Last night, I was putting Son the Younger to bed, and I leaned him to give him a kiss. Usually, he ducks and hides under the covers when I do so. This time, he grabbed me around the neck and hugged me tightly to him, and wouldn't let go for a long time, and just kept saying "I love you, mommy" over and over again. It nearly brought me to tears.

I have been traveling way too much lately. I just got back from one trip on Friday, and will be heading out on another trip the Monday after Thanksgiving. At least for Thanksgiving we'll be traveling as a family. I'm exhausted and crabby and keep yelling at everyone. I just need to keep telling myself that all this travel will be good for my career in the long run, even though it really sucks right now.

I want to delegate to someone else the task of telling my mom that this Christmas, I'm not going any trips, guilt trips included. That I'm just going to stay home and sleep and spend time with my husband and kids and try to recover some sanity. Somehow, I don't see that happening, though.