In the past few weeks

Work has gotten crazy. I closed a deal for one of our largest clients today, and started diligence for their next deal. And the circle of billing continues. I'm still enjoying it, except for the late nights. I don't have the physical stamina that I used to, since I'm still nursing and X is not consistently sleeping through the night (and the nights he does, K gets up).

The boys have both developed colds, plus conjunctivitis for K. Luckily they both managed to stay in school all week, thanks to a well-timed prescription from my doctor brother.

We traveled to NY for X's mukhebhat. This is a Bengali ceremony that is supposed to be the first time the baby eats solid food. (In practice, not really.) "Mukh" means "mouth" and "bhat" means "rice". A tray of different types of food is set in front of the baby, and the uncle feeds the baby rice. Then the baby gets to choose from another tray an item that is supposed to represent his future calling. Traditionally this tray holds a pen (representing learning), a book (religion), dirt (agriculture), and money (money), plus whatever else the family wants to add. We had a magnifying glass, a calculator, and my mom took off her gold necklace and tossed it on the tray at the last minute. X immediately grabbed the gold coins and necklace, and was startled at the resounding cheer. Now we know which one we should be nice to, so he'll take care of us in our old age. K picked the dirt and the pen, so he'll be of no use to us.

JW has begun campaign season. Politics is his passion, and every year from September through November he has nonstop strategy meetings and campaign events. He's been plotting a way to try to do it full-time.

My parents came for the weekend and took care of the kids while JW and I went on our annual getaway. We had planned to go the weekend of our actual anniversary in August, but we got hurricaned out. It was supposed to rain all weekend on Cape Cod, but we got lucky with just a few drizzles. We walked on the beach out to the lighthouse, hiked in the beech forest, visited art galleries and bought a painting for K's room, had a cocktail in a window-walled bar at sunset, and ate delicious South African food while slightly drunk. (And returned to our room at the B&B in between these activities to pump.) It was lovely to be together without the kids for 24 hours.

The kids got their school pictures taken. Most are similar to all the other pictures of the two of them: photogenic K looks like he could be a child model, while X looks skeptical and a little confused. But there is one picture where X is actually smiling! We are getting so many copies of that one.

K started soccer. It's going well. He likes the drills more than the scrimmage. Two of the kids are much bigger and more experienced than the others, and they each score six goals while all the other four-year olds are hopelessly chasing after the ball and running off the field for hugs and snacks.

(I would provide illustrations for each of these anecdotes, except our photos are all on JW's computer. Don't you think in this day and age, it should be brainless to access our pictures from anywhere?)

We have had so many plumbing issues over the past few months that I joined our plumber's "Gold Club." They came out today to look at a leak, and they're coming back next week to put in a new faucet. I knew the clawfoot tub would be trouble.

Partly because of the plumbing issues, I ended up working from home for a few days this week. It was kind of awesome. We're not really supposed to work from home during normal working hours, but I forwarded my phone and nobody even noticed. I got to skip the commute, wear sweats, and watch TV while I pumped, and I still billed plenty of hours. I'm more efficient at home. I think it's because I'm so conscious of all the other things I could be doing that I want to finish my work as quickly as possible. At work I feel like I'm stuck in my office no matter what, so it doesn't matter as much whether I'm being industrious or procrastinating. It's not like if I finish early I can go home.

And now we're preparing for the three-day weekend. For the past couple of years, Columbus Day has been a beautiful respite from work and a chance to bond with K. We'll see what it's like this year with both kids.