Single Parenting

First I would like to salute all the full time single parents reading this!  I am a part-time single parent when my husband is gone training or deployed, and it is exhausting!  Collin likes me to be involved in everything!  If he is eating, he wants me to eat some too!  If he is playing, he will bring it to wherever I am so I can play with him!  On the rare occasion that he is watching tv, he has to be IN my lap!  If I get up to make him dinner, he is crying at my leg saying, "ME, ME, ME"!  As soon as his feet hit the floor he is going 100mph!  When I hear him in the morning I have to prepare myself for the day!  All of his daycare teachers say, "You have your hands full"! 

When you have a baby that needs a lot of attention like Collin, you feel like you have to get everything done while they are either at daycare or sleeping.  You do anything to avoid the constant crying!  I drop him off at daycare, go to class, home to get homework done, try to throw down some groceries, and clean up whatever I need to before I pick up my man because I know once he is home, there is no time for anything other than him!  Then there are the days when you have to grocery shop, or take the car in, or go to the doctor, all of which take up valuable time.  Then you come home with your crazy kid, and are welcomed by dog puke all over the floor!  Clean that up, then it is PLAY TIME!!  "OUTSIDE! ME! BALL! SUDA! ME ME ME!".  Then comes dinner time...where Collin usually doesn't like what I cook so he ends up eating bread or nutrigrain bars for dinner!  The only guarantee I have is macaroni and cheese!  Then it's clean up, bath time, book time, "TEETH"!  Luckily, Collin is a great sleeper!  Always has been!  So after he goes to sleep I get to clean up the Leggos all over the floor because he couldn't just play with ONE, he had to pour them all out, and then decide he's done with the Leggos, and move on to his cars!  Clean up toys, dinner, take the dog out, feed the dog...then, and ONLY THEN, do you get to sit down.  It is a rough twelve hour day, every day when you are a single parent.  I LOVE food, but I often forget to eat because there are other things that I feel are more important. 

I am very lucky to have family and friends near by that help me out!  Aunt Megan, or Meme as Collin calls her, is a great help.  It's just nice to have someone else to run after him every once in a while, and to make sure he stays out of the knife drawer!  Hannah and Jake watch Collin for mommy's girl nights, and Collin loves them!  He is missing his daddy a lot right now so any guy willing to play with him makes him happy!

I am freaking out a little about John's deployment coming up.  Seven months...SEVEN...by myself...single parent!  John has been gone for 4 weeks and I'm already exhausted and can't wait for him to come home.  I miss having John to entertain Collin while I get other things done around the house.  The thing I miss the most is John getting up on Saturday mornings with Collin and letting me sleep in!  Oh...I miss that!  And I miss John!  He's such a great daddy and partner.  It's hard to pick up his slack!