I feel like I have been gone a really long time, but it has only been 7-8 months (whenever the purge occurred)!  I am anxious to know if anyone else made their way back.  Also, I was hoping you could all do me a favor and remind me of your circumstances and if you had any prior names that I would know you by.  There are so many new names and situations, I feel like 7-8 months covered a lifetime!

My Dh lost his job in March 2017 and had a six months severance package.  He went back to work in the first week of September and I had the baby the second week of September.  He was pretty MIA for the new baby, as he now has an hour commute to work each way.  However, we are very blessed he found a job literally the week his severance package ran out.  Because he is gone so much, we have hired a live in nanny and we LOVE her.  She has been with us since January 2, 2018 and she is wonderful with my children.  I don't know how we survived so long without her.  She is 21 and from Chile.  (Let's call her V.)  She works 8:30 t0 5:30 and she makes all our dinners.  Every month I give her a $50 bonus and pay for extra things (like hombre hair style which cost $175) because she saves us to much money with her amazing cooking.  She studied culinary arts in Chile and is a fantastic cook.

My SD(18) is off at college AND (sigh) it is looking like she will be getting married this summer or late fall.  She will only be 19.  We have talked ourselves blue but she feels like this young man (23) is the ONE and they just don't want to wait.  She is doing only ok at school and if she plans on going to medical school, she needs to kick it into gear, or that dream will come crashing down to earth.  She is very smart but is very distracted by this young man.

My SS(16) is uninvolved.  He has nothing to do with us (other than live in my house and eat all my food).  He is a junior in high school and playing on the high school baseball team.  I rarely see him and he says not two words to me most days.  Most of our conversations revovle around me threatening to take away the car or his phone unless [insert class] assignment is turned in or the test//quiz he missed for baseball is taken.  He is exhausting, and it is quite funny, because he wears me out by saying and doing absolutely nothing.  He is just a fixture in the house than just takes and takes and takes and gives nothing back in return.  No drama.  No disrespect (most of the time).  Just nothing.  A blank piece of paper that absorbs all the happiness and joy in the house and fills it with an empty void.  I don't know how to explain it.  He is just hard.

My 10 year old is going through a hard time.  She had to change schools when my husband lost his job.  She was at a Preparatory School and now she is in public school.  It has been a hard adjustment for her.  Plus, puberty has started with her and she is more withdrawn  BUT, she is sweet and kind to others most of the time.  I really worry about her.  She is lonely in school and seems to have stopped wanting to play with her friends or do anything social.  I worry she is depressed.

My 7 year old is a handful.  She lives life loud and large.  She can be overwhelming but she is, at her core, a very happy child (if a very LOUD child).  I am so grateful for her sweet self and glad that she is mine.  She loves her baby sister and is tickled that the baby looks like her.

My 5 year old is also a handful.  He is VERY high functioning autistic.  He starts kindergarten next year and they want to mainstream him for most of the day and only pull him out of class for an hour with a resource teacher.  He is doing so well at pre-school that they just do not believe a more restrictive setting is in his best interest.  I am excited and very nervous for him. He is a happy and sweet kid too.

My baby is my joy.  She is just so good and happy.  If she'd learn to sleep through the night, I'd say she was absolutely perfect.  

Anways, that's the big update on my house.  I hope all is well with you guys and that you will remind me of who you all are and let me know if any of you made it back after the purge!