Missing the hubby

Jeff's been out of town all week, and he's finally coming home tonight / arriving tomorrow morning.  To say that I'm excited he's coming back is a bit of an understatement. I'm THRILLED he's coming back home. But I can say for certain that my excitement to see him tomorrow will be shadowed in comparison to BG's excitement to see her Daddy again.

We've been trying to FaceTime as much as possible -- which proves to be hard with only a 3 hour time difference when we both work and BG is at Day Care all day. But we've done it a few times, and we've been able to message each other video updates.  BG will now pick up my phone and say "Daddy?" and as soon as I open up one of the phone messages she gets so excited that her whole body begins to shake in excitement.

Then of course, she grabs the phone from my hands, touching the sensitive touch screen which then disables the video from playing, and most of the time she'll swipe her finger across the screen which then just brings up a picture of herself, and so she'll look at me in complete and utter confusion as to why daddy's no longer talking to her.

Oh baby girl. One day you are just totally going to understand the iPhone and life will never be the same. :)

Anyways... I feel like i've done a pretty good job alone with BG. The first two days were Saturday and Sunday so we did everything from talking long walks, to watching sesame street, and going to the library, and doctor appointments, and breakfast at the diner, and BG's first ice cream bar, and church, and more! Then came the Monday and I was looking forward to having someone else watch her for the day while I worked, but then she'd wake me up every morning at six and want 3 breakfasts (banana, oatmeal, and then sometimes more cereal), figuring out how to take a shower when no one was watching her was challenging, trying to explain to her that mommy just needs to use the potty... I'll be right back, and by the size of the tears that stormed down her face that news was received as if I was leaving her forever and never coming back, and getting home in time to get her in bed by 8pm was such a challenge.  But nevertheless, I handled it and I'm pretty proud of myself.

I don't know how people do it alone. I don't know how Jeff does all that he does for our family. He's been leaving work and doing night duty for months now. He's been the one to remember to do diaper laundry. He's been the one that always does our dishes. He's the one that does simple things like get the mail. All the little things he does around the house, now that I have to do alone, just makes me appreciate him all that much more.

And I totally understand how frustrated he gets with the amount of dishes we dirty in the course of a day. Seriously?! I tried so hard this week to keep the dishes minimal, but with just me and BG, where we spend most of the day out of the house, I have not been able to even keep up with the amount of dishes we dirty.

So Jeff. I appreciate you. I love you, and I can't wait for you to get home.

xoxo :)

And to all the single parents out there, and to the stay at home moms who are always taking care of and entertaining babies/toddlers/kids all day long, and to all the day care providers, and baby sitters, and nannys out there who make a living taking care of other people's kids... In my eyes, you are all super heroes.