Sleep!

I'm still amazed at how well Ben sleeps. He's not sleeping through the night, but he's only waking up once or twice a night, which is amazing. When he wakes up in the middle of the night, he eats and goes right back to sleep in his own bed. It's fantastic. Every once in a while he fusses when I put him back in bed and I have to get up once or twice to pop a pacifier in his mouth. He even sleeps a ton during the day, which has been nice. It allows me to get quite a bit done.

I hope he continues to sleep really well for the next couple days. We're getting all packed and ready to head in separate directions: Rob leaves for South Carolina (via a stop in Tennessee) on Friday. He has to report at CHOBLC on Sunday. I'm heading to Wisconsin to spend some time with my family. We'll be there for about three weeks, which is really weird. I went on a family vacation once for four weeks, but that was in 1991. It's been a while since I was away from home for longer than a week or so, and the longest Rob and I have ever been apart was his trip to Paraguay last summer: he was gone for 10-12 days. When the boys and I come home, we'll be here without 'daddy' for another 9 weeks or so.

We're trying to prepare Nat for his separation from Daddy, but I'm not sure that he really understands. He knows Daddy is going to "soldier school" and that when Daddy is gone we're going to talk to him on the phone and 'Skype.' We've talked about what we're going to do while Daddy is gone. He and Rob talk about the fact that he's going to to be the "man of the house" while dad is gone. A friend gave us an Elmo video about parents deploying with the military, and they watched it tonight. I think it's going to be very hard for him, though, which breaks my heart. I'm praying that the time with grandparents, aunt, uncles & cousins will distract him enough for the first couple weeks and make the transition easier.

So, again, it makes me really glad that Ben sleeps as well as he does, which will make it easier for me to devote time to fun activities with Nat during the day. We're planning to visit the NEW Zoo, Bay Beach, Heritage Hill, Legion Park, Lambeau Field, and all kinds of other Green Bay and DePere local haunts. We'll check off days on the calendar and enjoy spending time with family. I'm glad that I'm only returning to work part time: it would be insane to try to go back full-time with all the changes we're juggling.

We greatly appreciate your prayers for our family during the next couple months. We will no doubt lean heavily on Jesus, and know that our family, friends, and church family will be a great support network. Thanks to all of you who are already praying and have offered your support. We love you and appreciate you so much.