I am still watching Logan 5 days a week in the afternoons. I have found this a whole lot more challenging than I ever anticipated. My schedule just seems so packed. When I originally set this up with Leah and Jason, I really just thought it wouldn't be that hard and that caring for Logan would be the same as caring for Ainsley. I was wrong in that assessment. Logan is a bit more fussier than Ainsley is but that isn't' really the problem. He's a baby and can't be blamed for that. The problem is that he is a baby and I already have a baby. One cries and the other is hungry. I can't hold them both at the same time. They are trying to go to sleep and they are both crying and keeping the other one awake. One of them always gets the short end of the stick and I feel like that is usually Ainsley since Logan is younger and it's hard to let someone else's kid cry. I feel responsible to make sure he is happy all the time because he's not mine. Taking care of both of them makes me not envy my friends who have twins. I don't know how you do it. In addition to that, the schedule is just rough. I drop Ainsley off at 7:15 and go to work. I meet them back at my house at 3:00 after having rushed home from work. Logan is here from then until anywhere from 5:30 to 7:15 depending on the day. In that time, I am on constant alert and usually don't have time to eat lunch or go to the bathroom. To say that my housework is behind is an understatement. Those of you who will be at my house anytime soon, please ignore it. We don't usually eat dinner until 8:30. I go to bed exhausted every night. And to top it all, my child still won't sleep through the night! So on Tuesday night when Jason picked Logan up, I told them that I need to cut my hours back to 3 days a week instead of 5. I am still concerned that I have hurt their feelings and that I have disappointed them but I had to do it in order to be a better mother, wife, and child care provider. So here is a picture of my sweet Logan playing in the exersaucer.
In addition to that, I have been going crazy at work. Remember this post. Well, the first part of that transition went great. Everyone loves the new system. The second part was to run commissions out of the new system. It's money we are paying out so it's important that they be right. I had the majority of that job done before this week and was ready to go, so I thought. Throughout this week my boss has thought of other scenarios that we didn't think of and I ended up re-writing my job 4 times. There were multiple times over the week that I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I actually had to have Ryan come home on Thursday afternoon to take care of the babies so that I could stay at work. After all of that stress, we ran on Thursday and my boss checked each one. With a few exceptions, everything worked perfectly and I got the "Great Job" from my boss. Phew. Now to clean up all the other stuff at work that has been put on hold while I worked on this.
Part 3 of this maddening week is my step father in law, Blu. He has CLL which is a form of Leukemia. Over the past few weeks he and my mother in law, Lonnie have been trying to decide the best treatment options for him as his disease has progressed to the next level. After much prayer and discussions, they decided to go to a cancer treatment center in Philadelphia. They have been up there this whole week while Blu has gotten his first rounds of chemo. To top that off, he turned 65 on Wednesday. Happy Birthday to Blu! Here is a picture of him with Ainsley over Christmas.
Part 4 and the worst part of my week started on Wednesday evening. We were getting Ainsley ready for bed when the phone rang. It was Ryan's 26 year old brother, Taylor, calling to tell us that he had been to the doctor and had been diagnosed with Testicular Cancer. They were doing surgery on Friday to remove the bad one. Are you kidding me? He's 26. He had a scan on Thursday that came up clear so we think that it hasn't spread yet but won't be able to fully confirm that until the blood work comes back next week. He had the surgery on Friday. Ryan, his dad (Bob), and his fiance (Jenny) were at the hospital. His mom was still in Philly with Blu and couldn't be there. The surgery went well but he is in a lot of pain now. The initial pathology didn't come back that good either. It's not the worst case scenario but it's not the best either. We have to wait for the full pathology to come back before we know what happens next. Our church and Bob's office have joined together to provide food for him for the next week. We are asking for anyone who prays to pray for Taylor and Jenny as they go through this next week. It's going to be difficult. Here's a face with a name on that too. This is another picture from Christmas.
So after all of that, I am relieved that the week is over. This little girl has been a wonderful distraction during it all. She's too cute not to be. Here's hoping next week will be better.
