Ups and Downs of the day

Yesterday was "one of those days" that things are just a bit off. Largely my fault for spending much of the night watching for F to pop onto Yahoo messenger so I could show him the webcam was up and running and see how that worked, all to no avail. K was up several times in the night and therefore I can't really call that sleep. Needless to say, I started the day with coffee, which I rarely do.

When he is home, F generally has to go work out each morning, then comes home for breakfast/coffee/shower, etc. before returning to work for the day. So when H came down and our very loud coffee pot was running, his face lit up and he asked, "Daddy's home?" It broke my heart to remind him that no, Daddy won't be home for lots of days and nights, just like Elmo's Daddy. His face fell a bit and then he moved on to whatever next captured his interest. My heart lingered on the moment all day, wondering how many more of those moments we'd experience over the coming months.

After naptime, we headed to the fabric store where we found Buzz Lightyear cloth for a Hawaiian style shirt for H, and Pablo/'Niqua (Backyardigans) cloth for an outfit for K. Not exactly what I was shopping for, but it made them happy, so why not? I also found material to make H a tie if I can't find one for Auntie A's wedding next month. I still can't believe its that close! (I also can't believe how unbelieveably difficult it is to find a children's tie in chocolate brown.)

I did get to talk to F on the phone from the terminal in Oki for about 10 minutes, and the kids got to say hello. H ratted me out for my many infractions, including "making" him leave the house without his brown sandals, and therefore making him wear his Buzz sandals, which were dirty with sand and he didn't want to wear them. This was delivered in one long run on sentence in H's less-than-clear speech pattern that left F asking, "huh?" It was cute that H wanted to pass along his story of the day to Daddy in his excited little voice, and worth the translation efforts on my part.

Lastly, great news in the extended family as Auntie S and Uncle M welcomed baby #4, named Elizabeth Rose yesterday afternoon. I don't have many details, but have heard she has a head full of dark hair. The kids are already smitten, and even T has accepted that he's got "another sister."