Sunday, April 29, 2012

Half-way Point


I am at a half-way point right now. Six months ago my hubby packed his A bag, his B bag, his rucksack and a huge rolling bag and left. Well, actually, I dropped him off at his Army unit. And now we are half-way through his year-long deployment. They say the first half is the toughest and things will start moving faster from now on. I am not so sure. But I do hope so 'cause honestly, I'm kind of hitting the wall. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Things have been much easier than I imagined they'd be. Six months ago I was freaking out about issues like

1) how am I going to wake up at 6am every morning for a whole year? (I am not a morning person plus I work 'til 12am-1am every night)
2) what if we get snowed in this winter (I can't drive in the snow or ice)
3) what if M has to go to an emergency room in the middle of the night? What if I have to go to an emergency room in the middle of the night? (who's going to stay with M since we have no relatives in the area; I was a bit freaked out about medical stuff 'cause I just had a surgery a few days before Chris's deployment)
4) what if the car breaks down big time (it's a 2002 KIA with almost 160K on it)
5) what if I get really sick, like with a stomach virus, and can't take care of M for a few days? (this did happen about a year ago when both Chris and I caught a stomach bug from M and got sick at the same time)
6) what if... you name it, I was worried about it.

Well, none of these problems proved to be all that scary

1) every evening I set up a snack and water for M so he has something to eat when he wakes up. He then (mostly) quietly plays with his toys for an hour or so and I get some extra sleep. Oh, and I moved his bedtime to 8pm instead of 7pm, so he wakes up a bit later now too.
2) the winter was very mild, no snow at all
3) hasn't happened yet and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Plus if something doesn't feel quite right, I immediately make an appointment with a doctor. Call me paranoid, but I figure, better be safe than sorry.
4) I took the car to the mechanic for some repairs, none too serious. The guy assured me that the car is in good shape. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one as well.
5) Haven't gotten sick so far (tfu-tfu-tfu) and keeping fingers crossed, of course. Plus I have an emergency supply of healthy-ish snacks for M to feed himself for a day or so if I'm so sick I can't fix something for him.

Yet other issues, rather unexpected ones, popped up and I have to deal with them every single day. This is all mundane, domestic stuff, nothing extraordinary. Yet, as the Russian saying goes капля камень точит (little strokes fell great oaks). 

Some of it comes from my choice of homeschooling M and the fact that he still has a major separation anxiety. He absolutely does not stay with anyone other than me for any length of time. Another source of issues is me constantly trying to do more than just keeping things together. I keep re-arranging furniture, re-organizing toy storage, etc. OCD, maybe? My latest project is clearing our backyard of all the weeds (our backyard is overgrown with English ivy, poison ivy, and Virginia creeper, making for an interesting challenge). 

I've had lots of offers of help (mostly babysitting) from friends and I am so grateful!. But unfortunately I can't take you up on these offers (see above). Instead, let's just have lots of playdates! So here's how you can help me get through my mid-way slump:

1. Tell me I'm doing a great job :)
2. Chat with M for a few minutes when you stop by. It makes him very happy to have someone other than me to talk to about garbage trucks, Star Wars, and robots.
3. Don't ask me to babysit your kids, please-please (I have a hard time saying "no", but honestly, I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment). If you do ask, please-please, let's keep it to like an hour or so. 
4. Come over for tea, playdates, or just to say "hello". Or come stay at our place for a few days if you are not local. I'm always happy to have guests.
5. If you can't stop by, give me a buzz once in a while or e-mail me. Send me your latest pictures too!
6. If you can, take pix of me and M doing stuff together and don't forget to e-mail them to me (as much time as I spend with M this year, 24/7 really, I have like almost no pictures of the two of us).

We'll continue doing ok or even better than ok as we've been doing so far. We only have a few months left. Not even 6 months. How come? Well, you see, we came up with this awesome counting system - we don't count the current month (so on May 1st we don't count the entire May); we don't count the last month; and we don't count the month when Chris is supposed to come down here for a couple of weeks for R&R. So really, we only have 3 months left! Hooray!!!

3 comments:

  1. You're doing a great job, Yelena! Очень хорошо! Stay strong, my friend. You will make it through; I know at times it may seem like it isn't ever going to change, but the day will come!

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  2. I have a kid who has had major seperation anxiety for most of her short 7 years and I totally, completely understand. Hang in there, you're on the downhill side of the mountain! :)

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  3. You are doing a great job! I hope none of your worries comes true, and you will see your husband soon. Hе вешай нос!

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