Respite Report

Tonight was respite care. The night where spouses of deployed soldiers can drop their kids off for a few hours of free babysitting. What a much needed break!

I only left the middle three kids. Tori is still nursing and I hate to leave her anywhere for very long. Ellie was desperate for some one-on-one time with me, so I decided to treat her tonight.

It was wonderful. We had a drink at Starbucks (which I never go to). Ellie felt so grown up.

We went shopping at Barnes and Noble, Fred Meyer, Petsmart and Old Navy. It was nice to be able to peruse the stores without having to keep Nick from grabbing everything we passed!!

We bought Andy an ipod. Yes we're becoming iNerds :) I am going to fill it with music so that he can ditch the CDs and have tunes with him in his office in Iraq.

We picked out beautiful matching summer dresses for the girls and a shirt for me. I thought that we could take a family picture this summer in the yard - minus Andy of course. :( I just hope that it gets warm enough to actually wear them. It has warmed up to the 20s, but it felt a bit weird to be shopping for warm weather clothing already.

Ellie talked me into walking around Petsmart. She decided that she might like a lizard of some sort. I don't know that I could handle that. I told her that she would have to do some research and write me a paper on what would be required to feed and care for them before I made any decision. I committed to nothing!! She does have her own room now though and so she could conceivably keep a pet in there and care for it on her own. She would not receive any help from me with a lizard though, I can tell you that! Maybe a kitten?

When I went to pick the kids up from respite care, the report from Nick's caregiver was terrific! She said that he was so well-mannered. He was very polite and played with all of the kids. No crying. No fighting. No tantrums. When he saw me, he simply said "Oh, Mom! You're back!" and happily got his coat on and returned the toys he had been playing with. My little boy is growing up!

So, I have to say that I am very grateful for the respite care that is offered to us each month. It's nice to have a few hours here and there to spend without all of the kids. I just wish that it could have been scheduled for tomorrow night. No babysitter = No Bunco night :(