The rest of the story.

I suppose I should have Jason write this post. It would be really interesting to see how he tells the story. Oh well, I'm pretty sure I'm on my own here. :)

The day I left for Chicago, things were already a little off-kilter. My 8:00am flight had been canceled at midnight, and rescheduled for 1:20pm. So, I woke up early to call Jason's mom and let her know she didn't have to be here at the crack of dawn. At 7:30 the kids started waking up. None of them realized I was there when I wasn't supposed to be there. I thought that was kind of funny. My perfectly laid out plans flew out the window, as I started trying to manage my kids, my new plans, and trying to keep everything perfect and the way I wanted it to be when Nana came over. Finally Nana arrived, and I left. I had feared that the kids would be upset seeing me go. But they were fine. Nana was playing with them, and they barely noticed my goodbye kisses.

Our flight actually left about 4pm.

I called Jason when we arrived and were safely in my friends car. It was about 6 by then, and he already had some news...

You're son gave mom quite the time today. She didn't realize it, but when she laid him down for his nap, he climbed out of his bed. He played, by himself, in his room for about an hour. He emptied his drawers, pulled a bunch of stuff out of his closet, undressed himself completely, took off his diaper, and then climbed back in bed. That's how she found him. Naked in his bed, with disaster all around...

That was the first phone call of the night.

A bit later he called back.

Annie's hysterical. She says she needs to talk to you. She says you promised to tuck her in tonight. (I didn't.)

I talked to Annie, gave Jason some advice to calm her down, and then I talked to Ellie. Which made Ellie start to cry. When I called back an hour later, everyone was asleep, and Jason...well, he was ready for me to come home.

The next day I called to check in.

We had a crisis at work and I had to go in. Mom came back over. (poor Nana!) Now I'm home and my knee is hurting pretty badly. Oh, and Austin keeps climbing out of his bed and turning on his bedroom light. I don't know what to do...

The next day...

Austin and Annie took a pretty good fall. They were both hanging off the baby gate above the couch, I told them to stop, but I was trying to get the dishes done and didn't MAKE them. A minute later it fell. They both tumbled off the couch and hit the floor. They're okay, but it scared them.

The last day...

I heard a noise and knew Austin was into something. I ran into the kitchen and realized that what I heard was the swiffer mop, being sprayed. I realized that, about the time I was flying through the air, after slipping in the big puddle Austin had created. I landed on my back. It hurts a lot.

I was home just before midnight that night.

I think he was happy to see me.

But you know what? He made it. They made it. The house was pretty normal looking when I got home. The dishes were done. The laundry was clean. I know it wasn't easy on any of them, but they survived.

And they never want me to leave again.

Seriously.

I won't. For awhile. Trips like this aren't the norm for me. But I'm really glad I did it. It was good for me, and my mama.

And for Jason and the kids. The girls learned to rely on their daddy a little more, they learned that it doesn't always HAVE to be mommy.

Since I've been home I've heard a lot more of...

Daddy can you...
Daddy, I need your help...
DADDY...

And than has been really, really nice!