TDY's are just awful

I love my life. I love my daughter, my husband and the job he does. Makes me proud everyday to call myself his wife. That being said, I have to take the time to curse the Air Force for taking my husband away so often, often when I need him most!

Last week, Joe went TDY from Wednesday to Friday, was home Saturday and Sunday, then left Monday again and is (was) due home today. I am so used to living this type of life...where my husband goes to work early and comes home at 3:30 to haphazardly mention he has to go TDY the next day for a few days. It is nothing out of the ordinary, but lately it is as if everything annoying that is suppose to happen occurs when he is gone!
One of the fun perks of living in New England is the amount of snow we get during the winter--and sometimes early spring--months. This winter was so snowy that roofs were collapsing all around the area from the amount of snow. Luckily we did not have our roof collapse, instead we had massive leaking throughout our house due to melting snow. Because we live on base, they are responsible for damage repair. So from February to March, here is how my days went; Joe leaves for TDY, finally get baby to take her morning nap, doorbell rings, dogs bark, baby is awake, I frantically run downstairs before random strangers let themselves into my house, industrial fans get placed in my kitchen to reduce moisture within the walls, baby naps for 2 minutes, I finally sit, doorbell rings, dogs bark, baby screams, I finally get baby to bed at night (11pm) I collapse into a deep sleep, baby decides she doesn't want to sleep past 5am, in two days Joe returns and asks how my time without him was, I cry and beg for sleep.

I often wonder how single moms do it. How do they take care of their baby, go to work, pay for day care, have little to no time for themselves yet still manage to not completely lose their minds. I have so much respect for single moms, moms with deployed spouses, moms with multiple children, moms in general!

This time around, Joe leaves for a TDY on Wednesday and at around 7am I hear my doorbell ring. I instantly feel my blood start to boil because I know exactly who is knocking....damn base housing maintenance. They come into my house, look around and tell me they will be coming the next day at 8am to start construction repairs on the ceilings and walls of my kitchen and upstairs bathroom. I about lost my mind at that moment. How the heck am I suppose to put Adrianna down for naps with the noise? Not to mention, I'm pretty sure there is asbestos in these old housing units. Lucky for me, Joe was able to take care of the situation from afar and there was no construction done. Instead they are coming back during the time we will be in FL for vacation. I can handle that. Adrianna is getting more and more difficult to keep up after, but she is also way more fun than when she was a newborn. She sleeps from 8pm to 7-7:30am (usually with no middle of the night wake-ups) and takes two naps, both 2 hours, during the day. With how much Adrianna sleeps you would think I have plenty of time to do chores around here, but it does not free up as much time as you'd think. I find myself tip toeing everywhere because Adrianna is an extremely light napper, so I end up cleaning up and doing laundry mostly while she is awake. As she becomes more mobile, she makes more of a mess with her toys. When it's time for bed I feed her, put her pj's on and read her a story...then it's ME time! I sit on the couch with a glass of water (not always water..wink wink), relax my shoulders and catch up on my DVR. It is much more difficult to be without Joe nowadays, so when huge storms started hitting the mid-west yesterday (again) I got nervous. I somehow knew he would have issues coming home today....I could sense it! His flight for today was cancelled and all flights were on standby status. The only confirmed flight was for tomorrow at 8:45am....I could cry when he told me this. I knew it was out of his control, and I thank god he is safe, but all of this resurfaced my hate of TDY's and their bad timing. Luckily he was able to, at last minute, grab a standby flight at 5:30pm which would land him at Logan by 10:30pm. He still has to work tomorrow, but I will be so glad when my extra pair of hands returns home to help me juggle our rambunctious, sneaky, but oh so fun 10 month old. Only to look forward to the next TDY and the craziness that will come along with it.