Last week was a hard one, but I think you already know that. Travelling, late nights, early mornings, lack of caffeine and a motel room that I'm pretty sure I was allergic to. On top of that, grief so thick that my tears started to hurt my cheeks. A sense of relief that confused and made me feel guilty.
And through it all, Izzie was a trooper. With everythingt she went though and saw last week, we expected her to have more than one well deserved melt down. But she only started to get upset when she knew we were heading home....because she wanted HOME NOW!
We were all happy and sad when we arrived home. We all missed my stepmother (who Izzie took a great loving to, and for whom she still asks about) and my brother R. and his girlfriend K. I enjoyed hearing stories about my dad from his friends, old and new. I hated leaving so soon, but life doesn't wait for you to get over things.
(And boy oh boy did we pick a crappy time to come back! It's frigging cold out there! So cold that Izzie and I didn't leave the house for two days. Phil didn't even bike to work, he took the bus. And he biked almost all winter last year, except for one week.)
So now we are home, and getting back into our routine. Early nights, early mornings, cups of tea, tea parties, puzzles, colouring, more veggies than chicken strips, less giving in to crying and temper tantrums and more standing firm, dancing and Christmas songs playing all day. Breathing and allowing myself to cry when I need to.
...and stopping little kitties who have developed bad habits in our absence. Bad kitties!
Opening presents....
Riding on presents...
Present aftermath....and tickle trunk from Nana.... (for those of you who don't know what a tickle trunk is, it is from a popular Canadian children's show named Mr. Dressup.)
Enjoying her new dress up clothes and accessories...
A new doll sling made by Mamma....which turned out to be a little to small, so....
another was whipped together. Now she can carry several stuffed animals or her new doll(s)...
Tree down, more space for toys.
Construction of box and toys to be seen tomorrow...
and the putting together of cards and pictures that have finally arrived. Better late than never?
None of us are used to travelling in cars, which could be the reason Izzie was unable to fall asleep around her normal nap time. But we tried everything, and I mean everything. Including stopping for over an hour at a mall so she could play in the indoor playground. Surely that would tire her out? Normally, yes. But alas....
Feeding the backseat beast seemed to appease her. Playing with puzzles (ugh, puzzles while travelling) and reading stories over and over again also helped. And then, once the sun had set after the 8th hour of being awake, our backseat beast would quietly slip into slumber. We would sigh with relief....and then reach our destination 10 - 30 minutes later. 
Sit at the same table,
and play it cool.
Find a common interest,
even if it's only for a second.
Play a game of hide and seek,
and find your cousin. Points are lost for losing interest and leaving your cousin unfound.
Go for walks and dress appropriately.
Have a tea party.
And watch a show. Even if it stuns you slightly.
I knew this day would come, but I was ill-equipped for it! That pigtail is held together by a poor elastic from my "I'm gonna wear pigtails cause it'll make me look cute!" phase. I can't believe it still worked.
I was surprised that we were the only ones there. Come on people, the sun is out!
Full out run towards the slide.
Weeeeeee!
When she pushed off here, I think she was annoyed that I wasn't waiting at the bottom. Sorry peanut, but the sounds you made were priceless.
Done with the slide, time for other things.
Run away from mommy time!
HA! Love this.
SWING!
SWINGER!
