Sarah, I have no idea how you are doing what you are doing. My nieces were here today and I love them so much. I hadn't seen the older one in months because she's in kindergarten and I'm not well enough to drive down on weekends to see her. We took them to a trick or treat event at a park-thing (one of those things only found in Appalachia and too weird to describe without giving out my precise location ) and just played/hung out/did nails/etc and it wore me completely out. The 2 year old refused to nap despite having not slept well last night and well, she's 2. Independence is big and so is her willingness to plop down on the ground and cry. The 5 year old plays nicely by herself but wants frequent input and extra attention that I can barely give. Both of them aren't calling me Aunt Jen anymore which breaks my heart, more than I probably should care but right now I do; I feel like I lost that because of being too unwell to be with them more lately. (Our side of the family uses Aunt; the other side doesn't and there are a lot more of them than me). It was HARD and I knew that after supper was cleaned up I would be coming home and will spend some time with them tomorrow and then back to life wishing I could see them more.

I truly can't imagine doing that all day every day and more (because I was never really alone; my mom was there all the time). To be fair the Halloween thing was a big, loud crowded thing that looked like half the county was in line and there was a lot of jostling and the like so that didn't help me since I'm very sensitive to that but still, the kids were so much harder than they were when I was feeling better and didn't want to run away and curl up in bed. And I feel so bad that I feel that way because I do love them both, so much. I have missed them daily and wanted nothing but to get to see my girls and then I did and it was so much activity. And this isn't even close to what you do. So I'm amazed that you are able to keep up. I don't think I could.