When daddy ain't around...

Sometimes we talk about "what if things were like this," or "what if we lived here," or "what if I had this job," etc., and we daydream about all the other possibilities or routes our lives could have taken or might take someday.  Like, what if Greg had a job that required him to travel quite often?  Hey, he might rack up hotel points or the frequent flyer miles, see different people and places, but it'd be at the expense of being away from his family on a semi-regular basis.  Maybe that will happen someday, who knows.  But for now, I'm pretty glad his job is local...

Why, you ask?? Last weekend Greg went out of town to work on a project with his uncle. It was semi-impromptu in that it had been discussed as to the timing of it all, but the plane tickets to fly up to see him weren't purchased until 2 days before his trip.  Because that's how they do.  As much as I wanted to be über supportive about his being gone for the weekend and say with a confident, sincere smile, "Go get 'em, we got this!!" while I drop-kicked him out of the Pilot (haha, never would do that!), I was pretty much dreading his departure, and the 3 bedtimes that would ensue while he was gone.  It'd be 2 on 1 in terms of kids to parents and just like in basketball, that's a little harder to manage. You have to keep your eyes on the ball all the time and constantly be aware of your surroundings.  There's a reason it says in the bible, "for two are better than one," and I really learned that this past weekend.

Well, I'm here blogging, so clearly we made it through and survived, and both of my kids are napping, so while it's tempting to pat myself on the back and say, "We did it!" it wasn't without a few challenging times.

We kept ourselves busy after dropping Greg off Friday night.  Once we got home, it was dinnertime, bathtime, Gabe's bedtime and then Mia's.  Friday night, it was Gabe who presented the initial problems: he didn't want mommy to put him down in his crib. So, I kept rushing him trying to get him down, and then as soon as I was about to leave, either Mia would make a noise outside his room, or he'd just whimper and I'd have to start over again.  Mia actually went down pretty well that night!  *Score*

Saturday we stayed busy getting ready for a birthday party during the middle of the day.  It was a fun outing and good to see people, but we never got an afternoon nap in for Mia.  That night, I put Gabe down earlier than I had the night before and put him in his swing so that if he were to wake up, he'd at least have something familiar trying to coax him back (as that's where he takes afternoon naps).  Mia presented more of a challenge Saturday night. She really wanted daddy and would not settle.  I think she was overly exhausted from 2 days of no naps.  She really didn't sleep well that night either, and was tossing and turning right after midnight, when I brought her to our bed and she finally relaxed and slept steadily till 8am. It was a short night.

Sunday night, I was hoping it was "third time's a charm," and while by that time I got the system down, Gabe just slept less that night than he had been doing.  I put him down first, while Mia got to watch a special episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (why didn't I think of that the first night?!) and then we did bedtime.  She had taken a nap Sunday afternoon, but still went to bed more or less pretty easily that night.  Nothing like the night before.  And then finally, a little after 10pm, Greg got home!  Woohoo.  He had a lot to tell me about his weekend so we caught up on that and finally hit the hay, only for Gabester to wake up. He might have gone through a one-day growth spurt from Sunday night through Monday, because that kid ate a lot!  Oh well, I was just relieved the other parent was back in the house and we were back to 2 on 2.  Much easier!

We still had a good weekend, albeit somewhat exhausting, and I was so thankful to my church family and friends on Sunday who helped me out with watching 2 kids during church.  Linz & Matt held Gabe when I didn't need to hold him, and Mia sat with Braden when I had to take Gabe out.
Sunday night, Mia partied with Lena in the backrow and Gabe fell asleep like THIS on me.  He is a little bit of a wonder child, I think.

I coerced some friends to hit up my personal fav, Tijuana Flats, for a quick meal Sunday night and they were again, quite helpful to me with having 2 kids in tow.  Sometimes I think it's funny we ended up in Florida, but during times like this (kid-raising and all that), I'm so thankful for the community we have.  They are good to us.

Now that Greg is back, it's back to business as usual around here, although we're gearing up for a busy month of April.  Between Easter, friends' babies being born, spring cleaning, and a certain little girl's birthday party, I have a scary feeling it'll be May too soon!