Back at home in St Louis after a month away, 1200 miles in my brother's old Jeep, three states, one funeral, several birthday celebrations, a graduation party, family gatherings, and uncountable other activities. The girls and I survived flying without assistance between Syracuse, Chicago, and St Louis last night, arriving around 10 PM. We did need to rely on the kindness of strangers to exit the plane, however, as I had two girls who both fell asleep about 5 minutes before landing. One of those girls (guess which one) absolutely refused to wake up, responding to my yelling, poking, and other attempts by curling up in a ball on the floor of the plane. So another passenger carried off our backpack while I carried both girls and Mariel's "pack yack" off and then deposited them in the stroller.
Our first day home involved lots of coffee on my part, unpacking, cleaning, cooking, napping (sadly, only Noella got in on that one) a walk with two girls and the dogs (who seem pretty happy to see us), more cleaning and cooking, laundry, lots of dress up clothes for Mariel, Noella scaling the steps to the kitchen without a second thought, a playdate with our neigbors, and more laundry. Now I am online, and suddenly wondering why I am not sleeping instead! Tomorrow, babyproofing.