Jim checked into school yesterday but they don’t have to come back until tomorrow night (holiday weekend). Having a couple extra days is wonderful but we’re both also ready for him to just start already!! This living in limbo is leaving us both almost drained.

My babe isn’t handling this all too well. We’ve talked about him leaving in front of her and to her. But she has such limited understanding both because of her age and because of her receptive-language delay. She starts crying heartbroken tears and then has frequent meltdowns for a couple hours, so we’ve not talked about Daddy leaving *too* much. We’re not sure how much she understands but we can tell she definitely senses SOMETHING big is about to happen. I’m so heart-sad for her. While she’s much more dependant on me than DH, she is definitely in love with her daddy.

Everything happening at once hasn’t helped matters. The move, being apart from DH for those few days, being in different places several nights in a row, having to sleep on the floor (the movers broke her bed but we at least have her mattress now), the running around we’ve had to do…its all piling up on her. Her meltdowns are more frequent. She’s reaching out for control over anything she can. She’s been more clingy. I’ve had more patience than I thought I would but I’m definitely reaching my limit, esp. when my own sleep has been more difficult lately. I usually handle her not sleeping through the night pretty well (lots of practice!!) but not lately.

Rumor has it that they’ve laxed things up quite a bit and they guys are getting frequent breaks during school now. It will be wonderful, if true, to see him more often than we originally expected but I’m not sure if it will make it harder on E. When we were back in WA, he’d come home between PT & work and then again for lunch. Sometimes it was SO tough dealing with her when he left b/c her little heart was so sad. It makes me worry about these breaks. I wouldn’t trade those times he was home as it really gave the two of them much-needed time to connect and the same will go for this coming year. Still, some days I’d wish that he wouldn’t come home so I didn’t have to deal with the aftermath and I’m sure the same will go for this next year.

I’ve done some searching and found a couple churches I want to check out. I know I need to get involved and get involved soon or I won’t do it. I’m also planning to go to PWOC on post this week. We’ve had so much going on these past two weeks but I don’t want to wait any longer or, like church, I don’t think I’ll end up getting involved until the next session (January) and I can’t wait that long to get a consistent time when I know I’ll have adult conversation! LOL Regular adult conversation and God are gonna’ be the keys to surviving!! I e-mailed the LLL leader for the area and they actually have a meeting this week and its very closeby, so that will be nice. Hopefully I can find out about any local playgroups while I’m there.

I certainly don’t WANT Jim to leave but I’m ready for it to happen. We need to find our groove and find some stability.

I hear my babe waking…

We’re back from Indiana and I feel SO refreshed!!  We really had a great visit.  And I got SLEEP!!  Each morning, when E would be up around 6, I would nurse her in bed and then my mom would come get her.  Most mornings I fell back asleep until my mom came in an hour or so later for me to nurse E.  Then we’d both snooze for an hour or so.  I got eight or more hours almost every night!!!  Now, if it had been in one stretch, I’d be even happier.  Still, eight or more hours of sleep is huge!

We spent a lot of time on the road–going to see Jim’s parents, going up to Greenwood to see my Dad, up to Indy to see my sister, back to Columbus to my Mom’s.  A little less time driving around would be nice but such is the way it goes.  What matters is that we have so many people who want to see us when we’re home.

Did some shopping for summer & fall clothes for E.  Hit a couple Once Upon a Child stores and a HUGE baby sale at a church near my sister’s house.  Also hit Kohl’s, JCPenney’s & Carter’s Outlet (20% off coupon good on sale & clearance merchandise–wooohooo!).  The OUaC prices were higher than at the OUaC near me so I didn’t get much.  Though, at one of the stores, they were having a 70% off clearance sale.  Between the two stores, I got about $100 worth of clothes, books in perfect condition and toys stilll in their factory-sealed boxes for $32.48!!  I did equally well at the baby sale at the church.  I also found good deals at the “regular” stores.  I think E is set for summer and some for the fall.  If she finally decides to grow out of 0-3 & 3-6 month clothing (after all, she IS almost seven months old now! LOL), I might have to buy a few more summer things.

Definitely a good trip home.  And a much needed one.  In the 24 hours I’ve been home, I’ve had three people tell me I was looking very tired before my trip & two people tell me I was starting to get a bit bitchy (said with love! LOL).  Guess I wasn’t holding it all in as well as I thought!!!

Amy–Again, Welcome back.  It sounds like your trip was much needed and that you thoroughly enjoyed it.  Glad you had such a good time.

Lisanne–SO glad you had fun and found such great deals!

Hopefully the last sleep post for awhile unless, by posting this, I’ve jinxed myself!! LOL

In an attempt to avoid resorting to crying-it-out, yesterday I decided to buy The No-Cry Sleep Solution. I really do NOT want to go down the CIO path. (I don’t judge those that use it. Heck, I did it for a nap Sunday and was prepared to do it yesterday. I’m just not convinced I could get through it at night, when E is most agitated.) I skimmed a couple chapters before we went to the bowling alley last night to see some friends but didn’t read anymore. E fell asleep on the ride home & I transferred her to the crib then (7:45). I had read enough to come across the logs (charts & graphs always catch my eye!), so I kept a night one. How did she sleep?

