Back to life. Back to reality.

Monday

Back to school! Back to work! Back to real life! Back to routines and regular eating and screen time. I love, love those two weeks of ridiculous nothingness and not knowing what day it is and not getting out of pjs but I also really love being done with it.

Ruby told me yesterday she wasn't going to be able to go to school because she would be sick today. Ha!

I woke up and Ruby was immediately up. I refused to let her out though. I'm trying to exercise in the morning before she gets up so I have more kid-free time for work. After I finished exercising, I let her come out. We played with her toys and cuddled. It was pretty nice.

I woke up Maggie at 7:15 and everyone got ready for the day. We got in the car (still stinky) and drove to Maggie's school. We were a few minutes earlier than usual but NO ONE was there. Like not one kid standing outside. No buses. No cars in the parking lot. Hmmmmmm. . . turns out I just assumed school started on Monday, but it's a teacher in-service day and school starts tomorrow. I didn't want Ruby to know so I just said, we're too early and we're going to drop Ruby off first.

Also, Ruby has been carrying around a purse that was Maggie's. It has a heart tag and Maggie had written her name on there. Ruby had it this morning, in the car, and she said, this says my name. I said, no it's Maggie's name. And she said, but we all have the same name. I said, yes we all have the same last name but it's Maggie's first name. Then Maggie said, here I'll fix it for you. She found a marker in her school bag, marked out Maggie, and wrote Ruby on there. Oh be still my heart.

When I dropped Ruby off, at first she was nervous. But then she saw Miss Octavia (oh you should hear how she pronounces her name!) and she ran up to talk to her. She barely said good bye to me.

I told Maggie she had won the lottery and there was no school today. She was so happy. We came home and I took Spot on a walk.

Oh! I got pictures of our new foster. They've named him Jay and he's supposed to be super sweet. He has to see the vet and get fixed. His appointment is Tuesday at 8 am. I can't wait to have him.

Maggie used up her screen time by noon and had to entertain herself some other way. I informed her she cannot bug me because I have to work and do stuff. But actually we ended up having such a nice day. I still did all my stuff. I cleaned and exercised and worked and she was just around and we chatted. I helped her cook her lunch. I did quit working early and we watched a movie together.

As soon as the movie was over, I went and got little Ruby. She had to hug every single kid. Have I ever mentioned how all the kids at her school (and a lot of kids at Maggie's school) call me Ruby's mom (or Maggie's mom)? Like exactly that. "Ruby's mom, did you know Ruby. . . " I love it. It's so cute.

Once we got home, we took Spot on another walk. We talked about our upcoming basset, Jay. When we got home, I cooked up the rest of the burger mix. I don't have anymore buns so I just kinda sautéed it. Or maybe fried it. I don't know. It was good. Ruby ate the rest of the lunch Maggie made but Maggie ate some.

We played Candyland and, because Ruby caught on so much quicker, it was actually like playing a game. About this time, it was clear how sleepy everyone was. But it was way too early for bed so we watched a movie. Not ideal but no one fought or cried. Oh wait that's not true. Well, it was probably less so than it would have been.

After the movie, I had the girls take a bath. Then I put Ruby to bed. Maggie was so stressed about school tomorrow. I guess the reprieve just upped her anxiety about the whole thing. I finally just put her to bed early.

Tuesday

Ruby woke up early again this morning. This time I didn't go in until I knew her green light was on. She was annoyed but we went over the rules again. We had 30 minutes of playing and it was blissful. It was so sweet and I only focused on her and it was great. We played with her unicorns again but this time, for a little while, one was Grandpa (they are usually me, her, and Maggie or, rather, Mom, Sister, and Baby). Oh my goodness, turns out, Ruby has a Grandpa voice and it cracked me up.

Eventually it was time to wake up Maggie and go to school. Luckily, this time Maggie's school was actually in session.

I came home and took Spot on a walk. Buddy has started chasing after us and crying at me. I don't know what to do with him. I tried putting him back inside. Actually on Monday I just handed him to Maggie. Tuesday I tried putting him inside, but he rushed back out and caused the garage door to stop. He got distracted and wondered off and by the time he realized I'd kept walking, he couldn't see us anymore. I hate it when he's out too far. He's definitely not smart enough to be too far from home. People will think he's a vagrant. A fluffy vagrant.

Speaking of Buddy, I always tell him how handsome he is. I was telling him and Ruby asked, am I handsome too? I said, of course, the reason I never call you that is that people tend to describe girls as beautiful and boys as handsome. She paused and said, well I'm a boy too. Ok.

Grandpa got the girls from school. I got Ruby to do her Grandpa voice for Grandpa. Unfortunately, the second she said one word, me and Grandpa were cracking up so she wouldn't do it again. It's so cute.

Nothing too special this evening. Bedtime. Harry Potter.

Wednesday

Ruby keeps waking up early. I don't go get her but I don't understand. How is she ALWAYS awake before me? I'm getting up more than an hour earlier than usual and she's still up. Does she sleep? Is she awake all night?

We played unicorns again this morning. This is the best. It's about 30 minutes with just me and Ruby and we play and cuddle and it's so sweet and special.

So I don't want to jinx myself but I haven't been sick since October-ish. After the last round of illness, I bought several bottles of hand sanitizer and put them all over the house. I use them and wash my hands a lot. And I chase my children with them and make them use it. I even made up a song to help Ruby wash her hands or put on hand sanitizer. Are these things connected? It's possible. Wash your hands more and you might get sick less. #themoreyouknow

Oh I got texts about Jay last night. He has lots of issues. He needs to be fixed and possibly some other thing that I don't know what it means but has to do with his gentleman parts. He has heartworms. He needs shots. He can't do any of those things until he gains weight though. So he'll need lots of love and treats.

I made tabouli and that was a fail. Maggie did eat it but she told me she didn't like it.

Thursday

Another bad night. Ruby!!! I took the globe off her overhead light (because, for some reason, the chain for the light is inside the globe) so she can't turn her light on in the middle of the night.

I got Jay today. He is so skinny. I saw pictures but it's shocking. His paws and nose look ginormous on his skin and bones body. I'm going to fatten this boy up.

Here's the cats "meeting" him.

The girls were thrilled to see him. Maggie liked getting him to run around but she doesn't actually touch dogs anymore (not sure when that started). Ruby covered him up and gave him kisses and hugs.