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My apologies for an alteration in the even calendar. I had to do a little re-scheduling as I’m on vacation this week and forgot some pictures at home that was needed for this original post PLUS today’s giveaway. So that will all be NEXT Monday and next Monday’s post is today.
Lastly, this is a very open and honest post. I’m not looking for sympathy, but maybe some support, tips, and prayers. Many of you asked for me to be more honest and open in past reader surveys. I’m happy to do so, especially because now more than ever I could use community support for parenting, marriage, and just life in general.
Life on Blogging Hiatus
In March, I was talking about my dad’s health condition. It got better around April and we all enjoyed a pretty lovely and busy summer.
In May, my husband and I took a road trip to Chattanooga (pictures next week) with our daughter and rented a cabin and just spent a few days in a different environment — plus I had never been there even though I live in Atlanta.
In June and July we had our wedding anniversary, my husband’s birthday and my birthday. We kind of went all out, because we wanted to.
Work was wonderful and stress was minimal. But I definitely felt a little itch to be back in the blogging world.
Where We Are Now
Well, stress is a little hard to deal with now.
My Dad
For starters, my dad’s health is no longer as good. His cancer spread from his kidney (in which the right one was removed in March) to his liver and lung. We took him to the hospital a few weeks ago and he was admitted to start a treatment plan with an oncologist.
Some of his tumors have grown in these weeks since and have been pressing on his spine and have now fractured two vertebrae. He is now being seen by a neurosurgeon and will have a surgery soon (hopefully next week). But the neurosurgeon also is needing to confirm exactly how he will do the surgery since the tumors are starting to eat away at the bone and those need to be rebuilt(?). Fortunately, nothing is an emergency right now. It will be a long recovery but we are getting ready.
My Marriage
Both my husband and I are in individual counseling just to cope and move forward. His has a lot to do with career because he needs a little guidance on figuring out his next career move, but we also are needing a little help as we are both are two highly stressed people with a nine month old. So, I’m definitely sleep deprived, emotional, and struggling. And he’s having a hard time figuring out how best to help. We love each other greatly but it’s getting harder and harder to feel connected.
My therapist works a lot with families so she has been an invaluable resource for me as a new mom and housewife.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
This week we are on vacation. I hate leaving my dad behind but I think for my sanity I need a vacation. Plus, I already asked off work so the last thing I need is to have one week off from work and stay home. My therapist is glad I made that decision and my parents are supportive. I’m hoping this will give my husband and I a great chance to recharge… even if we are chasing around a very fast crawler.
My Daughter
Well, right when we were giving up with sleep training (until I could fully devote energy to doing it), she miraculously started sleeping a lot better through the night.
Feeding her solids had a few set backs between my work schedule and a month long fit of random hives in which we never did figure out the cause but just played it safe and regressed backwards.
Now, we are successful with baby food stage 1 and 2 in vegetables only and cereal mixed with either breast milk or baby food. I attempted mashed banana, boiled carrot, cucumber, and deli meat unsuccessfully. This week I will be attempting mashed beans, deli meat again, and more variety with baby food.
She is a fast crawler who loves cables, electronics, and my potato masher. I give up on all official kid toys!
Me
Though I love my job and I love working nights, I’m really struggling with work-life balance. Especially because I barely sleep before I go to work (anxiety) and now I maybe get an hour of sleep when I get home from work. We are going to start getting a babysitter to at least help me sleep when I get home and to help so I’m not overusing my mom (who has enough on her plate as it is) and my husband who really should be a last resort right now.
Though I love blogging and don’t plan on going back on hiatus, do understand if there are posts that go up later than expected or I respond a little too late.
Happy Monday!
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