Quick Coming Home Post & Some Lists

We're back home. The trip was good, the boys behaved well and although I made one serious mistake during the last part of the night (I didn't realize that Linton needed to pee and he got all wet because he was in such a deep sleep), it was OK because thankfully I had a change of clothes. Next time I'll have him in a diaper (the problem is that he was not sitting, but laying down horizontally when this happened, on our way to Brazil he was dry all night, but he slept only in a sitting position). K picked us up in New York (JFK) and while the boys slept a good part of the way home, I didn't, so I'm quite tired. In spite of that, here are some lists for you:

Random Things I Missed:

- First, and foremost, my cell phone. I know that some people don't agree, but I think that nothing can quite replace the convenience and usefulness of a cell phone. My parents need to replace their phone, so we didn't have access to one in Brazil.

- My favorite tissue paper (those from Brazil, even this brand, crumbled quickly when wet). I tend to have a runny nose quite frequently, so I'm very particular about the tissue paper I use and I was upset that this time I forgot to bring a box or two of "the best tissue paper ever" (in my humble, but experienced nose opinion).

- Driving, particularly an automatic car (I haven't renewed my Brazilian driver's license and I didn't know whether it would be OK for me to drive with my American one, so I barely drove -- not that I'd have cared to). Well... I guess I didn't really miss driving that much ;-).

- My keyboard, particularly the key locations (it's slightly different in Brazil, thankfully not as radically different as in France --yikes!! [I had to deal with that for 39 days back in 1999 when I went to France to study the language]). My mom's keyboard is really old and hard, horrible to type. I'm buying her a keyboard next time I'm there, that's for sure.

- Our VOIP phone line and being able to call anyone as much as I want, including in Brazil.

Things I Didn't Even Know I'd Missed:

- Widescreen monitor -- I'll have my mom buy one here next time :-)

Things I Thankfully Didn't Have to Miss:

- High speed internet!!! My mom had DSL last year too, but this year even my computer illiterate aunt has it too. That made my stay in Brazil much more agreeable, although everyone rolled their eyes at how addicted to the computer/internet I am. And I only spent half an hour each day online, at most, at my aunt's house.

I'm sure there are other things I could add to these lists, but that's it for now.

P.S. We're off to the pediatrician right now, I'll let you know how it went.