You missed me, didn't you?

I was busy having a blast.

I went to Montauk with my family. We spent a long weekend, Thursday through Sunday, at a hotel on the beach for a Persian family reunion. T's side. I spent my days in the hotel with the tiny one while the rest of the family was at the beach. In the evenings I was told to go about doing whatever I wanted, so naturally I tagged along to the family reunion and ate their food and drank their wine. It was just like being with my Puerto Rican family. I could only understand two-thirds of what was being said, people kept asking me if I needed more food or drink and their were kids and music everywhere.

So. Much. Fun.

And I was being paid for it.

We returned home on Sunday night to our wet rugs and thankfully, still dry basement.

I unpacked all of our bags and began washing EVERYTHING.

Thanks to our freshly emptied and unclogged cess trap, I breezed through five loads and left the family with all clean laundry.

I packed my bags long into the night and then tried to sleep until it was time for Taryn to pick me up.

I think I did, but then I woke up too early with my brain still trying to think of things I needed to shove into my already stuffed bags. I had to sit on my suitcase for a good ten minutes to get it to zip. I made it out of the house a bit early; Taryn had already arrived.

We spent the week in Wildwood, New Jersey with our youth group from church. We worked at the chapel on the boardwalk there, spent afternoons at the beach and shopping and topped off the week with a trip to a water park that was both wonderfully fun and ridiculously cheap.

Everything was golden sunshine and rainbows except for that one thunderstorm and then coming home.

I got here and it was back to the old grind, but with ten gallons, or at least, what feels like ten gallons, of water from that water park in my head. While at the water park I remember feeling the water rushing up my nose and getting stuck in my ears and sinuses. And I knew I should do my best to clear it all up ASAP.

Instead, I didn't even shower afterward. I hit the boardwalk for more fun.

Now, I am sitting here going on day three with a stuffed, swollen, itchy head. I sound like I have a cold and my center of balance is all off. I spent today with the baby while the family was out, trying to dry my ear canals and sinuses, moisturize my eyes and figure out how exactly, I was going to stop all the allergic reactions happening inside my head and across my skin.

I cleared my ears and one nostril.

I'll let you know how the rest pans out.

In the mean time, I can tell you about how coming back here to Monkey's hugs and love and Little Baby's snuggles was so nice. Baby D started rolling over in my absence. He also started having stranger anxiety towards E's mom, which T and I are thoroughly enjoying. She said he cries when she holds him and then we both laughed and laughed.

The other two kids missed me too and gave me a nice homecoming. Rumor is they didn't eat all week.

I believe it. I spent yesterday trying to get them back into routine.

I also spent yesterday unpacking my bags and washing sand out of everything I own. I almost washed my sheets after placing my bags on the bed made it all sandy, but as I was pulling one side of the fitted sheet up I realized I could shake it clean. So I did, and then I put it back on and went to bed.

And I'm about to go do that last thing again.