hey! vacation!

I left my document in various mailboxes. We went on vacation.

It was an actual proper vacation in which I only did the 3 little work things I absolutely had to do. I barely checked email. I responded to even less email. I took a poetry class (poor atrophied section of brain). Mom cooked dinners. Turing loved getting to go play with Nana and Grandpa, primarily by throwing rocks into the lake. It was like an actual vacation.

We rode the train to vacation and drove back in a PT Cruiser, which makes me a Woman of a Certain Age, I guess. But we're going to need two cars soon enough and having a wagon in which to haul two kids around seems like a really good idea. And for as much as I hate to admit it, having two cars has made this week substantially easier - I run errands while Trouble is at work, we don't need to schedule drop-offs and pick-ups and all that business. Easy. I hope our lifestyle switches back around to only using one car soon, though. (like, in 3 years)

The train worked out really well, despite some hassle getting settled into a very tiny space. I remember the west coast sleeper cars being a little roomier (and not having a toilet in the room), but I also wasn't pregnant when I rode them, so I may not know what I'm talking about. It was substantially easier to sleep on the train with Turing than it was to drive home for 12 hours in a car. I would definitely consider it again, but in a bigger room with two kids.

Since we were hauling all the stuff necessary to take a kid somewhere, we really didn't take very many toys. I giant stack of books, but only a couple balls, a wagon to pull, a bucket, a shovel. Turing did amazingly well for an entire week with just those things. He is all about rocks at the moment. Rocks and gravel. Maybe we should purge some of his other toys.

We returned this past weekend and this week has been lovely. I am not nearly as stressed, I am not irritable, I am rested. Even if I wake up at 4 in the morning and lay there for an hour or two (what is up with that? Pregnancy is weird), I am not angry at myself for being so damn inefficient. I am nearly done with my spring syllabus (for one class) including the reading list, which means I can formally propose it to the department before baby decides to make his appearance, which is really nice. If I have time after my dissertation is really done, then I'll spend some time reworking class #2. It has been really nice to work without pressure. Highly recommended.

I'm even relaxed enough to not get really upset over needing to have twice weekly fetal non-stress tests. Allow me to assure you that I'm annoyed - why do they think I have enough time to go to the doctor 4 times a week? Always on different days and in different locations? But, let's be honest, baby comes first. I went and bought myself some yarn for a knitting project this afternoon (how decadent, using some work time for play) and I'm hoping that I can knit during the non-stress tests.