Back at home!

I'm so relieved to be back at home again. The week at my brother's was extremely difficult. My niece and nephew were really good but my own little ones weren't. In fact this was their worst behaviour, I didn't even know they were capable of such behaviour for such a long time! It's obviously understandable; away from home for a long time, having to compete for their mum's attention with two new people, having the dog around etc. But even when I understand all that it's hard to cope with it. At some point during the week I was wondering why I was so tired and irritated all the time. Now I understand that I spent an entire week alone away from home with the two of them taking care of loads of other things as well. No wonder I got tired!

It was however a good experience too. I finally got to spend some more time with my niece and nephew, be a "real" aunt to them and get to know them a bit. I enjoyed little things in life such as a dish washer, a washing machine (as opposed to a laundrette) and an own sauna (as opposed to a weekly hour in the common sauna). I also realised several little things in which my parenting is different from that of my brother; there were many things I wouldn't allow or want my kids to do that seemed to be normal in their family.

Today I went to church all alone. My mum came over to take care of the kids. I felt I really needed some time for myself. It was great to be in the church and participate in everything without having to worry about Lucas crying, Luana running around, kids being hungry, Everaldo loosing his Bible etc. We had our first Sunday School today and there were just a few kids. Church seemed to be empty today as well; there were some other Christian events in Helsinki today so I guess some people went to them. Next Sunday it'll be Luana's birthday party in Sunday School; I hope more kids turn up!

Tomorrow we're back to normal life; Luana goes to the nursery and I have some laundry and grocery shopping ahead. It's just so good to be at home!!!