Day 1 - Nightcap

Getting ready for bed.  Well, not quite yet, but I'm dreaming of going to bed soon.  At any rate, there are a couple of things I'd like to set straight before I close up shop.

First of all, I'd like to take a moment to appreciate all the thought and effort my wonderful wife put into preparing the house for her departure.  The last week she literally spent every available moment preparing food (which was subsequently put into cold storage), doing laundry, rearranging the furniture (!), and in general setting everything up so that I would have less trouble.  Thank you, Michal!

Secondly, my observant father noted (on fb) that one could get the impression from all my ramblings that the children who occupy this house are difficult to deal with.  Nowhere did I put forth such a notion, and I regret it if any such idea seemed to be insinuated at any point along the way.  I am aware that the precious souls God has given into my care and very kind and well-behaved beings.  Even though there are times that some of them seem to be deeply invested in making each other miserable, overall the children's behavior is not the crux of the challenge.  Moreover, and here I hope not to be perceived as boasting or bragging (and what is the difference between the two, in any case?), it is obvious to all those acquainted with my upbringing that I have inherited a rather "mellow" demeanor, and I defer to it as the cause of the children being generally better behaved when I'm the sole caretaker.  Rather, the difficulties I'm facing are the combination of the logistics and execution of all the household chores, intertwined with the kids' schedules and my own work issues.  And on top of all that, being flat broke!

This is what I look like at the end of the day.  Strained,
a little concerned about the immediate future, but all
in one piece.

Lastly, a quick update from the past couple of hours.  I had my first significant chat with Michal (over Skype) after all the kids were fast asleep.  She's acclimating okay, although she was caught by unseasonably cold weather and the Vooch is having trouble with her jetlag.  Reflecting on all the dark brooding and tired and helpless vibes I cast in the previous blog entries, it seems odd that when she asked me how things went, I nonchalantly replied that everything was fine, yes I had to do laundry and prepare a little food (neither of which should have been necessary after all her preparations), but everything went fine today.  Everything is going to be just fine.  I guess that's just how I felt.  At the end of the day, yes, it was a long day, and yes, I'm tired.  No, I don't really want to keep this up for another 27 days (well, actually, in just 20 days my parents will arrive and split the load with me), but I'll get through it just fine.  Is it fun?  No.  Is it worth the trouble?  Maybe.  Will everyone involved forget about the whole thing soon after it's over?  Probably.