Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Solo Parenting

Last week, Tony got asked to go on a mission trip through his work. He was asked on Wednesday and he left on Saturday. It was so last minute because someone else had been lined up to go, but then had to back out. It's a huge honor to be asked to go on these trips. What his company is doing is amazing. They are literally helping thousands of people to hear that have never heard before in their life.

When Tony told me he was asked to go, I was already feeling a little worn down emotionally. I mean, we had been gone from home every weekend for three weekends in a row, one of which was our trip to Brookings. Being in limbo for so long over our decision to relocate had been hanging over our heads for awhile, and I was just feeling DONE with toddler whining. The idea of solo parenting for 6 days was overwhelming to say the least, especially with such short notice.

Then I think of the people I know that do this all the time, like Non Sequitur Chica, whose husband travels for work WEEKS at a time, all the time. And I know there's many who are single parents and do it all the time! And here I was, feeling overwhelmed with the thought of just 6 days.

As it turned out, my AMAZING Aunt D was able to come for a visit and stay with us for 3 of the 5 nights he's away. She arrived the day Tony left, and left this morning. Now I only have 2 nights and 2.5 days flying solo. I can do this!

My sister and her family were able to come for dinner and a visit on Saturday, the first day he was gone. That helped Ayden and Rylee be distracted enough not to miss their daddy too much. They got to play with their cousins and our house was in glorious chaos.

Family is everything.

Ayden and Rylee have asked for their daddy several times over the last few days, but have accepted that he will be gone for a few more days. Now that Aunt D has gone home, we'll see how bedtime goes tonight.

For myself, I can at least say that I feel somewhat mentally refreshed after having her visit for a few days, despite us staying up way too late talking every night. I'm not feeling quite as overwhelmed and am ready to tackle this solo parenting thing head on, even with the colds that the kids have managed to come down with!

I'm hoping for an early and easy bedtime tonight and that the next few days go by quickly!

10 comments:

  1. May the bedtime gods bestow their blessings on you the next few nights. :)

    Solo parenting is hard. Wishing you an uneventful rest of the week. And yay to your aunt for being so awesome! ❤️

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    1. She is pretty awesome, that is for sure!

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    2. Thank you ladies!! I know Amber is AWESOME and as a friend of her's, you yourself would be an awesome person as well!! We're all AWESOME!!!

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  2. I love Stacie's wish about the bedtime Gods and hope that you will have that blessing plus healthy children again after a hopefully good night's sleep!!! Good description of "glorious chaos" with all the cousins there!!!! It was as always a treat for me to visit with all of you. Like I told you, you have a "house of joy" and it's my favorite place to visit!!! Wish I could have stayed longer but you are a SUPER Mom and the next 2 days will go smoothly even if a bump or two happens, in the end, it's all smooth sailing as you have a home built with love!! Sending lots of love and hugs! Auntie

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    1. I love that you feel that we have a house of joy. I also love that coming here is as much a break for you, as it is for me! Thanks again, SO MUCH!

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  3. kick-ass job momma! =)
    E is leaving in a few weeks for three nights, I'm already both dreading it and looking forward to it - nights (after the kids go to bed) where I can watch what I want to on TV! and can hog the laptop to write lol

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    1. I admit, it is a little nice to have the evenings completely free to do whatever I want! lol. Shhh, don't tell the husbands that though!

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  4. I'm late to comment and I think that Tony may be coming home today, but I bet you rocked this! Having others help out- whether it is bringing over dinner or helping wrangle the kids to bed is super helpful so I'm glad that you had an extra set of hands.

    Hopefully in a few weeks I can no longer complain about CP traveling all of the time! :-)

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    1. We made it through the last few days by ourselves! So happy he is home. Kudos to you for doing this all the time! I think maybe I missed something though. Is CP getting a new job? He won't be traveling so much??? Wouldn't that be amazing!

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  5. I'm late this, and he's home now, but whew. I know people do it all the time. But I would totally have a breakdown if I had no help for 6 days. Especially staying at home all day with her already. No thank you. Sounds like you rocked it though!

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