Wow. It's been a week.

I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted. And the really amazing thing is that it's been a good week. I made it through a solid week - meltdown free! Wonders never cease!

I am feeling good about things.
- I cleaned up a lot of the house. Someone stopped by unexpectedly the other day and I was okay with letting them in the house. (We all have to overlook the dining room table, but even that isn't too bad...)
- My kids are wearing clean clothes. In fact, not once this week did I have to do a re-wash after leaving the clothes, wet and soggy, in the washer for 48 hours. I hate doing the re-washes - what a waste. Not to mention the stink.
- My kids got baths this last week on an every-other-night rotation. Sometimes every night. When it rains, it pours.
- I made dinner almost all week. Except Friday. We had pizza, and ice cream with sprinkles. I figured a celebration was in order. I made a new recipe tonight. Jake wouldn't even take one bite of it, but that's a whole other ball of wax.
- I got a few more of the memorial cards done.
- I "made" a website for the Kohler Wellness Program, and posted it tonight. Apparently my real-world skills haven't rusted out completely.
- I started a journal. I've been doing tons of meditation and prayer.
- I hitched up my big-girl britches last week and went out with a new friend who's been reading the blog - when she asked to meet me I panicked, but realized that it was a grave injustice not to meet someone who's that cool. So we went for coffee. I had a marvelous time.
- Rachel has been marching all over Kohler with her new pink cowgirl boots on. She looks wonderful. I get happy just watching her.

Our one major incident: as I was getting out of the shower on Saturday I noticed one of my pairs of glasses on the floor. Then I noticed the glasses only had one arm. Someone (Rachel said it was Jake, Jake just giggled and drooled) snapped the arm off my glasses. I had to put both of the kids in their rooms for 10 minutes so I could cool off without freaking out in from of them. And then I got it together, found the arm for my glasses, and let them out.

And that was the worst of it. Not bad, huh?

I miss Jim every day. The photographer that took our pregnancy pictures and our newborn pictures of Jake stopped by the other day and dropped off some pictures as a very generous gift. I loved the pictures. She gave me a collage of our maternity photos, and I can see the sparkle in Jim's eye. I remember when we had the pictures taken with Jake at a week old, she asked him if he'd like to take his shirt off and have his picture taken with the baby. Jim looked at her like she was nuts and said "With this rug? There's no way I'm taking my shirt off!" I laughed and laughed and laughed. I love the sparkle in his eye. I just love it.

Speaking of Jim's chest hair, he always threatened that he was going to shave the shape of a bear in his chest hair. When we first met I remember one of the girls at Dick's Sporting Goods (which is where Jim and I met) saying to me "Isn't he cute?" and I said "Well...he's awfully hairy." Now I think other guys just look...bald. It's all perspective.

Things aren't as fun here without Jim, but it seems that we're starting to learn the ropes. It's been my goal to at least get a handle on some of the basic tasks without freaking out and having to call my mom and dad for help. This week I did it!

Now if I could just get Jake to eat...