"Mommy is sad!"

This is what Nikos said to me yesterday when I fake-cried after asking for a hug and being denied. He then proceeded to giggle and run off, but I was smiling at his little sentence (especially his use of the word "is"). Gosh, I love that kid!

What he should have said, though, was "Mommy is tired!" Exhausted, actually. Let me catch you up to speed. Saturday morning was soccer class, which went GREAT! Nikos is finally starting to warm up to the whole thing, and he participated in just about every activity (yay!). Once we got home, I nursed Maya, then we piled into the car and headed for Orange County. We spent the rest of the day at Gus' parents' house. Nikos had a total blast, especially when Pappou took him to the pet store and McDonald's. Maya had a great time, too, though that fell apart at bedtime.

I still don't know what exactly happened. Maybe she wasn't feeling well, or maybe it was because she was in a new environment, but our little sweetheart was a miserable wreck. She would not stay asleep, and would wake up in hysterics on a regular basis. At 10pm, I finally said goodnight to everyone (Nouno and Nouna were over for dinner) and brought Maya to bed with me. She slept fine after that, though I did not (too uncomfortable).

Sunday morning, we had breakfast with Yiayia and Pappou, then headed to see my parents on our way home. We stayed there until Nikos woke up from his marathon afternoon nap, and then got home just in time for dinner.

Monday, I had to be at work by 7:15 to hold parent-teacher conferences. My first one was at 7:30, and they were non-stop for most of the day (I held 15 conferences yesterday, out of 34 students!). I had six more today, including one parent who burst into tears because her daughter feels unloved and it couldn't be further from the truth. Have I mentioned how conferences can be emotionally draining? Not only did my conferences run late today, but I felt like I needed a drink when they were over!

So I mentioned that we were gone basically all weekend... Which means that I wasn't able to go grocery shopping. We had NO food today... The kicker was that we were out of milk, which is just not good with a toddler in the house. So after my hectic and emotionally taxing day, I ran home, nursed Maya, then loaded both kids into the car for a quick supermarket trip.

Luckily, the stars were aligned for us, and a "car-cart" was available. Nikos LOVES these carts, and will happily steer for an entire extended shopping trip. Hallelujah! Long story short, we were able to get the basics and still get home in time to cook dinner (barely!).

But yes. I am exhausted!!! Only three more days, and then I have the entire week off. WOOHOO!!