Day Three.
Mr. A out of town on Business.
M still refusing to eat.
Even pizza.
L still refusing to sleep.
Tired.
Very tired.
Children going feral.
Don’t know if we can make it two more days.
Single parents are saints.
Please send reinforcements.
And ice cream.
Lots of ice cream.
LOL! I know this feeling! I remember this! When my husband was stationed in Korea I would periodically weep and beg him to come break my legs and get the Army to give him a compassionate reassignment. Heh. One time we (the 2 kids and I) missed his call because we were wandering around “my happy place”, aka Target with no real reason to be there. I told him, “Ya know, sometimes driving to Target for Coke and some cookies is what keeps me sane.”
He laughed pretty hard at that one, but it was so true.
Would you believe I have been to Target three times in three days?
can you get yourself a big bouncy castle thingy? I got one when MD got sick, it was a life saviour! You can just take the kids to one, for several hours. the longer they stay in it, the more tired they are. It also makes them hungry and sleepy!
Have a virtual ice cream cone! Whatever your favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry’s–here ya go!
randy just got home after being gone two days. i feel your pain. i even took the kids to the mall. in two weeks he’s gone for a week.
is there nothing she will eat? can i bring by some sugar cereal laced with benedryl?
Target is a lifesaver. So is the Children’s Museum. Babysitters are even better.
I feel your pain. DH just got home from this week’s business trip 10 minutes ago. I was proud to report that we still had the same number of children as when he left.
Sending some Java Chip your way…
I hear you. It’s only very, very recently that J being away has become tolerable for more than 2 days. And I only have one shortie. So even though I’m sure you’d be better than fine with Miss M who is old enough, Miss L is going to kick your butt for at least another year. I lose weight when J travels because I don’t sit down. And I have a kid who doesn’t go to sleep at night easily. Especially when he’s away. I just discovered fleur de sel caramels at Whole Foods. I think they sell the same ones at Trader Joes (did you know they carry a lot of the same stuff, packaged as their own brand? and for the same price? who knew?!)
My husband is also out of town and I too have spent nearly every day at my happy shopping place.
Would it help for you to get Skype? We used it the last time my husband was in China on business, and it helped A TON. Just to be able to talk face-to-face…. much less stress for both of us. And watching our one year old “talk” to her dad via the Internet was hilarious.
My mum was a single mother, working as a teacher and looking after two little girls who didn’t appreciate her nearly as much as we should have. I can’t get over it, now, the level of her patience. She would break down and cry a fair amount but at the same time she was so strong . . .
Of course it probably helped that we lived in a small fishing village where letting us run loose was not the danger it is in so many places. She could get a lot done by just sending us out back for a few hours, and we’d come back in hungry and tired and pretty quiet. I second the suggestion of seeing if you can run some energy out of them somehow– it really will make them agreeably tired and hungry. Swimming, maybe? I work up the worst sort of appetite after swmming . . .
Good luck! Someday they will come back to you as young ladies and say “Mom, we are SO sorry” and hopefully then it will be worth it
L sounds like Brooklyn. We brought her home beg. of last Sept, and to this day she STILL has major sleeping issues. *sigh*
Couldn’t IMAGINE doing it while dh is out of town, let alone single parents.
Yes, we are saints. And, I am so sorry I did not draw your attention to the six half-gallons of ice cream in my fridge when you visited, my just-in-case-stash. Essential to single parenthood. I love you. Hang in there. (And you both, too, are saints sometimes in your own ways–I can list them if you are ever in need….) You don’t need to post this–I should have just sent you an email. Am in Asheville. E arrives tonight. Mom got trike, which sold out later same morning. Wants to know your source for Baby Bargains.
Hang in there! How many more days? I just like being in the car, it gives us a controlled space in which to work. Not that the Bug is up to much but drooling and sucking his fingers, but it still helps.
You do, in fact, have the patience of a saint! This stage will pass, I think someone told me.