My husband returns from a 5-month deployment tonight and I am SO excited. Unfortunately his flight got delayed, and now he isnt landing until 10:00 PM. He was supposed to get in at 5:00 PM which would have worked perfectly. Our daughter is 5.5 months old (just 2 weeks old when he left!) and this is hours past her bedtime. Not to mention the fact that by the time we get home it'll be closer to 12:00 AM. We haven't gone out very much so she doesn't sleep well in her car seat being out and about. I've never kept her up more than like an hour past her bedtime before.

My dilemma: I could 1) take her with me so I can have that wonderful moment of greeting him with her in my arms. This risks not only her crying, not sleeping, and being miserable...but I feel like it sets her up to be out of sorts and possibly scared of him (she's on the shy/slow-to-warmup side). Or I could 2) Put her to sleep, ask my mom to stay with her (and have her miss his homecoming) and just pick him up without her. Then she could wake up the next day happy and meet him again then.

I feel like both options aren't ideal. I've been waiting for this day for so long and it's a bummer that it isn't going to be as I had hoped. Life in the military...I should have known it would change. Sigh.

Any thoughts or advice you all have would be so appreciated! Have you ever kept you LO's out this late?

*photo of her reading (or chewing on) her book full of his pictures...hoping she may recognize him!