Tuesday, September 4, 2012

A HOT Labor Day, followed by Henry's first day of second grade...

I'm recovering (snort!) from a lovely, but at the same time, challenging Labor Day weekend. Where to begin...

Well, I'll start with the weather. I'll be frank. The weather is starting to really tee me off. It's Labor Day. It's supposed to be COLD. Chilly, I could live with. A slight bite to the air, I would also welcome. I DO NOT WELCOME 90 DEGREE HEAT. I'm sorry, but that is wrong. It doesn't get up to 90 degrees in this area very often (3 times per year on average) in mid-July let alone September! Yesterday was the hottest Labor Day that we've had in 102 years.

!

I am not a happy camper. And then, in the midst of all this, our drought continues. We have had some rain, but very little, and we're still WAY below average for rainfall. This all means that my seasonal allergies, which are never a walk in the park, were so bad this weekend that I broke down and bought some OTC allergy medication. This may not sound all that revolutionary, but I tell you, for me to actually take allergy medicine is no small feat. I stick it out like a True Allergy Martyr. I don't know why; I'm not expecting to be canonized for navigating my ragweed allergy sans Claritin any time soon. But I'm just so resistant to it if I feel that I can just stick it out. Because some days will be fine. I'll have a not-so-great day, and then it'll go back to being fine again.

But this weekend. I was ready to SAW MY OWN NOSE OFF to stop the agony. There was non-stop itching. There was sneezing. SO MUCH SNEEZING. I'd have to brace myself, because no sir, I wasn't going to sneeze just once. If I feel a sneeze coming, this means that at least a half dozen other sneezes are waiting in the wings (and sneezes, after you've birthed a baby? Well. I'm just going to leave you with the word "leakage" and let you figure out the rest from there. At any rate, it's not very dignified). There was stuffiness and subsequent nose blowing (aren't you so glad that you are reading this?!) that led to my nose being raw by the end of the day Saturday. There was eye watering. There was a general malaise.

And there was lack of sleep. Yes, Anne is back to night waking again. And each time, she is a drooling, fist biting menace in clear distress. She's teething, and she's taking it out on the rest of us.

"Anne! NO BITING!" is a refrain often heard in our home these days. Because she bites HARD. It *hurts*. She bit me on the neck the other day, and it just took my breath away. It leaves a red welt, and then leaves a bruise. She's just not herself these days.

And we're tired. We're all so tired. It's like having a small infant again. She wakes every night, and then stays awake for an hour or two. I had a really hard time getting out of bed for work this morning.

But it was Henry's first day of school, and I was anxious to see him off, since I knew he was nervous about it. He comes out in his little school uniform, and I tell you, he looked *adorable*. He adjusted to having to go back, and was in good spirits this morning. He was looking forward to finding out what days he'll have his "specials" on (gym, art, music, computers). Little cutie.

And this weekend, I even took both children with me to Mass, ALL BY MYSELF. *waits for medal that is so rightly deserved* Anne did pretty well. She fussed a bit during the consecration, so I paced with her off to the side, and we didn't have to actually leave the sanctuary. She was happy to be out of the pew and have some things to look at and touch. When Henry was a toddler, I was attending a parish that had "divided pews," if that makes sense. Each long pew had a divider in the middle, and it was great. I'd position myself at the end opening, and then he could walk between me and the divider, with no chance of escaping. Our current parish is not like this, so Anne has to be in my arms the whole time. Not so fun, but she did well. She's so friendly; she tried to go off with the random woman sitting behind us during the sign of peace. Overall though, it was a success, and if she's awake during the Mass I go to now, I'll take her with me too.

That was my weekend. I'm feeling a bit diminished, but I'm hanging in there.

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