Back To Real Life - Part I

Steve returned to work on Tuesday, leaving me alone with the boys for 3 and a half days. I was pretty nervous because:

• I have done nothing for myself for the last 10 weeks
• I have done nearly nothing for Owen for the last 10 weeks
• I definitely have done nothing for Steve for the last 10 weeks
• Adam has been going down for the night around 11pm and waking up 2 or 3 times per night
• Owen has been waking up at 7am which is about 1 or 2 hours earlier than usual
• Owen requires lots of attention and assistance during the day
• Adam still prefers to be bounced on the yoga ball quite a bit

So instead of being responsible for 1 person, I will suddenly be responsible for three. Steve is still in charge of himself, but I took over for everyone else.

Now, Steve is home and everyone survived. Looking back, I think the week went as expected. Some of it was easy, some of it was hard, nothing was insurmountable. I was very nervous about not getting any adult interaction, but luckily Nana came up Tuesday and Thursday evenings and I took Owen to preschool on Wednesday so each day had some kind of mental break for me.  But I'm also very happy to have Steve home and I wish it was for longer than 2 days.

The positives for me were getting some confidence that I can handle both kids by myself (although it may be awhile before I take them out of the house alone unless it's to preschool - Owen has a hard time leaving fun activities and I have a hard time wrangling him with Adam hanging from the Bjorn.) I also was able to get some chores done that I had been neglecting. But probably the biggest positive for me was reconnecting with Owen. I have been a benchwarmer in the parenting game for the last 10 weeks and on Tuesday, it was my turn to move up to a starting position. Owen tried to challenge my authority a bit and I had less patience than usual since Adam was usually screaming in the background, but even with a few timeouts and a little bit of tears we seem to have a better relationship than just a week ago. He still accidentally calls me "Dada" quite a bit, but I'm also getting a lot more hugs and kisses too.

All in all, a successful first step on the way back to real life. Next up is to find a nanny everyone likes and then for me to go back to work. Thank God I have 10 more weeks to gear up for that.  I'm sure enjoying my time with these two...