Yesterday morning I woke up to that delightful child-retching-four-inches-from-my-face sound that all parents know and love, and I was just able to leap from the bed before Petra unloaded the contents of her stomach beside my pillow.  Needless to say, I was expecting a pretty rough day after that inauspicious start, but it ended up on the okay side.  Petra perked up pretty quickly and her stomach mostly settled down (though we did have some extra diaper duty, if you get my drift), and none of the rest of us have shown any signs of getting sick.  I’m thinking that she may just have had a bit too much junk food the night before, and the rumbly tummy was a result of that.  In any case, all’s well now, so onward and upward.

The other big excitement of the past couple of days is that Olof is cleaning his office!  I’ve admitted before that we’re a rather untidy lot all the way around, but for those of you who haven’t seen it, the office is easily the pièce de résistance of our collected jumble and clutter.  To be fair, though it is his office, Olof cannot be held entirely (or perhaps even mostly) responsible for the state of the place.  The bulk of his contribution is old newspapers and empty Coke bottles.  I have a share, too, in making the mess, leaving books and mail and teacups around, but I do pick up after myself, after a fashion.  The real culprits, of course, are the kids.  Most of the stuff in here belongs–or did at one time–to one of them.  If we weren’t contending with Lydia’s jewelry and school papers and discarded candy wrappers, Tage’s blocks and Matchbox cars and Legos, and Petra’s crayons and paper scraps and cast-off clothing, getting this place in order would be a much shorter ordeal.  Back in the day it took mere hours, rather than days, to set things to right in here.

So, there you have part of the reason I’ve been remiss in posting a holiday report.  I know my mom is anxiously awaiting pictures of the kids opening their presents, and I will get around to that soon, I promise.  Just now, though, I find I’m needing a nap.