7 Quick Takes: Sleep, Separation Anxiety, iPhone, Holiday Dinnerware

1. Yesterday was a good day. It should've been all sorts of crazy since it was our first day home after our trip to Nebraska, but it wasn't for some reason. One big factor, I suppose, was that I returned home with a suitcase full of clean laundry. Shouldn't every 33-year-old girl be so lucky to have parents who voluntarily wash her clothes during visits? I swear the minute a piece of clothing dropped to the floor, my mom and/or dad had it in the laundry. (Hello, amazing!) It saved me at least 24 hours in washing and folding laundry this week.

Speaking of laundry, Andi took the initiative to wash his own nasty sand-covered clothes after his work trip in Death Valley. I was dreading having two giant suitcases of laundry to plow through this week and instead, I have none. Nice!

2. We rolled right into our weekly routine yesterday with preschool for Tory. I worried she'd have trouble adjusting to school again after being absent for a week, but she did great. No tears! I'm crossing my fingers we've turned a corner in the separation anxiety she experienced there the first few weeks of school. I really enjoy the parent aspect of our ECFE class this year, and I'd be sad to lose it if I had to pull Tory from preschool. There's a great commodore amongst the parents this fall, and it's nice to have a weekly support system of peers. Tory seems to enjoy school these days (at least the last few sessions), so we'll continue to go for now.

I have a weekly babysitter scheduled on Wednesday mornings and unfortunately, Tory's separation anxiety rears its ugly head on those days. Whoo boy! This morning, for example, I had to pry a tearful Tory off my leg to get out the door. This is a new babysitter who started with us in September, and I am 100% confident Tory's meltdowns have nothing to do with the sitter. She's an older grandma-type person, and she's very sweet with the kids bringing them toys, books and puzzles to play together while she visits each week. Aden loves her, and squeals with delight when the babysitter walks in the door. Tory, on the other hand, bursts into hysterics. I don't know what to do with her! I have a lot of mommy guilt and anxiety as Wednesdays near, and it makes me question leaving for four hours a week in the first place. But then again, those four hours are my only alone time all week, especially with Andi's busy travel/work schedule lately. I need that time for my mental sanity. Gah. I hope Tory grows out of this phase soon. Anyone else's three-year-old have separation issues?      

3. I don't want to jinx things, but my kids adjusted fairly well to the end of Daylight Savings Time. Tory and Aden were in this sweet, sweet spot of (mostly) sleeping through the night and waking for the day around 7:30am. I cringed at the thought of DST messing with their sleep schedules but surprisingly, the adjustment hasn't been terrible. The first three days of this week, both kids automatically woke up an hour earlier in the morning (6:30am instead of 7:30am, which still isn't that bad) and today they both woke up at 7:30am. Seriously! Are these my kids?

4. Tory and Aden have (mostly) been sleeping through the night for the last month, which means I've finally started to get more sleep myself. Unfortunately, my body is trained to function on small amounts of sleep after waking up several times a night for the last 10ish months (and probably more if you factor in pregnancy and Tory's craptastic sleep record). I'm really struggling to stay asleep all night long and if one thing wakes me up (i.e.: a strange sound in the house; Tory having to use the bathroom), I cannot fall back asleep for the life of me. Some nights I'm awake for 2-3 hours. It stinks.

5. Andi came home from work last night and presented me with a brand new iPhone 6! Our contracts were up and he wanted to get us both onto a family plan, so he bought us new phones in the process. Wahoo! I'm not very demanding when it comes to the latest technology, so I'd been using the same iPhone 4s from my old working days two years ago. It worked fine, but the ringer was intermittent and I think Andi was tired of me never answering his calls. Ha ha :) The new iPhone 6 is crazy-fast compared to my old 4s; I didn't know what I was missing. It's got some updated features like a time lapse feature and podcasts, too. I'm excited.

6. It's happens every time: Whenever Andi works super long hours with a crazy travel schedule, he catches the vacation bug. Fine by me! We're kicking around the idea of taking a quick New Year's vacation sans kids, or maybe a longer week-long vacation with the kids and Andi's mom, Janie. Or, maybe we'll spend New Year's at the lake cabin and take a warm-weather vacation sometime in February. Decisions, decisions ...

7. I'm yearning for a holiday dinnerware set. I've wanted festive plates, bowls, and mugs to use all December long for several years now, and every year I tell myself to wait until after Christmas to find a set on sale. Except, it never happens. I search the stores for post-holiday deals, and every year the dinnerware sets are gone. Or, I see a set I like during the season with plates for $4.99/piece, but I can't make the justification. This year, though ... this is the year I will get my plate set. Here's a few I've been eyeing:

Winter's Wonder - Pier 1 Imports
I want holiday dinnerware that's festive and traditional ...

Bonjour Yuletide Garland - Target
Or, something timelessly classic ...

Silver Snowflake - Target

Or, maybe something clean and simple to let the food be the star of the show ...

I'm thinking about asking my in-laws to buy me a dinnerware set for an (early) Christmas present. It might be sad not to have much to open on Christmas Day, but I know these plates will make me so happy for holidays to come.