Monday, July 9, 2012

Last Night in Exile?

It's looking like this may be my last posting from our temporary home here in Rockville.  Our wonderful electrician has been working hard to push forward the city inspection that is required before the new meter that we need can be delivered and installed by the power company.  We were initially told, this morning, that Wednesday would be the likely date.  However, by this afternoon, an appointment was set for 9 am tomorrow morning.  If we can get the power company to come by the same day (which they are telling us should be do-able), we should have our power turned back on by tomorrow night.  And it will have taken only eleven days...  The plus-side is that we should definitely see a significant savings in our power bill for this month.

As I've mentioned before, my feelings about this are rather mixed.  Obviously, it's my home we're going back to, which we've only just begun to enjoy, and which is where I ultimately want to be.  But we've been at my parents' for so long now that it feels akin to a big upheaval to pack up and go back.  And I worry that that's exactly how it will feel for Abby.

I wonder what all of this has meant to her.  Does she think that we moved again, or does she somehow recognize that this has just been a special visit, albeit a long one?  She didn't seem to have any of the adjustment issues here that she experienced just after the move.  However, she does have a lot of people around here to distract her and keep her happy, which perhaps simply masked whatever anxieties she might be experiencing.  She did start waking up in the morning much earlier than usual for a couple of days last week, though that has since reset to normal, and she's woken up crying in the early hours of the last two mornings, but other than that, she's been pretty much her usual self.

She's definitely old enough now that she remembers the many people that she has meaningful relationships with, and asks about them in their absence.  Just today, she surprised me by identifying her Godmother in an old video that I showed her, who she has only met a few times, and last saw over a month ago.  I have yet to see tears accompany her recollection of anyone (except her Daddy- she will cry for him intermittently all day until she sees him), unless it was right after their departure.  However, I wonder if that will change now that she's spent so very much time here with Mima, Mei Mei and Granda.  Will she miss them terribly once she realizes that they are no longer a regular part of the household?  I think that I might.  Certainly, I will miss all of the incredible help that they have been able to provide Tom and me in caring for the children.

Here are some things that I think we all will miss:

Big family dinners.

Toys that are still somewhat of a novelty.

Extra free time (and time for showers, and sleep) as a result of shared responsibilities- well, maybe that's just Tom and me.

Story time with Mima, or Mei Mei, or Granda.


Griffin, the cat.  She's trying to give him a kiss, here.  She'll lean in close but not touch her lips to him, and say "mwa!"  I'm not sure if she dislikes the feel of his fur, or if she's retained the lessons she's learned about caution with my cat, who is unfortunately not great with kids.


The layout of the house.  She spends all day on the main floor (except for nap time in a bedroom upstairs), and can basically go where she pleases.  In our home, she goes back-and-forth between the playroom in the basement, her room upstairs (for quiet play in the morning), Michael's room upstairs (where she still naps in the crib there) and the main floor (for meals and baths).  And since she's not the greatest with stairs yet, going from floor-to-floor is always a big ordeal and requires careful monitoring by Mommy or Daddy.  Here she is, taking in the "ow-sigh" through the front screen door.


Mima and Granda's highchair.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of our Eddie Bauer wooden highchair at home, but it's not the best option for a baby who needs as much support to sit as little Michael does.  By the time that we started using it with Abby on a regular basis, she was a bit older than Michael is now, and a little chubbier.  So, there didn't seem to be nearly so much space all around her for her to fall into in all directions.  I solved most of that problem by slipping a small pillow behind Michael when he sits in it, but it's still not contoured to hold his little body nearly as well as the one my parents have, and he just looks so much more comfortable in it.

In these pictures, he's downright ecstatic.  But, happily, it's because I caught him in a really good mood.



He's been having a pretty good couple of days, following those bad ones.  Last night wasn't the greatest night sleep-wise, but I suspect that it's because his schedule was out-of-whack from having his nap interrupted when we took him to Mass with us (the microphone was set way too loud on the pulpit, so the priest woke him up when he began the Homily).  Still, he did manage approximately two hours to each shift, and though he took a good 45 minutes to be put down after his 2:00 am waking, that turned out to be our fault for forgetting his medicine.  I realized, in the midst of the fussing, crying, and fighting sleep, that he had not gotten his last dose of antacid.  Once he received it, he quickly calmed down. 

This evening at dinner, he gobbled up 3 tablespoons of rice cereal, mixed in about 1.5 oz of breastmilk.  Previous to this, I've been offering 2 tablespoons mixed in one oz.  Unfortunately, his schedule was a little weird again today, so he ended up going down around 7:30 pm, which was really too early, and woke up by 8:15 pm.  I was sort of at a loss as to what to do with him, since at that point it was a little late to try to keep him up.   However after cleaning out his nose of some congestion that appeared to be making him a little uncomfortable, and offering him a "snack" to calm him after, he appeared to be very sleepy, and back to bed he went.  There he has remained for the last hour, and what happens after I can only guess.

Let's hope that it's a good night for all of us.  Tomorrow might be a pretty busy day.