Back on the job

Today was our first day back to routine after two weeks of change. Markus went back to work. The girls were home with me since school is out on winter holidays. The weather was cold and rainy.

After the girls were in bed asleep, Markus asked me what we did today. "Did you play with them much?" he asked. "Not really," I answered, a bit puzzled at what we had actually done all day...so I started to list out loud our day's events.

Ellie was up early today. Stephanie woke up after Markus had left for work, sleeping late because she napped yesterday and thus went to bed late. At her request, I played games with her in the playroom as best I could through her grumpy-sleepy haze. Once she was awake and happy, I started chores while they played together. I washed our sheets, went through every piece of the girls' clothes to weed out what fits and what doesn't and reorganized. We went to three grocery stores this morning to complete my week's shopping list (sheesh!). They were so patient with that process that we stopped in for a cookie at a cafe after shop #2. After grocery shopping, we came home and ate lunch. They played for a while and then we baked a chocolate cake, as Ellie insisted at the break of dawn that today is Lolo's birthday. While the cake was in the oven, I gave the girls a bath in the indoor pool and cut their hair. While the cake cooled, we wandered across to grocery store #4 across the street to buy extra cake decorating goodies Ellie had deemed absolutely necessary after consulting a cookbook on children's birthday cakes (a book she kept on hand for five hours and declared was actually her copy, not mine). Back home again, whip up some chocolate buttercream frosting and decorate the cake. Host Lolo's birthday party, although Ellie remains unimpressed with me for not inviting other guests from school at her last minute request. The girls played and danced to some music while I cleaned up the kitchen. Then, we all had story time for about half an hour. They were both starting to get tired and teary when I heard Markus come home.



Amazing. It didn't feel like a big day, but we were so busy all day long! I wanted to record it, this glimpse into the day of this mama and this family. Nothing special, yet everything special. It's good to be home.