My husband had a business trip this week. In all fairness, it's been a LONG time since he had to go to one of these conferences, but still, I'm not fond of them. It's part of his job, so I realize I have to expect it on occasion, though. I have to admit, this one was badly timed, though (not his fault, but...)
First of all, he had to leave on Family Day, the new Ontario statutory holiday that was instituted the year we were living in the US. I always forget about it until a few weeks before it happens, and then it's like a happy surprise: we get a long weekend! Of course, I'm at home, so a long weekend for me just means an extra day with no one at school, but it also USUALLY means an extra set of hands for one more day. Plus, since we've been back in Ontario we really have tried to use Family Day as a FAMILY day. No Family Day for us this year.
Then, last Thursday, my younger daughter came down with a stomach bug. Uh oh. I've discussed "the family pandemic" before. I was just waiting for the dominoes to fall. Sure enough, Saturday night the baby started vomiting, and Charlotte was still suffering from diarrhea. By this time I'm now picturing my husband vomiting his way across North America at 10,000 feet, and me here, spending the week with four sick kids and me throwing up all over the place, too.
So far, that hasn't happened. It seems to have only affected those two members of the family, although the baby is still fighting it off (which made for a really fun morning when he woke up with a blow-out diaper all over the inside of his sleeper.) Still, it's been a long week. Even though Daddy often doesn't get home until bath/bed time, it's still an extra set of hands at the most chaotic time of the day. It's also just that few hours in the evening with another adult. There are a lot of times where I can go the entire day and never actually interact with another adult for more than a few seconds at the grocery store/gymnastics class/library until he comes home.
My mom was a single mom. Although there was only me, I never underestimate how hard that must have been. You just don't get a break. Even though as a SAHM it's easy to think that you never get time to yourself, it's only until you're completely by yourself and outnumbered that you realize just how much of a 24/7 job it really is.
Daddy comes home tonight. I'm just praying that all five of us survive until then! Only about thirteen more hours... not that I'm counting or anything.
1 comments:
Haha... here's something that's only come up today...
I was afforded the luxury of taking the entire mat leave because DH started a new job and couldn't get the time off. However, that meant he had no clue as to what I did during the day. (I swear he still thinks fairy's come down, fold and put away laundry, put away dishes, etc. because after all "the machine does all the work...").
However, today, we have no daycare (she has doctor's app'ts today - a rarity, but it does happen. DH was scheduled to work from home today because our builder is coming in to do some repairs. So that means, he has to find time to work, all while watching E and overseeing the repairs. I'm guessing a whole lot of nothing will get accomplished. But at least I understand it can be hard with a toddler being, well... a toddler.
Of course, I'm still tempted to walk in the door and ask; "What the heck have you been doing all day?"
Once... just once...
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