Remember Remember

I feel like I’ve been letting a lot of time go between entries these days. Not surprising considering I can only write once Pippa’s asleep, but it’s not like she’s a bad sleeper. Sometimes I just don’t feel like writing, I guess, even when I have something to say. However, I’ve been feeling much more productive lately, so it seems like a good time to update.

Pippa is currently asleep in her crib with the pillows from my bed blocking off the open side so she’s not tempted to wander off if she wakes up without me there.  About a week ago I woke up and rolled over to check on her, only to find that she was right behind me with the top of her head against my back. Little weirdo. A few days later, I was out here and I heard her fussing a bit on the monitor but I figured she would roll over and go back to sleep. Since she was still fussing a few minutes later, I went in to check on her only to find her halfway across my bed. Good thing I went in, huh? We’ve been working on "the safe way" to get off the bed, but it definitely hasn’t clicked yet.

I told Alan all of this and it’s got him lobbying against the sidecar set-up. It was never my intention to keep this arrangement as long as some families do, but I don’t feel ready to put the side up on the crib and move her away from the bed yet. I like that she can crawl into bed with me if she feels like she needs to. And obviously sometimes she needs to. I’ve started sleeping on the side of the bed closer to her crib so she can’t roll around the bed while I’m asleep, and I think that once Alan’s home, we’ll both be taking up all the bed space. Of course, the other side of it is that Alan hasn’t been here. It’s not a sleeping arrangement he can really appreciate or understand. Cassie says to give him some time – sleeping arrangements can change quite a lot after a deployment apparently.

As of right now, Alan should be home around Thanksgiving. He still hasn’t found out how many points he needs for promotion, but hopefully he’ll know tomorrow. Then he can be a sergeant when he comes home.

We’re going to Connecticut for Christmas. The thought is making me slightly miserable, to be honest. I haven’t bought the tickets yet, but everybody knows we’re coming. I don’t think Alan could get away with not going after being deployed and I don’t think I could get away with keeping Pippa here for her first Christmas. Still, I’m dreading it. It’s not that it’s a horrible prospect, but I just want to stay home and be comfortable and cozy and HOME. Maybe I should just fly out with Alan on Christmas Eve and make it a fairly short trip. The current plan is that I should fly with Pippa on the 19th (before Alan’s leave starts) since airfare after his leave begins is almost double. Then he would fly out on Christmas Eve and we’d go home together on January 3rd. Christmas Eve is looking more and more appealing, even though I’m not really keen on Pippa’s first day there being so chaotic. ::sigh:: Like I said, I just want to stay home.

I’ve started planning out this year’s NaNoWriMo novel. I figure I’ll be able to get in plenty of writing in the time after Pippa goes to bed, although I’ll probably have a few late nights here and there. I’ve been planning for a retelling of Androcles and the Lion with a Beauty and the Beast element of romance. Honestly, the story is a bit hokey, so I’m going to throw in some violence, revenge, cruelty, and romance. It’ll be fun. And I’ve already learned quite a bit about Berber culture, since it’s set in North Africa during the Roman Empire.

I finished my Halloween costume this past week, even though I had to do the skirt twice because it wouldn’t hang right the first time around. Fortunately the material was 50% when I bought more and I only bought half of what I did the first time around anyway. I never found a good wig, so I went to Sally’s and bought braiding hair that’s relatively close to my hair color to make a headband. My hair is pretty long, so it’s good enough. I’ll get to wear the costume on Saturday for the squadron Halloween party. Fortunately, I even found a good recipe for the potluck. It’s not easy to find main dish/side dish recipes when Halloween is in the air. There’s going to be tons of sweets and I don’t really want to contribute. So I’m making sausage rolls from two recipes from my Harry Potter cookbook. I’ll get the ingredients tomorrow. And now that my sewing stuff is out of the way, I’ve managed to gain some ground on the housekeeping. Maybe because I’ve been consciously trying to spend less money and more time at home, I’ve been more motivated to make sure it’s clean. It doesn’t hurt that Pippa is so mobile now. Nothing like a baby on the move to make you really want to be sure the floor is clean. The house isn’t 100% baby proofed, but it’s close.

Anyway, I have relaxing to do.

~Liz