Wow, that was fast

Aw, my boys. After Breezy Point we returned home to our hectic life. Matt's still without employment, but spends most days at his mom's working on an online class while I'm home with the boy. This is mostly good because when he is here, he is... liberal with his... use of space. Unbelievably, every minute I turn around he seems to be right there. Days with both of us at home makes our once spacious apartment shrink considerably.

Also, seems like we're all always in the kitchen at once. This is my domain. Everybody OUT! Except, Vin's there playing with his little pans and wooden spoons mimicking me and Matt is usually doing the dishes or in some other manner trying to help out.

Add to this that I'm sort of trying to start a new business with my chef friend Vanessa. I say sort of since it's not fully a business yet, more of a small operation out of my teeny kitchen. We're working on making gourmet goodies, spice blends, flavored sugars and that sort of thing. I've been working like mad to get packaging found, thankful for my graphic designer friend Andy for whipping up the amazing labels and collateral and mixing and remixing our ideas into new flavors that will hopefully, one day sell.

This is while still doing the food blogging, occasionally writing here and trying to write for City Pages. Also, there's the not-so-good napping that my boy does which is sporadic. Add to that he still only sleeps through the night about once a week.

I'm tired. I'm usually running around exhausted, but it had reached almost fever pitch last week. I needed a chance to break away. Thankfully, I'm rich with wonderful friends (if not money) and Eric was also in need of a short break. We got a fantastic hotel deal and got away to Duluth last weekend. (While there I dropped off some of my new products - the Ginger Kitchen stuff at the Snow Goose in Fitger's where my mom and sister work. Adorable store if you've never been.)

We went out to eat, watching the snow storm whip Lake Superior into a frenzy - I idiotically tried to get down to the water and take pictures, which resulted in me still picking sand out of my ears and eyebrows. Best of all I slept. I snuggled into a fluffy, clean bed and zonked out for 9 hours each night. No one was hanging off of me or crying or leaving behind debris that I had to deal with. No poop. It was so nice.

When I arrived home yesterday I still wasn't ready. I love my boys, but I would not have minded another night away. Poor Matt. The circles under his eyes told me I'd arrived home not a moment too soon. He and Vin had also had a ton of fun - playing in the snow, reading, snuggling - it was great, but he was tired.

I reached down for my baby boy and he looked at me with a smile and flicker of recognition; happiness before running past me.

Then the most amazing thing happened. He started talking. Well, sort of. He dropped his cup and said, "Uh oh!" He said, "Mama." He said, "No - nose - no." He answered questions. "Do you want dinner?" "No." Okay, that wasn't new, but I could see that he was understanding the words and the intent. He would then take that information and respond. I know it's nothing revolutionary, but still it's so remarkable to see these leaps in cognition! He's a GENIUS!

Matt left us for a bit to take a break. Vince and I donned our pj's and settled into the couch. His new love of reading is remarkable. He clearly has favorite books and is starting to show a strong preference for all things Curious George, unless of course it's the Belly Button Book by Sandra Boynton. He's mad for it and loves it when I bellow, "BELLY BUTTON!" We sat and read through the new books that I'd gotten him and he patted me on the shoulder. "Mama."