Vacanza, Finalmente!

Well, folks, I survived. The sleep regression/ wonder week is still going on, but it's very slowly improving. It turned out that I had the flu, so that's why I just couldn't deal with it all. So now that that miserable week is over, on to better things!

We are leaving tomorrow for our big summer vacation-a month in Italy! How are we swinging that, you ask? I'm on maternity leave, Paolo has two months of parental leave, and he's taking one in September, and AJ's new school is not starting until October. So what better to do than escape to Italy for a bit? We'll spend a couple weeks at my in-laws beach house in Jesolo, with a couple weeks in between in Puglia (in various cities). It'll be my first time to travel south of Rome, so I'm pretty excited. We're traveling by car, so hopefully we won't find too much traffic this time of year (post vacation season). 

I don't think I've mentioned it here yet, but I've applied for Italian citizenship. First of all, this is a dual citizenship; no, I am not giving up my American citizenship. Secondly, what are the benefits of this? I currently have to keep a residence permit, which is tied to my marriage to an EU citizen, in order to stay and work here in Germany. With EU citizenship, I will be granted the same rights as anyone else here (minus the right to vote, although I can then vote in Italy). Why Italian and not German citizenship, you may ask? In a nutshell, it's easier. For German citizenship, I must stay here another 4 years, and renounce my American citizenship. So that is a no go for me as I'm not willing/interested in doing that (although the double taxation on expats is pretty dumb). I can claim Italian citizenship through Paolo while living abroad after 3 years of marriage, which is halved once you have a kid. Then I just had to turn in some documents (officialized, with apostille and translations), and I have a date in November to swear these are true and then a waiting period of up to 2 years to receive my confirmation. Long process, but easy. And at the end, I will be an Italian American! 

It still sounds funny to me to even say, but hey, why not? Maybe then I will finally get around to changing my last name to fit in a little better with the other Italians (Powers somehow does not scream Italy). I suppose I could even run for political office there. Those guys have been voting in Trumps for years, may as well vote for an Alabama girl. Maybe my slogan will be, "Make the Romans great again" (patent pending). 

For now, I'm off to finish packing. Trying to fit all we need for a whole month is no easy feat, thanks to the stroller, car seats, etc. 

Ciao for now, 

Kathleen 

All of the Coffee

Today I feel like a failure. I feel defeated and frankly, just done. The past three weeks have been one of the most trying times of my life. Elisa is going through a sleep regression/growth spurt/wonder week/teething, or who really knows what. Does it even matter? My sweet angel, who was sleeping 5-6 hour stretches at two months is now waking up 7-10 times per night. Last week it started normalizing before taking a turn for the worse, and by that I mean, the worst. The past four nights I have slept maybe 3 hours per night.. but certainly not all in a row. As a result, I'm literally sick: nausea, headache, back pain, skin breaking out, etc. It doesn't seem to affect Elisa as far as her mood or daytime sleep behaviors.  It certainly doesn't affect my dearly beloved, who wakes up only about 10% of the time. I know it's stupid, but a man's ability to sleep through seemingly anything infuriates me.  

So that brings me to today.. where I have a total of zero energy to deal with these two children. Oh yeah, AJ is currently home for a few months before he starts a new daycare in October. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but here we are. I thought we would be going out and doing things all the time, which we did initially, until this mess started. Now the poor kid is stuck in the house with a baby and a mom too sick and tired to do anything. Thankfully, he is good at playing independently and can occupy himself when I just can't. 

I was already having feelings of not being able to distribute myself fairly, and not being able to spend nearly as much time with Elisa as I did with AJ, but now I'm not even able to enjoy the time I have with her. Something's got to give. I don't even have the energy to exercise, which I desperately need to do since I can't seem to shake the baby weight. 

Tonight Paolo is taking over the night shift for the first time. I had to ask for the favor (why aren't men more intuitive?), but at least he's helping me. I have the sinking feeling that even from the couch I'll hear Elisa fussing before Paolo does, but we shall see. I've ordered the "Merlin Magic Sleepsuit", which is like a weighted blanket suit thing for babies to transition from the swaddle, and based on the reviews, is a miracle worker. It's arriving Thursday, and honestly, all my hopes and dreams are riding on this sleepsuit. If it doesn't work, I don't know what to do, this is not sustainable. I mean, AJ was a horrific sleeper, but even he wasn't this bad as long as I was holding him. 

Sorry about the rambling rant, I am desperate and frustrated. I want to enjoy the summer with my babies but instead I'm a sick, fat, grumpy monster. If anyone has any advice on baby sleep (besides swaddling, white noise, co sleeping, which we've tried), I'm all ears. Now I'm heading to make some coffee. 

Ciao for now,

Kathleen