She wakes up at about 2:40 a.m. for the second morning in a
row. She thinks to herself, again, that she needs to try to stay up later that
night so she can sleep later the next morning. Getting about six hours of sleep
is normal for her, but waking up so early takes a toll on the body and mind.
Her oldest son, who is six, wakes up at 3:00 a.m. and sneakes
into her bedroom, scaring her. She whispers to him to meet her in the TV room
and as she slips on some yoga pants, he runs quietly down the hallway that is
beautifully made of Philippino wood, down the only two stairs in the house, and
into the room currently being used for the TV. She grabs her magazines and
laptop and after closing her bedroom door to allow her husband more time to
rest, meets her son who has already started a movie.
At or around 3:30 a.m. her middle child awakens crying
desperately. She runs to him to try to let her husband sleep and find out what
is wrong. She picks him up and hugs him instead of trying to comfort him in
bed. She also notices that her youngest child is moving around in the tent that
is being used as his bed until a crib can be delivered to her house. She brings
the two of them into the room with the TV and closes the door again.
After the first movie finishes, she starts a second one for
the children. After what feels like quite a while she opens the door and goes
to the kitchen to find the sippy cups for the two younger children, who she
affectionately calls “the littles.” She notices on the oven clock that it’s
5:27 and after a few more minutes in the TV room sneaks into her bedroom and
finds her husband awake.
After checking with the husband she showers in the bathroom
that the littles share because she still doesn’t have a shower rod in her bathroom
and the first bathroom she used wasn’t working out.
She joins her family in the kitchen for breakfast and helps
her husband organize a few things before going outside to sweep some of the
leaves, flowers, and grass off the short driveway and out of the car port. She
notices that though it’s not a hot yet, the humidity is causing sweating for
her and the littles who have joined her outside.
After her husband leaves for work she spends her time
occupying the kids and playing referee.
Everyone in the house is getting to be crabby
and by 9:00 a.m. she decides that the littles are both going down for a morning
nap instead of just the youngest. Then after the oldest child is disappointed
that his new friend can’t play he starts crying, and can’t stop, she decides
that a morning nap is a good idea for him as well.
She reads her magazine and waits for the doorbell to ring
indicating that someone is there with a crib or there to install cable and
internet. She decides that she’s going to fall asleep if she continues this way
and gets up to write her blog. One of the men from the cable company calls to
indicate that they’re on the way and will be there in thirty minutes; ten to
fifteen minutes later they arrive.
As she writes, she realizes that in five minutes she needs
to wake up the kids, and thinks that this break has been too short but if she
lets them sleep long in the morning, then they can’t sleep long in the
afternoon. She knows that she wants them to sleep long in the afternoon, so she
can get a bit of a nap as well.
The doorbell rings. She runs to it excitedly, eager to see
if it’s the crib she’s been waiting for, or if it’s the cable guys. It’s the
cable guys! She shows them where she wants internet and cable and lets them
work. After 10 minutes the men from the embassy come with a crib, a fifth chair
for the kitchen table, and a microwave.
The cable guys can’t get the TV to work in the living room.
They tell her to call customer service about that. They get the TV to work in
the room the TV was originally in. She patiently waits for the internet to
start working.
The internet starts working two and a half hours after they
arrive at the house and she rejoices unabashedly and starts connecting with
family and friends again.
After feeding the kids lunch and putting the kids to sleep,
she cleans up and lays down to read. Her oldest son decides that he doesn’t
want to nap and lies to her and says that he already has. They go to the TV
room together and she uses the internet again while he watches the Disney
channel, or some think like that.
The rest of her afternoon is a bit of a blur because she’s
so happy to have internet and TV that she’s not counting every minute any more.
After her husband gets home from work she gets ready to go
shopping with her middle child. She has asked her friend from DC if she can
borrow her friend’s driver and car to go to the store. She loads the middle
child’s car seat and the child into the car and sets off for the first time
since arriving at Post.
She’s proud of herself for the trip, but is overwhelmed by
the amount of people that are there. She goes home later than she wanted, but
quickly feeds her son his sandwich and chips and puts him to bed. She enjoys
the internet more while her husband is enjoying the massage in their bedroom.
When he comes into the office with the massage drunk look, she heads to the
bedroom in anticipation of a massage to help relieve stress from the last three
months of travel and transition.
She enjoys the best massage she’s ever had. She considers
this thoroughly as to not say it lightly and after considering it for quite a
while, during and after the massage, she can honestly say that it’s the best
massage she’s ever had. She schedules the masseuse once a week.
She enjoys some reading and falls asleep, two hours later
than the previous two nights.
