"And To All a Good Night"

Well it is our last night in Indianapolis and we head home tomorrow. I'm excited to sleep in my own bed and get Kailie back on a routine after the past 2 months of chaos. Kailie has graduated to being a world traveler, however, and it was nice to spend time with family. And we hit our 6 month mark of Jeff's deployment today. I only wish we could say we were halfway. A 12 month deploment is long-- 15 is just not fair. So I have to keep looking forward to Jeff's R&R in April, since that is the closest marker to work towards. I cannot even express to you how much I am looking forward to it. I will describe it as a painful longing.

Kailie's had her first cold all week, so my nights continue to be long. She has slept with me holding her slightly upright, because of her stuffy/runny nose-- I'm sure this is a familiar scene to you veteran moms out there. I know parenthood will continue to have challenges to go along with the joys, but being a "single mom" is absolutely exhausting. You give and give, and turn around and don't have anyone to take care of you. BUT....I bought myself some bling yesterday "from Jeff", to take the edge off of my exhaustion. Jeff bought himself a new XBox, so I got myself a ring. With his loving approval, of course. It is an emerald-cut aquamarine with tiny diamonds around it. Aquamarine is a stone of "good feelings" and a "divine and life-giving" color. For more info. look at http://www.gemstone.org/gem-by-gem/english/aquamarine.html

We had Christmas last night with my brother and his wife, since she's working at the hospital most of this week, and Kailie helped make if feel a little more Christmas-like. We gave up on wrapping the last of the gifts since we already knew what we bought at the mall together the day before, so at least Kailie and I had some wrapped gifts we brought with us to open. Kailie got some great new toys to play with and we still have a couple of things waiting at home to open, which is always fun. I am such a kid when it comes to presents. I don't care what it is; you could wrap up a pair of socks and I'd be happy. There's just something to be said about knowing someone thought of you and cares about you enough to wrap something up in pretty paper, no matter what it is. The other exciting part about gifts is when you see genuine gratitude and excitement on the face of someone you thought of. That's equally as fulfilling. So in the words of Santa Claus, or the spirit of Christmas shall we say, "Merry Christmas, and to all a good night".