The Longest Week Ever

On Monday morning, Eric left to go out of town for work once again. Traveling for his job is nothing particularly new, however, the current frequency is not usual. He's expected to do training seminars and teach some classes and attend conferences from time to time, but some brilliant person within the state decided to clump all of this training time together and do it within a span of 2 months versus over a a typical 6 month period.

So, here we are. The kids and myself. I hope if you're reading my blog with frequency, you know that there will never be a time that I have a single valid complaint about my kids in a non-joking manner. I hope this doesn't come across as complaining about being with them by myself, rather that I just appreciate the role of 2 parents in a 2 child home. Simple as that.

When Eric is gone, I try to run a fairly tight ship and anticipate and take precautions for any pitfalls that may pop up along the way. I just like to be prepared and keep everyone happy. On Monday night, I took a gamble and took the kids along to my chiropractor appointment. The promise of impending McDonald's playland across the street was enough incentive for Elaina to behave. I was beaming that both kids were happy, content and good all night from beginning to end and that I did it myself.

Tally: Success for Monday night!

On Tuesday night Lincoln was beyond tired and cranky and could not put himself to sleep. At all. After 45 minutes of him screaming and crying in my face and trying most everything I know of to soothe him, I strapped him safely into his car seat and put him in the bathroom downstairs where it was quiet and dark and he could yell himself to sleep without waking Elaina at 11:00. Within 5 minutes of crying, he began to snore. Put me down for another check mark because I totally earned this night.

Wednesday morning I don't even remember sleeping which is a sure guarantee for a long day. By the time I got home I was still plugging along and had the kids fed and happy and had finished washing Lincoln's hands when I went in the other room to check on Elaina. Within 3 minutes of her being by herself (seriously: 3 !!) she had colored a crayon masterpiece that she was anxious to show to me. It was on the floor. More specifically, on the carpet. 3 colors of crayon. My proud little artist got a sorrowful time out followed by a magic eraser to help me scrub out the color. The verdict, the magic eraser actual works on carpet and Elaina learned consequence of bad judgement. We made it through calm and unscathed.

And the grand finale, my husband, my love, my rock was waiting for me when I came home from work today. Yay! He's home! My week of too-long nights, too-early mornings and trying to be 10 steps ahead of my kids can take a back seat for a little while. At least at this point, I'm learning the game and having some luck at winning.