One month and one day

We went one month and one glorious day illness free! Hurray!!! Even now, L&N are just battling runny noses and low-grade fevers. Lainie says she is "so cold" and "jus' hurt". I'll admit, I'm wondering if this is more than coincidental that she got sick 2 days after her classmates got the H1N1 nasal spray vaccine. (Even CDC contradicted themselves on whether it would cause transmission of the virus or not.) No matter the cause, we're grateful it's a 3-day weekend and she can have that extra day to recover.

This is a big week ahead. Wednesday starts my night class in Manhattan, therego it also starts Jay's single-parent-nights. On Monday's he'll be responsible getting the girls to and from dance classes; on Wednesday's, he'll need to get K&M to religion education. I already feel apologetic, asking him to do this. But he reassures me that it's fine, it's his turn, that we're supporting each other's dreams.

Knowing I get less girl-time means I am appreciating these last few days even more. Today, I took K&M out for lunch, just the three of us, to celebrate their good report cards. This afternoon, I laid on the floor with Natalie and let her crawl all over me, aka "attack the face." And, Lainie and I played some Connect Four, read some books, snuggled after bath, and she colored next to me while I'll read my textbook. Add to that a morning filled with cleaning two bathrooms, vacuuming the carpet, cleaning the kitchen, and folding laundry -- makes today quite productive!

I'm happy. I'm enjoying the reading and learning and working toward a goal. I'm still scared that I won't have what it takes; not the school part -- that's easy for me -- but the hands-on. But I'm happy. And that happiness is rolling over to the rest of the family. We've had very little whining or fighting this week, and have had many fun, stressless evenings. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, because as everyone know:

If mama ain't happy, then no one's happy.