The last few days

Picking tomatoes
Originally uploaded by fylliska.

Pumpkins
Originally uploaded by fylliska.

The last few days have been kind of busy. Tuesday we did have a wonderful day at our dacha! The weather was nice, and we brought in the tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, more beans, some beets, some carrots, and the last of the broccoli. Jaan and Raia were thrilled to be allowed to help. Usually we haven't let them just go wild with picking, because that's exactly what they do: pick wildly.

While we were there, we found out that my visa invitation letter had been refused again, though. So, very early Wednesday morning, instead of going back for another dacha day, Will headed off to Moscow to meet with the visa consultant we have worked with in the past. (More about that later.) Here in Kovrov, the children and I had a wonderful day, mostly outside around our apartment building. The weather was just incredibly beautiful! I had fun catching up with the neighbors, who I haven't seen much lately. We discovered that the only oak tree in our neighborhood is dropping acorns, so Jaan and Raia spent most of their time collecting and playing with them. I don't know that they had seen acorns before.

I was thrilled to have enough energy to keep up with the children all day. That night things went bad, though. Will couldn't get back from Moscow on his usual train, because of schedule changes and train wires being down somewhere. He ended up on a bus to Vladimir. I fell asleep right away here (that's a rare treat these days!), but after only an hour, Raia was up screaming. I finally figured out that her problem was one of those horrible, gross, but harmless childhood things. . . pinworms. All that dirt eating over the summer did have an effect after all. Will got to Vladimir too late to continue on to Kovrov by bus or train, but with me calling him several times, obviously upset and Raia screaming in the background, he took a taxi all the way from there. We were so glad to see him! He got everyone calmed down (Jaan was up, too, by then) and in bed by 2:00 or so.

Since then we've just been in survival mode: doing tons of laundry, resting, medicating. . . . Jaan has also come down with a terrible nighttime cough; he's happy and healthy during the day, but he "barks" all night long.

So, pray for sleep in this family! With pregnancy, worms, and coughing, poor Will seems to be the normal one in a group of insomniacs. And he's the one who handles all nighttime emergencies, so he's been up, too. We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, though. Everyone is starting to feel better already. Today is another lovely fall day, and I'm headed outside for some fresh air with the children.