Yesterday was my first day back in classes... and here we are the next day, still a family of four! We moved here after I got accepted into grad school, so we grabbed a house that's a mile from my school - so I was able to stop back home between classes. My program is unusual in that I only attend classes on Mondays - for 2 1/2 hours a class, three classes on that day. Makes for a very long day but then I have the rest of the week free.

For the first several weeks of this school year, my husband is taking Mondays off to stay home with Jacob - then we're hiring this wonderful, grandmotherly-type woman to come here after that. So yesterday was the first day that Willem was home alone with Jacob for 3 hours, and then with both kids the rest of the day. And I'm sure there were stressful moments, but whenever I came home everyone seemed calm and un-traumatized! (You know you can tell if the baby's been screaming all day, because both baby and husband greet you at the door with looks on their faces like, "I can't believe you made me spend the day with that person!")

Such a relief, I was really worried that this would be an extra source of stress for us all rather than a positive thing. Who knows, it might even help my husband realize that I don't just sit on the couch eating bonbons all day.

Now everyone cross their fingers, toes, legs, and anything else you can cross for me... we're going to my in-laws for the weekend, which has the potential to be an incredibly difficult, trying experience. My mother-in-law is textbook passive-aggressive, and my father-in-law is just a plain old jerk. (The other day, we were talking about staying in hotels, and I said that we typically get rooms with 2 double beds, one for us and one for Emily - and his response was, "Wow, can you and Willem both fit on a double bed?" Now I know that neither of us is petite, but we're not THAT big!!! Putz.)

My goal is to get through the weekend without any permanent scars for myself or my kids. The in-laws, I'm not as concerned about.