I deeeed it!

(the title is said in my best Cal voice)

**this was written on the Monday after Eddie got home (the 24th), I just forgot to hit publish....duh**

I survived the solo week: phew!  It is a lot to have your husband gone from Sunday to Sunday... I realize that many spouses travel for work or are abroad serving overseas.   I have a HUGE appreciation to the spouses that are left at home with the kids!

My parents were super helpful for the first part of the week before they left to go out of town, so that was great, and I have got to say- I am blessed with some incredible friends.

The day to day stuff is easy... it gets tricky around dinner time.  The dinner/bath/bed time gets challenging because I just do not have enough hands to go around.  I would be feeding Andy, cooking Cal's dinner and the dog would be sitting at his water bowl crying because it was empty and then Cal would start screaming because his food wasn't ready, which would startle Andy and make him start crying and then spitting his food out, etc etc etc.  And bath time, I would bathe them both together, with Andy in his whale tub.  When the bath was done, I would get Andy out and wrapped in a towel and snuggled up in a little seat, then I would finish Cal quickly and then get him out and dried off and then he would take off running (naked) while I would dress Andy.  Then I would tackle Cal into his jammies.  Once they were both dressed, Cal would want to run around a bit more, but Andy was ready to nurse and go to bed...so I would have to find something for Cal to do to keep him out of Andy's room where he would inevitably end up coming in a yelling...because he can...! Again, I say PHEW!

For the most part, the week went really well.  Thursday was a TOUGH day (I sat in my closet and cried.  Literally.), but I had a sitter come Thursday night and I threw my arms around her neck when she showed up--ha! 


Highs and Lows from the week:

HIGHS:

-- we had some amazingly gorgeous weather this week (I think it only rained once) so we got to play outside a lot

-- INCREDIBLE friends:
         -a sweet friend brought me a bottle of wine and a chocolate bar to get me through the week (thanks, ange!)
         -other friends came over for a playdate...with WINE!
         -the same friend as above had us over for a playdate...with WINE! (thanks, sall)
         - another friend offered to come over and pick up Cal to go over to their house.  We ended up all going over there to play since they have a baby Andy's age.  It was great to just let everyone play.

-- Friday was the absolute perfect day.  We went to the gym, went to the park, and then went to this cute little place for lunch: a hotdog and some ice cream!  They have a really cool train table there so Cal was in heaven!

-- The gym! I joined a gym that has a great little childcare room and it was so nice to go and have a workout while the kids got to play.  It just gave us all a break from each other, and it gave me time to workout!  I went just about every day while Eddie was gone.

-- Taking the boys to visit my grandmother in the nursing home.  She got to hold both of them and loved listening to Cal chat up a storm!

LOWS:

--Thursday kicked my rear.  Cal had school, Andy didn't take his morning nap, we picked Cal up from school and he was cranky.  He didn't take a nap, and was screaming so loudly it kept waking up Andy, who was hysterically crying because he was so exhausted.  I would go in and get Andy calm and asleep and then Cal would start screaming again and wake up Andy.  Each time it happened, Andy became more and more hysterical and it took longer and longer to get him back down again. Cal got naked a few times and kept asking to go on the potty. I took him, and he peed, but then refused to let me put the diaper back on him.  He kicked me really hard when I tried, so I pinned down his legs and explained (very calmly, surprisingly) that we do not kick.  While I was explaining this to him, he hauled off and slapped me across the face.  I put him in his crib and walked to my closet where I sat down to cry.  It was classic.

-- The terrible twos: Cal is at a difficult age, there is no denying it.  If you ask him to do something, he almost always replies NO.  To everything.  It's exhausting.  It's trying. It's NO fun (pun intended)

--Andy started NOT sleeping through the night for whatever reason...! ACK.  This was when I  needed the sleep the most!  He would wake up around 5 or so and not want to go back down...odd...

SO anyway, I DEEEEED it.  I survived and it was fine.  For those of you who read this who are single parents, you can roll your eyes at me and think I am crazy.  Or for those of you who do it on your own day in, day out anyway, high five to you.  Now I know I can do it... if I have to!