Our week

The girls and I spent our first full week together without Brian taking any days off work and without any family in town to help. We made it! And we actually had a lot of fun, with only a few moments throughout the week of chaos or tantrums (Ellie's, none from me!)
I probably shouldn't be quite so proud of the accomplishment of making it five days on my own with my two children, but I am. As I continue this transition to at-home work I'm finding the job can be more challenging than the one I used to spend 40+ hours for the newspaper. It can also be (and usually is) more rewarding, but in a different and less obvious way than a job where you get to see your work in print after it's completed. But I'm finding so much joy in teaching Ellie little things throughout each of our days together. I was beyond proud this week when she pointed to an "E" on Katie's bottle and said the name of the letter and that it was the one for her name, Ellie. I'd just worked on that lesson with her the day before but didn't know if any of it sunk in. Ellie is such a sponge, though, I shouldn't have doubted it. She pointed out the E in the grocery store sign to Brian when he took her there this morning, too. Smart girl. We're turning the world around us into a classroom but also having a lot fun, as it should be.