We had a pretty nice Halloween here. Emily was a butterfly (same costume she's worn all summer) and Audrey was a tiger (same costume Emily wore at that age), and I was a "Mommy tiger, (same costume I wore for Halloween in 8th grade!). We went trick-or-treating at my workplace on Friday afternoon, and Emily got a big kick out of that, wandering around the maze of cubicles to find pumpkins posted at people's desks to indicate they had candy to give away. And wow, my co-workers give out GOOD candy, too! On Saturday, we went trick-or-treating to two of our neighbors during the local beggar's night, but no other houses near us had lights on, so we just ate supper and went over to Dan's house for the Halloween party. It was really fun over there. I took Audrey home at bedtime, but Emily stayed out late playing with her friends, and she came home with Travis at about 9:15.
So, for all this fun, the girls have really made us pay. Or me, really, since Travis was gone for most of the week. He left Sunday morning to go to Florida for work, and came back super-late Wednesday night. I had to work Thursday, and he was at work on Friday, so he was gone essentially the entire week. To add to it, I decided to start the girls at the new daycare on Tuesday, so they were super-stressed out. It wasn't a great start; the first day I picked them up, they were huddled together in tears in the infant room. The teachers all told me that Emily had really had a great day up until about half an hour before I got there, and that Audrey would fit in better in the 1-year-olds room. So, on Thursday Audrey was in with the 1-year-olds and I picked them up earlier, and they were still both super-stressed and tearful. It was SO hard. But, long-term, I think it's the right thing to do. I just would like to really feel good about it, and I don't yet.
Since Travis was gone, I went up to my parents' place on Sunday and Monday, and it was extra-special because my grandma was visiting from Holstein. She's turns 92 in a couple of weeks and is in a nursing home, but my parents were able to care for her during her visit that was nearly a week long (when combined with a few days at my aunt's house). She stayed up late one night telling us about what running a farm was like when she was growing up and when she was first married; what they did during the day, what they ate, what they grew and sold, when they got running water and electricity and a TV (they actually had the TV before they even had just a water supply to the kitchen; they finally got full running water in the early 1960's). It was really nice, because she seemed to perk up and seem more young again. I think she was a little overwhelmed with all the little girls running around (my sister and her girls were there, too), and she doesn't see very well so I think she probably never knew whether it was me or my sister around, but it was really a lot of fun.
And then I came home, where it hit me how overwhelming the trip had been, and that I still had to face the rest of the week alone. Friday was such a letdown for us, that it was really overall a horrible day. I couldn't keep Emily from assaulting Audrey, taking toys, tackle/hugging, pushing her over, etc. I couldn't cheer Emily up - we tried going to the library, dancing in our living room, eating her favorite lunch, snuggling and reading books, and she still just whined at me. I knew she was tired, and tried to get her to lay down for a nap, but instead she screamed and woke up Audrey. I left her in her room while I dealt with an unhappy Audrey, and apparently during that time Emily decided to raid her underwear drawer. When I was helping her get into her costume (hours later), I realized that she had put on 3 additional pairs of underwear, then put her pants back on. I am so glad she did, because I laughed and laughed and laughed, and it was about the only time the entire day that I felt good at all.
Saturday I had some emotional hangover left from the horrible day before, but we set out to go up to Ames for ISU homecoming. Both girls did a great job at the tailgate, which, I'm sorry, but I don't understand why our tailgate has to have BLARING MUSIC the entire time! Why? Nobody else does! Nobody is dancing! Nobody is paying any attention at all except to try to stand so that it doesn't hurt their ears! Everybody has to shout... it's very stupid and I don't need another obstacle to my feeble attempts at being social and having casual conversations. Anyway, Trav went to the football game, the girls and I went to my sister's house, and it was a very nice day.
Today, we "dug out" of the mess we'd created all week. It was starting to look like those houses you see on the TV shows about hoarders - it was bad. I did 5 loads of laundry, vacuumed, cleaned the kitchen, and put away all the odds and ends from the week. Travis swept, ran the dishwasher, and spent nearly an hour getting the girls' toys organized and put in places where they'd be fun to play with again. Then in the afternoon, Travis went shopping with Emily and bought a bench for the hallway (YAY!) while I put puffy paint on the bottom of all of Emily's socks so they're easier to sort in the laundry and make them not so slippery on our floors (I did mine, too). It feels good to have gotten things accomplished. I needed that; I am a much better mother when I am not so overwhelmed.
As for the girls - Audrey is now interested in pulling herself up on things! She crawls up onto the fireplace mantle and is just so pleased with herself. She'll stand at the coffee table and she looks so tall! I'm sure she could manage to get up the stairs, but I tend to just keep her away from there. I've bought a portable jail, as Travis likes to call it, which I will use on days like Friday (I'm sure they'll happen again) to keep the girls from killing each other. And maybe it'll help keep Audrey off the stairs for a while. The girls and I have had a great time playing in the leaves lately, so we were sad to see Travis get them all cleaned up out of our backyard this afternoon; Emily was consoled by the thought there will probably be snow soon. We're all getting excited about Audrey's birthday next weekend, although I'll need to go splurge on some toys and plan a lunch for everybody. I much prefer the thought of that to what we did last week, though. I am definitely, definitely ready to be done with October.
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