Back from St. Louis

We are home! Finally. The drive home always seems so much longer than the drive out. Paige was a tyrant a good part of the trip. She is tired, I know that, but it doesn't make me enjoy it any more. In fact, it is 10:30pm here and she is still awake. There is little in motherhood that annoys me more than my children not going to sleep. If you want to see me lose my temper, that is the time. Man, she can be so whiny and such a hypochondriac. She just wanted some tylenol for her supposed sore throat.

See what I mean? Grouchy me. Go. to. sleep.

I am happy to be home. We had a nice time and it was great to see Douglas. So great. But, it was really hard for a few reasons. 1) Douglas is subletting an apartment from a married couple that are gone for the summer. I do not like using blankets of people I don't know. Or sleeping on their bed. Or using their dishes. Or sitting on their couch. Lame, I know. It just grosses me out. I tried very hard to get over it and I did okay, but I am so happy to walk around MY house (dirt and all) with no shoes on. 2) His apartment is really old and pretty dirty. I am not the tidiest person, but my house is more or less clean. His apartment is dingy and gross. Had I been there longer, there would have been some major deep cleaning going on. I vacuumed and swept. Wiped things down, but it didn't even begin to take care of the gross factor for me. I commented to Douglas that I wonder when some people decide it is time to be clean. I would think marriage would do it, but clearly not. 3) It is really hard and tiring to entertain children all day, every day away from home. I was so exhausted. We went to museums, zoo, farm, children's museum. I would come home and crash everyday. Douglas was at work everyday, so it was all me. Man, that was hard work. Funny, yet slightly embarrassing story:

On Friday we went to this place called the City Museum. It was expensive...$40 for the 3 of us, plus parking. Ouch. We get in and this place is unlike anything I have EVER seen. It is this huge play area for kids. HUGE. HUGE. Floors and floors in a large warehouse. They have a whole man made caving system in it, jungle jims in the rafters, a 10 foot slide (which I went on with the kids...way too fast and curving for a fat prego lady. My body still hurts.), a bus (real bus) attached to the outside that kids can play in, enormous ball pits, underground caves etc. etc. etc. It was unreal. I knew within 10 minutes that this would be a nightmare for us. It was PACKED with kids and adults. So, I try to be cool and follow the kids around, but I just didn't have the stamina and after knocking my knee so hard on a cave wall and the slide experience, I decided that I would have to sit out and let the kids play themselves. I was very nervous about this (Douglas thinks I am too uptight, but I worry.) I told them they could continue playing IF they stayed together the WHOLE time. Well, that worked well until J would go somewhere that Paige didn't want to and she just wouldn't follow him. It would really distress Jackson and after the second time he came out to me almost in tears because he couldn't find Paige, I lost it. Now, mind you, I am pregnant, hormonal, exhausted from a week of entertaining and not sleeping enough. I break down. I am crying in the middle of the stupid museum. We finally find Paige after a good deal of searching (she was actually smart enough to come out to where I was sitting). I compose myself enough to go to the customer service desk to talk about getting a refund (did I mention it was pricey??). Just as I start talking though, the tears begin again. I think I kind of shocked the people at the desk. They were so nice to me and refunded my money and gave me two free passes for another time (maybe Douglas can bring J sometime bc I will not go again.) I was so embarrassed to be standing there sobbing in front of these people, but once it started, it wasn't stopping. When we finally got to the car, I had a good long cry.

It was so nice to be with Douglas. It has been really hard to be apart for all of us. I am on a constant countdown until he comes home. I miss him. It isn't even having him help me with the kids and stuff (though that is nice). I just miss being with him and having a normal life. It will be nice when he is done. Luckily he is really enjoying his internship though and hopefully, if it is right for us, it will turn into a job after school.

So here is a quick rundown of what we did. I will post pictures and more details maybe tomorrow...

Sunday-church, park
Monday-zoo
Tuesday-Science Museum, custard shop
Wednesday-Grant's farm with photographer friend Yvonne and her daughter Lily
Thursday-Magic house
Friday-City Museum, big fat nap, family pictures
Saturday-St. Louis arch, Marine show, Magic house, pictures of Yvonne's family, bbq with them
Sunday-home

See, busy week. I bet you can't wait for details!!

**and I must add that Douglas neighbor upstairs was such a loud walker and would pace back and forth starting around 6am. It was so annoying and woke me up everyday. I kept trying to see who it was with no luck.