning to ice.

I woke up Ava the same as usual that Tuesday morning. But something told me to check the tv right before I was about to wake up Max to get in the car for school. Good thing I checked because school was canceled.

And school remained canceled for the entire week. It was a little touch and go getting Dan home, but the airport finally opened an he got on a flight that wasn't canceled. He caught one of the few cabs working to bring him home.

Since last week was hit or miss with Ava's school because she was sick, I already had my fill of being home-bound with all the kids. So this week's weather felt like it was just piling straw after straw on my saggy back.

The temperatures didn't even reach 20 degrees and because Dallas is totally unequipped to handle such weather, the roads remained coated with ice day after day.

Once Dan got home things were much better. His office was closed all week as well. But honestly there is only so much time the same people can interact with the same people for constant hours on end and not go crazy!

I whipped out the big guns. And it makes me sad even writing that because there was a time not long ago, when these were just the regular, everyday guns. Since we've moved I've relied more on the TV than any of my creative Mommy activities. Hmmm, time to change that I guess.

So we painted,



we cut out Valentine hearts, we painted them,


we made cookies,




we made and played with playdough,



And of course we still watched a lot of television. It was too cold for the kids to even go outside.

I kept thinking how lucky we were that nobody was broken or super sick and needed to get to the hospital or doctor. Because in our family, that is not unusual.

The sun came out yesterday and the snow and ice began to melt, and we were outta here! We piled the kids in the car and just drove!

Max considerately waited until last night to get sick so that we could take him to the urgent care without fear of crashing. Double ear infection.

That makes three of us on antibiotics right now (Ava-ear infection, me-uti). And seeing as how I have trouble even remembering to put on my bra to take Ava to school most days, I am thinking about setting up some kind of alarm system to be sure I get everyone their medicine on time.

But here's where I am really wacky:

This past week took forever. It dragged on and on. I checked everyday with fingers crossed that by some miraculous happening, school would be back in session, only to be disappointed each time. I thought I would rip my hair right out of my head multiple times each day. I dreamt
of peeing (constantly) alone or just having one minute to sit in silence with my thoughts.

Now, the ice has melted, the snow is gone, school, preschool, and work are on for tomorrow. Looking back all I'm really remembering are the snuggly, cozy parts of being so close for so long. And I am already missing my babies.