Three weeks seem like a long time, but with two little ones, the time has flown by. I'm completely exhausted and refusing to succumb to this cold I feel is coming on. I don't know how I would manage if my dear parents weren't nearby to lend a hand, prepare food, and make the occasional daycare run to pick up the girls.

Abby and Kayleigh have been fantastic and not at all difficult to handle on my own. Abby is so helpful and considerate, as always. Kayleigh is still quite the drama queen, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Time is the enemy, though. When Paul is here, we stagger our work schedules so that both of us get our hours in. However, when I'm on my own and need to handle drop off and pick up, I end up barely able to put in 40 hours of work in the office, so I'm forced to make up hours in the evenings. So, when we get home at 7pm, dinner is something quick and easy, then it's bath time, stories, then off to bed at 8pm.

After the girls are in bed, I feed the cats, do the litter boxes, go through the girls' bags from daycare, read their daily notes from teachers, sort through their work, go through mail, wash the dishes, tidy up the kitchen, call parents, check email, pack lunch for tomorrow, work, do timecard, shower, love up the kitties, check on the girls, then get ready for bed before midnight.

This week has been a little more crazy because charter school lotteries are coming up and schools are having their parent information sessions this week. I attended one this morning and will be going to another tomorrow night. While being encouraged by the positive impression I'm getting from these schools, I'm also discouraged by the fact that our chances for getting into these schools are determined by lottery. Fate has its way of working these things out, though.

We talk to Paul almost every day. Thanks to iPhone's fantastic new-to-iOS5 iMessage capability, we are able to "chat" whenever Paul has wifi access. Also, with the Skype app we are able to call each other at no cost as well! We have also played with FaceTime, but Skype is still a bit more familiar for us to use. On weekends we are able to Skype on the computer and the girls can video chat with Paul. Also, bless the iCloud and PhotoStream for making it possible for Paul to take pictures and have the photos automatically uploaded via PhotoStream and appear in my Aperture library. It sure doesn't feel like he's thousands of miles away!

Paul and Abby made a paper link chain with the days he will be gone written on each chain. Every night, Abby and I cut off a link, counting down the days to when Paul will return. Every few days, Abby has a breakdown because she misses daddy. Kayleigh, despite being as happy as can be when we're with her, has been "acting sick" at school, not participating in activities and being extra quiet and lethargic. We think this is her way of missing daddy.