Day Twenty Six: Post Christmas Recovery

I literally did nothing today. No, I'm not exaggerating. I did nothing. No shower. I didn't change out of my pajamas (for like the third time over the last week). I haven't brushed my teeth yet. (I will before bed. Don't be too grossed out.) It was just one of those days.

I got up late because I was up late. Then at 2 a.m. my younger son came into my bedroom, which he does quite often so I wasn't surprised, and climbed into my bed - causing my husband to vacate our bed - and before my husband was out the bedroom door my two year old was throwing up. So after stripping the bed, scrubbing the mattress, opening the window and closing the door to keep the odor from spreading, I joined my two year old (after he had had a 2 a.m. bath) in his bed while my husband took the couch.

The good news is that it was just the one incident of sickness. He was fine today and was eating regular food by dinner. I, however, was exhausted and so I slept in. Then I spent the rest of the day cleaning up from Christmas, my husband cut what appeared to be at least one ton of cardboard and then we vegged out the rest of the day.

Oh, I have had probably no less than a pound of chocolate today. I can't stop eating it. It's sitting right in the middle of my kitchen which is in the middle of my apartment and I can't help myself from grabbing a piece every time I walk by (and then there are the times when I go into the kitchen just for the sole purpose of grabbing a piece). Rewind two months and it's Halloween all over again for me. No self control. Aerobics classes can't start back up soon enough.

I think the Christmas tree is coming down tomorrow. So are the decorations. Time to start getting back to "normal" around here. Although now that the holidays are coming to a close it's go time for our dreams of owning our own home. Time to start packing - which I am dreading. I'm looking forward to ridding out some of the crap we've collected over the past five years, but completely dreading the actual act of packing up and moving. But all of that is being outweighed by my late night sessions of planning what furniture is going where in the new house and what things I want to buy and what colors I might use to paint this room and that room - I can't believe our dream of owning a home is a little over a month away.

It certainly was a very Merry Christmas and I'm looking forward to a very Happy New Year!

11:58 p.m. - P.S. OK. I just checked my email and I had one message waiting. It's a parenting bulletin that I get weekly. I signed up for when I was pregnant with my first child and they update you every week during your pregnancy and then they give you developmental milestones, suggestions for games and activities you can do, etc. after the birth. These days I just skim through it (I've gotten a couple of great recall announcements through it) and usually delete it within five minutes. I stopped reading the whole milestones and "what your child should be doing," stuff once I had a second child, but have just never unsubscribed from the mailing list.

Anyway, guess what the very first topic of information is this week? "How to Raise a Spiritual Child." Uh, what? Could it be that I'm more widely read than I though I was? Are the folks over at Babycenter reading my blog? CRAZY! Or more likely I think it's the universe - it's wonderful how she does that. You put the question out there and she sends you answers; and I stress answers, plural, because the greatest thing is that she doesn't force anything - she provides possibilities, options, ideas. It's still up to me to choose.

But I think I'll actually read this article. (Not tonight. I'm too tired.) Just to see what it has to say. I mean, how can I not give it a chance with a subtitle like: "Whether you belong to an organized religion or follow your own spiritual path, get ideas on how to nurture your 2- to 4-year old's or 5-to-8-year old's sense of spiritual wonder" or "How to keep your child's materialism in check."

Even on days when nothing happens - I can be absolutely amazed.