Single Parenting
My, oh, my it's been a long couple of days. I have a new respect for single parents, and a renewed respect and affection for my dear husband who does more for my life than I tend to notice on a daily basis.
Poor Joe has been slaving away all week and all weekend so far on installing a new server at his office. As tends to happen with these projects, things have not been going all that well, but apparently at least they made the right backups before they got started. Backups that they've had to revert back to - um - FOUR TIMES now. On his behalf, let me just say ARGH! And cursed may be Microsoft's name.
The biggest and best thing that Joe does for me on a daily basis is to provide some hope of relief. On a normal day, no matter how hard it is or what is going on (for example, and hourlong tantrum over which color balance ball she gets to play on even after I've told her she can have either the blue one or the green one or oh, hell just take both of them) I know that come 6 or 6:30 Joe is coming home and will deflect at least some of the toddler energy from my poor exhausted self. He won't outright take over and there is a good chance he'll go hide in the bathroom for a little while, but at least he will be in the house. Just having my husband in the house makes life oh-so-much-better.
Just knowing all day long that he will be back home in time to keep us company during dinner and to give Julie an extra boost of loving attention before bedtime means more than I realize most days. I mean, I count on him to fill the gap on the days when my energy ran out around 10 a.m. and the rest of the day has been coasting on fumes doing my best not to explode at the little monkey when she digs her little elbow into my hugely pregnant tummy for the 20th time even after I've told her 19 other times that she's hurting Mama.
So, tonight is the second night in a row that I've fed her dinner and put her to bed by myself. She saw him for a few minutes this morning while he got ready for work and made some coffee. It really wasn't all that bad for my part. It was just another day with my lovely little girl, there were no major tantrums or explosions. We even had a little friend and his mom over to play for a couple hours and a good time was had by all.
I treated us to a dinner out at Pho 79, where we were greeted warmly by the owner who recognizes us as regulars and always says how he remembers seeing Joe and I when I was pregnant with Julie, how we brought her in with us when she was an infant in the bucket car seat, and now she is a big girl who doesn't even fit in the high chair and eats her very own bowl of #8 pho (rare lean beef and noodles). It is so cute to watch my little girl slurp up her pho - she loves trying to use chop sticks and is pretty good at it for a two year old.
Joe called a little while ago and broke the news that they are starting their fourth attempt at this crazy install job. Who knows when he will be home? He sounded tired and maybe a little lonely, and probably a little guilty for leaving me alone with our monkey for two days straight now. I told him the truth - I am glad he is getting this over with before the new baby comes, and I hope this fourth install works out so he can come home and relax and not have to worry about it during our babymoon. I just wish there were something more I could do to help.
Poor Joe has been slaving away all week and all weekend so far on installing a new server at his office. As tends to happen with these projects, things have not been going all that well, but apparently at least they made the right backups before they got started. Backups that they've had to revert back to - um - FOUR TIMES now. On his behalf, let me just say ARGH! And cursed may be Microsoft's name.
The biggest and best thing that Joe does for me on a daily basis is to provide some hope of relief. On a normal day, no matter how hard it is or what is going on (for example, and hourlong tantrum over which color balance ball she gets to play on even after I've told her she can have either the blue one or the green one or oh, hell just take both of them) I know that come 6 or 6:30 Joe is coming home and will deflect at least some of the toddler energy from my poor exhausted self. He won't outright take over and there is a good chance he'll go hide in the bathroom for a little while, but at least he will be in the house. Just having my husband in the house makes life oh-so-much-better.
Just knowing all day long that he will be back home in time to keep us company during dinner and to give Julie an extra boost of loving attention before bedtime means more than I realize most days. I mean, I count on him to fill the gap on the days when my energy ran out around 10 a.m. and the rest of the day has been coasting on fumes doing my best not to explode at the little monkey when she digs her little elbow into my hugely pregnant tummy for the 20th time even after I've told her 19 other times that she's hurting Mama.
So, tonight is the second night in a row that I've fed her dinner and put her to bed by myself. She saw him for a few minutes this morning while he got ready for work and made some coffee. It really wasn't all that bad for my part. It was just another day with my lovely little girl, there were no major tantrums or explosions. We even had a little friend and his mom over to play for a couple hours and a good time was had by all.
I treated us to a dinner out at Pho 79, where we were greeted warmly by the owner who recognizes us as regulars and always says how he remembers seeing Joe and I when I was pregnant with Julie, how we brought her in with us when she was an infant in the bucket car seat, and now she is a big girl who doesn't even fit in the high chair and eats her very own bowl of #8 pho (rare lean beef and noodles). It is so cute to watch my little girl slurp up her pho - she loves trying to use chop sticks and is pretty good at it for a two year old.
Joe called a little while ago and broke the news that they are starting their fourth attempt at this crazy install job. Who knows when he will be home? He sounded tired and maybe a little lonely, and probably a little guilty for leaving me alone with our monkey for two days straight now. I told him the truth - I am glad he is getting this over with before the new baby comes, and I hope this fourth install works out so he can come home and relax and not have to worry about it during our babymoon. I just wish there were something more I could do to help.
posted by Shelly Kang at 10:13 PM
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