The LONGEST week in a LONG time

But I sure do love this baby...
Hanging in her 18month jammies from Grandma Rosonke...playing with her favorite toy! It sings "I look in the mirror & who do I see...I see sweet little wonderful me!!!"

Ugh...Clay has been gone now since Monday on a stint with the Navy...thankfully he's back tomorrow around 4pm if his flights go well. Between the rash, re-washing everything we own 4 times (it is worth it if it gets rid of this rash), weaning (and therefore cleaning a seemingly endless stream of bottles & bottle parts), feeding solids to a baby who doesn't want them (twice a day now) and surviving a sleep strike it has been a long week. Luckily I have great friends to talk to & hang out with so I don't become too much of a baby talking blubbering idiot. I'm just realizing now that a brief political conversation on Thursday night over pizza was the intellectual high point of my week...thanks Lawrence Family! Luci also had a great time on Thursday night. She seemed to have discovered Clara! Sweet, sweet Clara grinned & giggled as Luci pulled on her nose, cheeks, lips, and yanked out her hair! In fact, Luci was so enthralled with Clara that I managed to sneakily feed her the most solid food she's ever eaten in one sitting...an entire container of bananas!

It is funny....when Clay is gone from 2-4 days I'm totally fine...I get random stuff done...watch TV shows he doesn't like, and eat junk he doesn't eat...and before I know it he is back! But this week on Thursday afternoon I really started to lose it. I guess all of that stir craziness made me pretty productive though; I purchased 'the only other car seat you'll ever need' for Luci (the Radian 80...it is good until she's 80lbs!), and some Target bookshelves for her room that I had to drive half way across Houston to find. I also put said book shelves together! We went for a long walk this morning with hiking boots (breakin them in for the Grand Canyon in April) and have been hanging out this afternoon doing more laundry. If she ever goes to sleep...and therefore wakes up pleasant...we'll hit the park for our first adventure on the swings before dinner. Although it is getting late so maybe that will be our pass-the-time activity tomorrow waiting for Clay.

Remember in my 6 month notes when I said she was going down for naps without crying?!?!? HA! I should have known it was a ruse....our baby...sleep!?! NEVER! She was just gearing up for a sleep strike! Who wants to sleep when there is endless sitting up that can be done!?!?! It goes something like this...tired, yawning baby...sleep sack, paci, books, song...squirming begins before I even put her in the crib...immediately upon being put down on her back she screams...she rolls over...she sits up. She squeals in delight. I've given up trying to get her to lay back down. I just make sure she can see her paci & a spare, and then I leave. Then for the next 30 minutes she hangs out...talks...plays her mobile music (mobile friends had to go back the farm...otherwise she'd be yanking on them & eating them)...and then cries. And then HOWLS. And then WAILS. After 5 to 10 minutes of this wailing I start to fear a leg is stuck or her rash is back or her head has fallen off...and I go in...and she is sitting up...always in the same corner...SCREAMING. She doesn't even stop when I lay her down & give her a paci...both of which..btw...have inevitably been flung to the floor in some hard to spot place...maybe under the crib...maybe not...maybe in the curtains...maybe not. Yesterday the fun started at 5a...she screamed off & on (more on) until about 6:20a when I gave her a bottle that caused her to fall asleep. A brief 40 minutes later she was ready to start her day while I was ready to call it a day.

So...for many, many reasons...I can't wait for my love to return. I miss his handsome face, seeing the way he looks at the Pea & giggles in delight when she does something goofy, his desire to take on the much needed mission of childproofing our home, his randomly intellectual conversations, his more & more frequent angry outbursts disparaging Hilary, and our daily discussions of what in the world we are going to do if Continental merges with United...or if they don't...or if they do...or if they don't...