I did everything I could to prepare to be gone so the house would be clean when I got home, but there is no way to prepare for the aftermath of vacation. First, when we got home, I was so tired, I pretty much just dropped for the rest of the day and tried to just stay awake until I got Lil Bit to bed.
This morning, the baby was wiped out. She woke up at 8 and crawled back into my lap for a nap before ten. I got up and showered so I could be decent for my friend to drop off the dog. As long as I was up and dressed, I decided to run some errands, but man, I wasn't prepared for the overwhelming heat after spending two weeks in mid-West mid-80's weather. I started running the car while I tried to read the directions for her new car seat. I kept her rear facing in her infant seat for awhile after her birthday, but on vacation the car seats we borrowed were all front facing, which she liked so much better, so I decided to bite the bullet and put her in the big girl car seat. I shut myself in a running car (in the open garage) to stay cool while deciphering directions that were at best incomplete and at worst poorly written and vague. I have a college degree and understanding the directions and parts was very challenging. I would imagine a lot of children are riding around in poorly installed car seats. We finally got the seat installed and after welcoming home the Magdog, went to run our errands.
First, we went to Lil Bit's school to register her for the fall. I was just planning on a visit to show off her walking, but they said they were filling up fast for fall so I registered her to make sure she'd have a spot in six weeks when it's time to go back to school. They decided to move her to the next room up. She will skip the 12-17 month room completely and go into the 18-24 month even though she'll only be 15 months, but she is way more advanced than the younger room already. She will have to play catch up for awhile with the bigger kids, but after our visit today, she'll be fine. She loved it!! She played with a bunch of the toys and the kids. She was giggling and having fun. I just hope she can pick up on some social skills like sharing and helping to pick up her toys.
After the trip to her school, we ran to Barnes & Noble to buy her some new books. She is getting more and more interested in books and I wanted to buy her a few more to enjoy while we're home. I was a bit disappointed at their in store selection for tots. There have to be millions of books written for children, why they carry so few is beyond me. I still spent $80.
Getting her back into the car seat was challenging after the book store, but I had no choice. I emptied the fridge before we left. Nothing perishable was left to spoil, which kept clean up on return low, but meant we had no food. We needed milk, eggs, fruit, veggies, and a little bit of everything. It was a longer shopping trip than I intended. She spent the ride home in a trance and fell asleep two blocks away from home. I left the car running while I carted in the groceries. She slept in the A/C while I faced the heat. The car thermometer read 123 when we came out from Walmart. I'm pretty sure the garage was at least that.
The heat really took a lot out of me. I got the groceries into the house, but that was about it. The baby slept in her crib for another hour. I tried to get things at least unbagged, but it took me the rest of the day to get it all put away. I quickly stored the cold items and let the rest sit until I had a rest.
Then I got the mail and started working on sorting through it all. By the time I got halfway through, the baby woke up. So I needed to do dinner and play for a bit, then it was time to start working on doing what I can to repair the lawn. It is so dry and brown that I'm not sure I can save it even by watering it every day for weeks, but I am going to do the best I can. That took another couple of hours to set up sprinklers and move them around. Lil Bit did love standing in the sprinkler spray, but then was soaking wet and covered in cut grass, which required a bath, then a snack.
Between the errands, the heat, the still tired after long, busy trip - I am achey and tired, but lonely a little bit. I got used to having someone around all the time when we were visiting family and friends. It was really hard today not to pick up the phone to talk to someone and a day I had planned to spend the day just recuperating seemed so lonely that I ended up out and running around for 5 hours.
The house now looks a little like a bomb went off. There are just piles of stuff every where. I am going to have to spend all day tomorrow just finishing the mail and getting to work on the bills. Somehow, the one medium sized suitcase became a frag grenade and spewed stuff all over my house. I figure I should probably have it just about picked up by the time my husband gets home and does it with all of his bags. Trust me, that really looks like someone blew up a military laundry.
For a day I hadn't planned on doing anything, I got a lot accomplished or at least started. Tomorrow though, I think maybe, I'll just rest.
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