Night-waking Log
8:28 woke up crying, nursed for five minutes, fell asleep on her own lying in crib
4:16 woke up crying, nursed for twelve minutes, fell asleep at breast
5:18 woke up moving around, nursed for four minutes, fell asleep on her own lying in crib
8:22 woke up with a small “hey I’m awake” cry & playing in crib

Yes, that’s right. My daughter had an almost-SEVEN hour stretch!!!!!!!!!! The 8:28 feeding could probably have been prevented if she had nursed before she went to sleep. And I think the 5:18 wake-up could have been prevented if we hadn’ fallen asleep in her chair. She might have still woken up but I was right there to notice it & we were in a small space. If she had been in her crib, I really think she would have drifted right back to sleep. But since I was there, she decided to have a quick snack.

*I’ve* not slept this long in a year. March was when I had the worst of my morning sickness and I was up at least three times a night to throw up. And April brought a regular at-least-twice-a-night waking for the remainder of my pregnnancy. So I’m feeling inciredible!!

Not to jinx myself but if I knew months ago that all I needed to do was BUY the book, I would have! LOL On the more serious side, though, I really wish I had read this book before I gave birth. While the bedtime routine she talks about is something we’ve been doing since E was six weeks, there is a great deal of information in the book that would have been helpful from the get-go.

So I came upstairs at 10.  Needed to check my work mail & reply to a few personal e-mails.  My plan was then to hurry back downstairs to watch TV and maybe doze a bit before E gets up for her midnight feeding.  Well, it is 11:41 and I have yet to make it back downstairs!!  Story of my day.

Went to the commissary to pick up a couple things.  I allotted 15 minutes for the trip.  45 minutes later…

Went into the office to finish off the newsletter & get it printed so office staff could staple, fold, stuff & mail.  Planned to be out by one, at the latest.  Left at 5:30.  On the up-side, part of the reason I didn’t leave when I planned to was that E was having a great day back in the day care.  I was a little worried when I dropped her off as one of the ladies she doesn’t seem to like was there & the other one has only been there once.  I heard her yell, rather loduly, just twice–once when she decided she was finally ready to eat (I had just tried five minutes earlier–heaven forbid she eat when someone else suggests it!! LOL) and once, for just a few seconds, right before she dropped off to sleep (rather normal for her).  Tuesday I tried to put her in there but she would just have none of it.  Yesterday was pretty good too.

So I left at 5:30 to go to dinner with a friend from the office.  Planned to have her home by 7:00.  Dropped her off at 7:50.

Did bedtime routine with E, put her down and started reading.  Planned to read for 15 minutes.  50 minutes later…(good reason to go off-schedule though!)

I’m hoping tomorrow is a better day for staying on schedule!!  We have E’s pictures in the morning, I need to return a movie & pick another one up (I have eight rentals on a 10-rental card left and the card expires at the end of March), I need to mail a package to Jim and run to the library.  Tomorrow night I’m going over to a friend’s house (a fellow volunteer in my office) for the evening. She is babysitting the daughter of another volunteer.  She invited me over for dinner and to hang out.  It should be a nice evening.  I really like her but we haven’t spent any one-on-one time together.  I’m looking forward to that time.

I should go.  E should be up soon unless tonight is the night we decide to sleep all night long (HA!).  And I need to feed the cats, unload & load the dishwasher and get our things ready for tomorrow.

So I came upstairs at 10.  Needed to check my work mail & reply to a few personal e-mails.  My plan was then to hurry back downstairs to watch TV and maybe doze a bit before E gets up for her midnight feeding.  Well, it is 11:41 and I have yet to make it back downstairs!!  Story of my day.

Went to the commissary to pick up a couple things.  I allotted 15 minutes for the trip.  45 minutes later…

Went into the office to finish off the newsletter & get it printed so office staff could staple, fold, stuff & mail.  Planned to be out by one, at the latest.  Left at 5:30.  On the up-side, part of the reason I didn’t leave when I planned to was that E was having a great day back in the day care.  I was a little worried when I dropped her off as one of the ladies she doesn’t seem to like was there & the other one has only been there once.  I heard her yell, rather loduly, just twice–once when she decided she was finally ready to eat (I had just tried five minutes earlier–heaven forbid she eat when someone else suggests it!! LOL) and once, for just a few seconds, right before she dropped off to sleep (rather normal for her).  Tuesday I tried to put her in there but she would just have none of it.  Yesterday was pretty good too.

So I left at 5:30 to go to dinner with a friend from the office.  Planned to have her home by 7:00.  Dropped her off at 7:50.

Did bedtime routine with E, put her down and started reading.  Planned to read for 15 minutes.  50 minutes later…(good reason to go off-schedule though!)

I’m hoping tomorrow is a better day for staying on schedule!!  We have E’s pictures in the morning, I need to return a movie & pick another one up (I have eight rentals on a 10-rental card left and the card expires at the end of March), I need to mail a package to Jim and run to the library.  Tomorrow night I’m going over to a friend’s house (a fellow volunteer in my office) for the evening. She is babysitting the daughter of another volunteer.  She invited me over for dinner and to hang out.  It should be a nice evening.  I really like her but we haven’t spent any one-on-one time together.  I’m looking forward to that time.

I should go.  E should be up soon unless tonight is the night we decide to sleep all night long (HA!).  And I need to feed the cats, unload & load the dishwasher and get our things ready for tomorrow.