And We're Back

So, it's been awhile. And I considered sitting down to write so many times, even logged onto Blogger a few times, but I never got around to writing. Then more and more would happen and I'd feel like I was more and more behind in my blogging, sort of like what happens when you don't update family photo albums (a topic that makes my shoulders tense up just thinking about it). And then you find the task of updating the world on your life to be more and more daunting, and you just keep procrastinating.

Except, it occurs to me that your blog does not have to be a comprehensive diary of everything that happens in your life. You have probably been properly updated on my life via Facebook, e-mail, phone calls, texts, online photos, or face-to-face interaction, and if you haven't you probably don't know me well enough to even care about all the details of my life. And just listing all these forms of communication really makes me realize how much of an obsession we have with constantly updating people on our lives.

Case in point: the Weight Watchers website now has a Facebook-style status update box, wherein you are supposed to list what you're doing right now. I guess as long as you don't list your status as "is eating a 7-layer chocolate cake," you're probably good.

So, I will not attempt to list everything that has happened since my last blog post. But, I do have an obsessive need to sum it up:

1) Two days before we were supposed to leave for the trip, the doctor put my husband in the hospital for testing because my husband said he was having occasional headaches accompanied by a tingling feeling. When Husband told me he needed to be admitted that night for an MRI, my mind went from zero to How am I going to raise my son alone? almost instantly. Long story short, diagnosis: sinus infection.

2) We spent the first week of our vacation in Southern California. The SoCal portion of our visit is always kind of stressful. There isn't enough time to see everybody we know out there. To all my friends I didn't see, please do not take it personally. I saw my 90-year-old grandparents for a total of 25 minutes at Carrow's, and then we had to eat and run. 'Nuff said.

3) Highlights of California: seeing my brother get ordained as a priest, going to Sea World (which had a Sesame Street park-within-a-park, which would have been enough for The Boy right there), beach time, trying Pinkberry yogurt for the first time.

4) The second week of vacation was in Hawaii. It was so unbelievably awesome there. My brother Tyler's wedding was probably the most beautiful wedding I will ever attend. The hotel we stayed in was like a dream come true, with its abundant pools and gorgeous ocean view. The ocean was warm. And I loved being able to hear the waves crashing while I fell asleep. I think I was able to relax, in spite of vacationing with a two-year-old.

5) It took us two days of travel to get back. That sucked. I never want to see another airport again.

And now we're back. And I'm so ridiculously stressed about stupid stuff like laundry, and then I have to step back and tell myself that laundry is a pretty dumb thing to get worked up about.

These last couple weeks of summer feel really weird. After the fabulous vacation I took, I feel like summer is over. Yet at the same time, I want to push myself to enjoy each of those "open Memorial Day through Labor Day" activities one more time. This week I'm tired, though. I think next week will be "last hurrah" week.

Though I have never been one for last hurrahs. It always feels like too much pressure to try to really enjoy something enough to tide you over for some period of time. And then you're so sad that something is ending that you can't take time to enjoy it.

Or maybe that's just me and my overthinking ways.

This is also a weird time because it's the first time we don't have a bunch of activities scheduled. On the one hand, that's nice, but it's not nice enough to prevent my head from swirling with a bunch of ideas for fall enrichment for the boy and me. He's going back to toddler music class. I also think I might become one of those annoying moms who plans out stupid little weekly craft activities for her kid, because I'm worried about the boy's art education. Or is that a sign that I need to get a job?

I'm also going to be one of those annoying moms who tries to get her kid into a swim class that isn't really for his age. I want him to take a real-live swim class at the indoor pool in the gym, the kind where he starts to learn strokes instead of stupid little pool-based songs. Also I kind of want to put him in a class where I don't have to get in the water with him. Because while I do love swimming, I don't love dancing around the pool singing "The Wheels on the Bus" while holding a toddler.

As for my own personal enrichment, I am going to an 8-hour floral design seminar Labor Day weekend. And I am taking a one-time cooking class called "Breakfast of Champions" at the gym. I'm toying with the idea of taking an online non-credit class at the community college. I also wanted to take adult tap dancing lessons at the park district, mostly so I could own the cool tap shoes, but the class is on the same night that Husband teaches his night class this semester. I might take ice skating lessons, but I feel like a dumb fat-ass taking introductory ice skating lessons as an adult. And I also think if I want exercise, I should just take a class at the gym because those come free with my gym membership.

And while we're on the topic of fitness, I kind of went on vacation from Weight Watchers while on the trip. So now I have to reel it in. And we're in the period where the gym drains the pool for cleaning and has really limited childcare, so my exercise isn't really back in full-force.

Other developments since the trip:

1) The cat is really needy. I thought cats were supposed to snub you after you leave them alone for vacation, but this one is all up in your face, starved for attention.

2) The boy will not sleep in his own bed, nor go to bed at a reasonable hour. Right now it's 10:45 and he's screaming.

3) Our trash can disappeared.