We're not happy campers around here.
Daddy is gone this week...
and someone especially didn't want him to go.
We miss him terribly already.
Airports are fun at first to a 2yr old--watching a bunch of the little planes take off before her daddy's big plane arrived.
But when we had to say goodbye, it wasn't a happy moment...for any of us.
I walked out of the airport with a toddler clinging to my left hand, a heavy baby car seat in my right hand, a jam-packed diaper bag hanging over my arm, and I immediately felt the weight of responsibility on my shoulders.
I was on my own now. Everything was up to me.
Since Mya was born, Terry and I have never been away from each other for this long. It's only a week, his first business trip away from us, but all of a sudden it's just me. Everything falls on my shoulders, and my shoulders alone this week.
Baby wakes up in the middle of the night? There's no turn-taking...I'll be getting up. Early morning risers after a rough night? No sleeping in while Terry takes the kids downstairs. It's me getting up. There will be no one to let me know that we're down to our last cloth diaper, or to help collect the garbage and haul the bins out to the curb on Thursday night. There will be no one to look after the kids while dinner dishes are being cleaned up. There will be no one to feed the dog or let her out, or take her for a walk or clean up after she eats too many sticks and throws up all over my floor (true story). There will be no one to soap up Mya in the bathtub while I soap up the squirming, slippery baby beside her. There will be no one to dry off one soaking wet body, while I dry off the other. There will be no one to put one kid to bed while I put the other down. There will be no break.
So to my wonderful neighbours, if you find me curled up on my front porch covered in baby spit up and peanut butter, waving a white flag, you'll know why.
Heck, I even missed a full half hour of high quality television last night (The Bachelorette) since no one was here to remind me it was Monday night and my show was on. There's just no getting back those precious lost 30 minutes.
So to all of you single moms/dads out there...I bow down to you. This parenting gig isn't easy, and it's even harder doing it on your own.
I even have the luxury of family close by who I can call this week on a whim and they'd be over here in a split second to help, and I still feel like it's an overwhelming responsibility to be home alone with two small children for this long.
So this post is simply here to say to all of you moms/dads out there who are on your own (or all of those parents who might have a spouse, but still not the help that they need)...you are incredible. You are amazing in my eyes. You are doing a super job and I think about you a lot when I'm feeling overwhelmed myself some days--the thoughts of "How do single parents do this?" go through my head since I'm in such awe of your abilities.
I'm getting only a teeny tiny glimpse this week into what you do all of the time--each and every day.
Hail to all of the single parents out there. You're doing a great job.
Miss you Terry.
Erica xo
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