1. I love to see Alec working his way through a heap of mashed potato.
2. "Try to get some sleep," says Nick as he takes Alec off up to the park.
This morning, I caught myself passing the mirror. I look like an HP Lovecraft hero, haunted and hunted and hollow-eyed. A week of being awake when I want to be asleep has hit me hard.
I lie down, but I can't settle, and I still haven't slept when the boys get back. "I think I'm trying too hard to enjoy some me-time," I tell Nick -- but rather doubtfully. So I tidy the kitchen, take Alec into the garden to inspect our seedlings and then take him upstairs for his bath. It helps, because Alec makes me laugh, and because the garden is burgeoning after the sun and the rain.
3. A few months ago Sarah gave me a box of a dozen bath oils in vials, each one enough for a single bath. They are labelled with things like "Relax" and "Deep relax" and "Morning invigorate" and "Evening invigorate". I'm a bit cynical about aromatherapy -- but I always feel when I open the box that I'll find exactly what I need. I pour "Restore equilibrium" into a hot bath and climb in.
