The Anti-Baby Whisperer

I kid, I kid…sort of :) Actually, De-I gave himself this nickname in response to N's lack of interest in anyone lacking in the boobage department. He was a much bigger hit with the older ones who delighted in showing him the many ways in which one can play Minecraft. This trip also signaled the true teenage-ness of C, who spent much of her time out with friends rather than hanging with grandpa. Dad may not have been on baby duty or cleaned my house, but he did bring me a big, fat check to help us pay off our TDY rent since we still haven't been reimbursed a single penny. All I can say is thank god I have parents who are in a position to help us out. If I've learned anything from this experience it's that anyone going on a medevac should take the full advance available to them. I did not thinking it was better to take out just what I thought I would need just in case this baby came early (you're only authorized per diem for 45 days before the baby is born and 45 days after - should the baby come early the funding stops). Being that this is baby #4, I thought the likelihood of an early arrival was pretty good, and I didn't want to put us in the position of taking out more money than we could expect to get back. Instead I put us in the position of not being able to pay our landlady because never in a million years did I think it would take more than 2 months to get paid back (and believe me, we're not getting paid any time soon - I called Charleston last week and they hadn't even assigned our 2nd voucher to an auditor yet). 

Anywho, this is a post about g-pa and g-child bonding, so let's leave the bureaucratic bitching behind, shall we? I am loving how my kids are getting to know my parents all over again through the use of technology. My kids are not big skype-ers, they're not even interested in talking to me over Skype when I'm away from home, so I have fretted over their distance from my family. We've always been scattered to the winds (save for that 1 year in Albuquerque), but we've always been able to visit each other at least a few times a year. Being sooo far away has meant only seeing each other once a year, which makes it hard to maintain a close relationship. Since we've come back to the US, J has taken to texting with my parents, developing a deep relationship based on animal noises and rainbow farts. It's really quite touching. Even more touching was watching them snuggle on our rocker while texting each other and then sharing their phones to read each others texts. Such is bonding in the modern age!