If there was a me for you

The last few days have been incredibly busy for us, and it's left everyone feeling tired and out of sorts. Mike's grandfather (Evan and Grady's last great-grandparent) passed away Thursday, and though it wasn't unexpected it was still difficult. The next few days were filled with family and funeral business, which is generally exhausting, but we ended up having to travel quite a bit as well. That was hard on the boys, and we also had some trouble explaining things to Evan. He remembered my grandmother's funeral from last fall, but I think he noticed more of what was going on this time, and he had more questions. I am never sure how much to explain. Evan can understand a lot, but subject matter like this is still over his head, and I don't want to scare him or make him worry more than he already does. I still haven't broken it to him that my dad's cat died a few months ago. He really liked that cat.

Since the weekend, we've all been battling a cold that came home from kindergarten. Grady's been having trouble sleeping because of it, which means I haven't gotten much rest either. Evan was up crying a lot last night because his cold has morphed into an ugly double ear infection, so he stayed home from school today and went to the doctor. He was upset about missing school, but it was for the best--he was really hurting. And as proof that miracles do occur, Ev took his antibiotic by mouth this time without any fighting or gagging. He was adamant that he not get painful antibiotic shots again, so I think that helped to encourage him to take the medicine. Let's just hope I can get it into him for another nine days.

I was convinced that once summer was over, our lives would slow down and we'd have a lot more time for everything. Just the opposite has happened--Mike is busier than ever, and Evan's days are packed from morning until night. Every day has an appointment or a meeting or some errand to run. I'm finding this very frustrating. I think we're all missing that down time, that family time we used to have more of. I've got to find a way to slow things down, or we're all going to go bananas.