Tears and Tissues

I bid farewell to my husband at 3am this morning, trying so hard to be brave for his sake. He was so upset about the whole thing that I couldn't add to his woes. I locked up, went back to bed and cried and cried and cried some more. After a while, I realised that all this was achieving was a blocked nose, a puffy face and a bed full of snotty tissues. Still couldn't sleep so read a book with mobile clutched in grubby mitt, just in case it all fell through and Pete was on his way home - hurrah! The call didn't come but eventually sleep did and all too soon it was morning and I had to start the day on my own.
The children, who had been so downhearted about Pete's departure the day before, sprang out of bed and went off to play the guitar and pretend to be puppies. After attending to the normal daily tasks, it was off to skating and to explain to the first lot of people I saw that yes, he was finally away- gulp! I was very proud of my girls who managed to observe the minute's silence. Amy finally decided enough was enough, though with skating and came off ice 15 minutes into her lesson, complaining of the cold. I'm not going to fight her on this any longer, that's her skating career over I s'pose. Home again, lunch and off to drama with Alice. Back home and start tidying out the spare room - with Amy's help. Whilst putting away the Halloween decs I got covered in dust and dirt and yuk. Back out again to drama, sat in the car as I got there a bit early and when I finally went in, Alice was sitting with the teacher and had been finished for 20 mins - the other kids had mobiles to phone home but obviously Alice didn't. She was fine about it and so was the teacher, thank goodness.
Dinner was mushroom stuffed chicken, pots and veg. The kids had Yorkshires too and ate really well tonight. Lost my temper with them when Pete phoned, I couldn't make him out very well and they were skipping and dancing about and generally being kids - I feel rotten about it but I wasn't thinking about them I was being very selfish and just wanted to hear that he was okay. It was great to hear his voice and that everything is going so far so good. I hope this trip is everything he wants it to be. Skype is great.
Had another fall out with Caitlin at bathtime when she refused to get out of the bath - I hate having to shout at or punish the children. It breaks my heart. One chapter of Gobbolino and it was off to bed. Alice had another chapter of Fira and the Full Moon and they were all fast asleep in seconds. Have had to de-flea the whole house. Both me and Amy have mysterious bites and it is far too cold for midges. Just as I get rid of the nits, fleas arrive. I mean puke!!!
As part of my keep busy campaign I did the ironing, made tomorrow's lunch and am now doing this - it's past my bedtime now YAWN!! Watched some Entourage, Strictly (goodbye Heather) and A History Of Scotland, which was absolutlely fascinating. V. sleepy now which is good as I don't want to be in bed alone- boo!
However, tomorrow is another day, no more tears. Lots of work to do tomorrow.