With my return to work this fall came a determination to keep my marriage and my kids at the top of my priority list, and, as such, I have not had the time I would like to devote to friendships and sharing life with others. This has been hard for me because I am a social person, but I really didn't want to have too much on the ol' proverbial plate this fall. Now that I have a better idea of what the work-life balance is looking like, I feel ready to start being more intentional about having people back into our home, especially for dinners. I find it so easy to just get sucked into our own little busy bubble and the thought of getting the house cleaned for company can feel insurmountable, but it's always worth it. 

Do you wish you entertained more? When you have people over for dinner, do you have a go-to knock-their-socks off meal you like to prepare? If so, do tell! I need some ideas.

My pride was a little bruised, since I initially thought, "I am often on my own with the kids anyways, while he works all those long hours...how rough could it be?!" but as you know, pride goeth before a fall and I had come completely unhinged one day after he was gone. Granted, there were extra-awful challenges thrown my way, like a FAMILY-WIDE case of head lice that left me in the most overwhelmed state of my parenting career thus far, tummy bugs, fevers, coughs, night terrors and generally crappy attitudes (mine and the kids). But still. It showed me that Steve is such an anchor for us and we were a boat adrift in a tsunami wave without him. 

I don't know about you, but I sometimes find marriage hard: two people with vastly different ideas about how life ought to be lived, trying their best to meet in the middle while throngs of their offspring bite at their ankles. It's easy to focus on ways your spouse could improve, and things they could do more of or better. But with Steve having been gone for so long, I have a new appreciation for all the things he does. And I don't want to forget that.

He's a good one. And he's home!

I know she looks angelic, but it's a disguise. Beneath that cherubic gaze of adoration lies a calculated plan to dissolve my sanity, and her weapon of choice is night terrors. Do you know much about night terrors? They are not nightmares or bad dreams, but happen when there's a disruption between the stages of sleep as a child moves through them. They are common, and are usually only a phase. My eldest daughter had them regularly for about three months when she was three years old, but hers were a lot easier to deal with: usually she would wake up with this weird, staggered cry, I would run and put her on the potty, she'd go pee and that seemed to break her out of the terror and she'd go right back to sleep, not remembering it the next day. But Karenna's experience with them has been vastly different: after about an hour of sleeping, she will suddenly wake up in a tantrum-like state. Her heart is racing, she is often drenched in sweat, and she is MAD. M-A-D. For no good reason. I go to console her and she kicks her legs madly, swings her arms to try and hit anything in her path, and is so loud she always wakes up her sisters. It takes her a long time of crying to snap out of the terror and back to reality, but then once she's back to reality she is still locked into the tantrum cycle and she has a hard time breaking free from that. So even once she's fully awake she can't stop crying. It's awful. And it wakes up the whole house. And it always happens between 8-11 pm, the one time of day I used to call "me time" where I could unwind and watch some trashy TV on the internet or make out with my husband. It's so emotionally draining, and every time I go to bed, my entire body is clenched tight with anxiety, wondering what sort of dreadful night we're going to have. 

I am going to take Karenna to see a naturopath about her sleep disruptions. I know night terrors can be common, but she has always been a poor sleeper and it only seems to be getting worse. It can't hurt to get some insight and maybe some help.

Have you dealt with night terrors? How long of a phase was it? Any tricks for making it through this trying time? Also, does anyone out there use melatonin for their kids? I am planning to ask the naturopath about it since there seems to be conflicting information about it online (shocking, I know). 

I just want to be able to sleep at night and have my kids do the same. Is that too much to ask? 

The day after he left we got hit with head lice (so gross and SO time-consuming and overwhelming to deal with), and now Karenna has a bad cold and high fever, along with the girls having generally grumpy attitudes, night terrors and wakings, and their lack of respect for me as I try to keep this house from falling apart.

To say the very least, we miss you, Steve!

I got lots of great presents: Starbucks gift cards, a Brie baker, a new housecoat, 89 pairs of cute underwear, and a gift certificate for Lululemon. I was most excited about the Lululemon gift and have been pining for some high-quality, good-fitting workout gear, so on boxing day the hubby and I loaded up the kids in the van and drove the hour to the nearest Lululemon store. As we neared the location, I saw a long line of people snaking around the building. There must have been close to 60 people outside, waiting for their turn to set foot in the store! I inquired about the wait time and was told it was going to be at least an hour. After pushing down my initial disappointment, I decided to just forget about it and come again at a later date. The store was just in a frenzy and I doubt there would have been adequate inventory to meet the demand that day. So, I came home empty-handed.

I used to do a lot of Boxing Day shopping, but it's lost its allure in recent years. I would rather go on a quieter day, take my time and not feel pressured to make impulse purchases.

What about you? Did you brave the crowds on Boxing Day to score some great deals? Or do you just hole up in your living room and enjoy your Christmas hangover? 

This year I brought homemade Cranberry Bliss Bars and while I don't want to toot my own horn, I think they put Starbucks' to shame. 

(Here's the recipe.)

Usually at the exchange there are a few duds, like fruit cake plops or something nasty like that, but I still love it because it's so nice to have a beautiful variety to offer guests, without the endless hours of preparing them all yourself.

Do you attend cookie exchanges? Love them or hate them?