Single parenthood

Monte has been traveling a lot for work. He was gone five days, then home for three, then gone for 11 days, and currently home for four before heading out on another 10-day trip. Thankfully, he was home for his birthday and our anniversary, and will be home for the important October birthdays as well. But his absence has been really difficult for us all.

I believe that Audrey had an ear infection the last week of September. So she was grouchy! She was waking up 5-6 times a night, just screaming. Tylenol is great, but I can't give it to her every hour. So I did not get a lot of sleep, which led to very cranky days. Add to that the stress of everyone missing Monte, and we had a really bad time of it.

I was able to get some things done around the house. OK, one thing - I finally made my roman shades for the kitchen and eating area. You know, what I had purchased supplies for 2.5 years ago. So those are sewn and hanging, although we've been having issues with the weight of the one in the eating area and need to adjust the eyelets. We can't raise them yet, so it's really dark in there. But I am happy with the final product.

Next on my list is Kira's Halloween costume. She will be Katara from Avatar, a show that the Blanns have recently gotten into. Since she actually has a Halloween event (at school), her costume is more important than my own children's, which I have decided not to do this year. Lack of time and little interest in spending money decided that for me.

I still have Audrey's party to plan. I seriously don't know when I will get everything done. There's not really a lot to do, but it's all at once, and I don't do well with that.

We're really enjoying our Indian Summer. Last night, we headed out to the beach to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, we all needed the restroom once we arrived, and they're closed for the season. So we decided to head out of the park, eat at KFC, use the bathroom, and return. This all took awhile, because the beach was packed. I have never seen so many people there in the off-season, with about half of the south lot full. And there was a ranger on duty, actually collecting money for day-users. I have never seen that in October. We didn't get as much time at the lake as we'd hoped, but we were able to see the sunset. We stayed until the ranger kicked everyone out. It was a gorgeous evening, and I'm glad that we had that time together at the beach, short as it was.

Back to the kiddos. They sure are demanding.