It's Like High School

We have new downstairs neighbors, so Paddy no longer gets to play fetch in the house.


The saddest puppy.

I thought we should be neighborly and go over to introduce ourselves. Now I sort of wish we hadn't. The wife answered the door and she looked like she was harassed. It's totally understandable since we all know no one enjoys moving. Then she started talking, with a hint of a Valley Girl accent, which made her camouflage clothing all the more confusing to me. She also used eye-rolling like a form of punctuation. Like after I informed her that they were dogs in every apartment in our stairwell. Or that there were about 10 babies in our building (she asked if that 4:00 A.M. cry was originated by ours, which thankfully wasn't). I thought it was weird that she would roll her eyes at the baby info then immediately after volunteered to babysit my child.

Thank you kindly, but HELL NO, ma'am.

Worst of all was that she seemed to be bringing drama and old feuds to our previously semi-peaceful building. On-post housing is a requirement in Baumholder for married soldiers. So now I want you to picture lots of lonely spouses of deployed soldiers, who suddenly find themselves an ocean away from everything they know and love (for the first time ever for some of the younger ones). Now they have to deal with being both moms and dads to kids, who don't understand why their parents have to go away for 15 months, running the household, and dealing with daily hiccups without the help and support of their families and friends back home. Making new friends and maintaining those friendships in this environment shouldn't be difficult as they are all in the same boat, but unfortunately there's always DRAMA. You military spouses know what I'm talking about. It's not like we can get away from each other either since we have to live on top of one another, literally. Apparently, she and another set of new neighbors, who moved in just a few months ago, had some issues with each other at their last place of residence and looked to settle the score here.

Why does this concern me?

My Beloved unfortunately happens to be the building coordinator. Not by choice. We always dread a knock on our door after 10:00 P.M. They expect Wil to referee the arguments and calm the situation before the punches fly and the MPs are called. And since most of the husbands are gone, he would not go into their apartments without me. You see why I'm already exhausted waiting for this to blow? Once again, where is my order?!?

Fun with Papa

Her chariot/babysitter.

"Giddy up, Paddy!"

I woke up from a nap and saw that Wil had changed her into this. I'm sorry to say that you won't be seeing Chaster in an Auburn gear anytime soon, mainly because it's against my cheapskate principle to spend $27 on a onesie.

She looks pretty happy to be a Buckeye, doesn't she? The poor child will have to learn to live with disappointment. Ha. I really shouldn't talk smack because my beloved Auburn football team is not doing so hot this year.

It's never too early to booze the baby.

What's in your sippy cup, Chaster?

She's Doing Better

Yes, Kun Yai, you can stop pacing now and might want to take a nap. She's still pretty congested but there's no projectile vomiting to report tonight (hooray!). The poor child has developed a great dislike for the bulb syringe now and started to wince every time I come at her with it. Chaster missed her friend Christian's first birthday party today and we're a little bummed about that. Better be safe than sorry, and there will be plenty more time for future play dates since we have no idea when Wil will get his order. We were told "5-10 days" about two months ago. Gotta love the Army.

In other news, Chase finally sat up by herself today. I noticed that she was balancing herself pretty well on my lap while I checked my email this morning, so I sat her down with her new toy on the play mat and she just carried on like a pro. Sometimes she was so engrossed in the toy and perhaps forgot that she was actually sitting up and would tip over like a drunken sailor. I had been impatiently waiting for this but am now a little sad that she's really moving too quickly away from her brand new baby days. It got a little more bittersweet when I had to search her big tub of clothes for some 6-9 months stuffs. I'm still holding on to a few of her favorite 0-3 months onesies that I can't bare to put away just yet. It feels like I cry at least once a week now thinking about her going off to college. Wil just sort of shakes his head when he sees me doing this. I am going to be one of those uncool, clingy mothers, who completely lose it at the first day of kindergarten. I know I have gone Care Bear soft.

Isn't it ironic that now that my kid can sleep for a really long stretch, I suddenly find that I can't? It seems that my poor body has gotten accustomed to the sleep deprivation since the beginning of the pregnancy and I just can't get a good night sleep even if the baby does. Normally, she would wake up to nurse once before going back down for the second half of the usual 10-12 hours of sleep but I would be wide awake after that. This is how you keep getting updates from me at 2:00 A.M. I constantly find myself laying wide awake in the dark listening to the baby monitor and all the little sleep noises she makes. I read that a new mother's brain is so wired and sensitive to her baby's cry and sound, which is very helpful and reassuring, but how do I train my brain to not response to her thumb sucking noises? I swear I can hear it even without the monitor and with a thick concrete wall between us. I am far too paranoid to turn off the monitor, so that's not an option. With that said, I really should try to lay down again. And maybe I'll have a better luck catching the child showing off her new sitting skill on the camera tomorrow.

A Case of the Sniffles

I have been dreading the start of the school year and the inevitable spread of monstrous germs, which would have already mutated 5 times in a month thus rendering any kind of medicines useless. It never fails to happen every single year whether or not one has any school age children, because she bounds to know/work with/walk by someone who does. This year I have a very good reason to be paranoid and think that I have subconsciously pseudo quarantined the baby for it.

Well, apparently that one day, which I thought she might benefit from some fresh air, sunshine, and other human contact at the park since she was beginning to look like a wilted flower from being indoor for almost a whole week straight (hey, it was raining, too, but then again when isn't it raining in Germany?), did my kid in. She's not really sick yet but is getting pretty stuffy and uncomfortable. She had a rough night and we found ourselves sitting with the poor child in our steamy bathroom at midnight. I'm not ready for my baby to be sick. I'm not sure if I'll ever be. From now on she will be living in a sterilized bubble.

The only upside to this is the fact that she's too exhausted to put up a fight during her naps. I'm far too wired to nap with her and now always armed with a bottle of saline spray and a bulb syringe for a quick relief should she start having trouble breathing as she did last night. This really hurts me more.

LOUDER! I Can Barely Hear You SCREAM!!!

We've been letting Chaster baby cry herself to sleep when she wakes up at night. Up until last weekend, we would get up with her whenever she was up and pat her on the back until she fell back to sleep. She went from waking up once or twice a night at four months old to an average of 5-6 (and 8-9 on really bad nights) at five months and a half. I will say that's a very big step in the wrong direction. After re-reading "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" for the fourth time, mainly to ensure myself that I would not be ruining my kid's life by leaving her in her crib to cry, I sat on the couch in the living room listening to her scream for the next hour and a half until it was time for her to get up for the day. I think half of my hair went gray that day. Not to bore you with the rest of the story, but we are now on day 10 of the Cry It Out routine and on most days we see a significant improvement in her. That doesn't mean she's not being her stubborn self some nights, but things are definitely looking up. Looking back, why did I ever think that she would go to sleep when she could have our company whenever she wanted? Sorry, Baby Whisperer, but this is where we must part. Thanks for teaching us to stick to a structured routine. You really have been a life saver.

My New Favorite Blurry Picture

Smelly Schmelly

I made Japanese curry for dinner last night for the first time. I liked the way it tasted but not so much the smell and attempted to disguise the stink with the lovely aroma of some kind of lime pie scented candle. Now my house smells like a pungent pot of lime-curry concoction. The kid can't wake up fast enough from her nap so we can get out of the house for some fresh air. The sun is out and it's not raining. Looks like the bribe of my soul has finally paid off.