Stay At Home Mama... Flying Solo in the Midst of Dad 2.0 Summit

A 4 Part Blog:

1: I'm Mushy and Not Sorry

By Beloved Brock has flown the coup and headed to New Orleans for the Dad 2.0 Summit.  There were a wealth of emotions before he actually left and now while he is away.  I absolutely HATE being states away as there are so many reasons and my heart is in his hands.  As I write this I am even getting a bit emotional as I just really want a snuggle and a sweet gentle kiss on my forehead.  To say I miss him is an extreme understatement.

2: What I'm currently in the middle of

I am so excited for Brock and all of the adventures, relationships, meetings, knowledge, and experiences he is currently enjoying.  I know that this brief separation will be a phenomenal blessing to our family, our city, and the Cincinnati Dad's Group.  So I just want to say THANK YOU to all of those spoiling/blessing/teaching my hubs some new things.  Just a couple I know of are: #KiaDad, Best Buy, and #RealStrength.

It is also a blessing to our kids and myself as we get to spend some quality time together.  As Bread Winning Mama, I am often away from home 60+ hours (actual work, commute, other activities and life) a week and that leaves very little dedicated time for me to spend with each of them.  So it is nice to remove the BWM "suit" (I don't actually wear a suit to work), relax into my Stay a Home Mama "jeans and T's," and just chill with my littles while they are still little.

Going into this weekend, I prepared myself with a few different tricks and wanted to make sure that I had a plan in my head (if not on paper as well) to help make things go smoothly for everyone.  Initially, I had thought about taking the time to really dig into potty training Ru (2 yo).  But the more I thought about it the more I didn't want to push it and she is 3000% stubborn...aka SHE doesn't want to do it yet. So, Nope.

I decided instead to just work on weaning her off of the PACI.  Really folks, she is 2 and doesn't "need" it but OH THE DRAMA.  My younger sister, works in a dentist office and gave me the idea that we could talk to her about if Paci is broken then we are going to have to throw it away and we cannot fix it.  We have 3 pacifiers in the house.  She only really uses one of them.  So yesterday, I cut the rubber piece off of one of them and showed it to her. Told her it was broken and we cannot fix it. Today, I did another while she was down for a nap. And I'm hoping that tomorrow after she wakes up I can do the last remaining one. And then we will forever be FREE of the paci. Hopefully, I will not regret this decision and Brock will not want to kill me for it later.  Fingers crossed. Pray for me.

3: The Weekend Thus Far

After the airport drop off we swung past our favorite local donut shop where we spent a good 10 minutes drooling over the sweet treats and deciding what to buy. Grabbed up some of their famous cookies and headed home for the morning.  We enjoyed half a donut a piece because I'm a smart Mama; split the spoils in half = less of a sugar rush now and the treat last 2x instead of just once = better likelihood of obedience in the longer term.  #winWinWIN.  The rest of the day was a bit of a wash as a migraine plagued me and it is difficult to function as a human let alone a parent when one of those EVIL MONSTERS arrives.  A friend unexpectedly brought over dinner, the kids refused to eat (they are not starving and had snacks earlier in the day), I refused to give them anything else; which meant PJ's and bedtime routine.  Before bed we played a couple rounds of Crazy 8's in which I needed to remind H how to be a good sport (Check out Brock's prior blog on Losing with Dignity).   It was a challenge as he was also pretty tired at that point. But bedtime went smoothly and their evening was done.    My HIGHLIGHT was a wonderful 20 minute call with my Beloved during which he shared some of his excitements with me.

He is doing an Amazing Job representing our Family and I couldn't be more pleased!

Today, I again got to do enjoy a special aspect of being a SAHM.  I took the kids to a free indoor (it was 16 degrees F) kids play area and meet one of my best friends, Leslie, with her two sons.  I am always refreshed and refilled when I get to spend time with her.  We talked about life, motherhood, nothing in general, and some really important revelations.  She had reached out previously to see if this was something that would work out and we very intentionally planned the time.  IT WAS PERFECT!  After that the kids and I headed to Lowe's as we need to start a few of our seeds for our spring garden and they didn't complain once.  We returned home, had lunch, sent Brock some silly pictures to make him smile. And then NAP TIME.

BLESSED NAP TIME... Which is how I have the ability and quiet to process and write.

This afternoon we are going to go celebrate another of my best friends; Nichole's LAST day of CHEMO!  I'm excited that I will get to take the kids.  I want them to understand that life is not always easy or fun but if you chose an attitude of praising/serving Jesus, being grateful, loving others, and choosing to be Joyful; it makes the hard stuff a whole lot easier.  Teaching them that our reactions and emotions are always a choice is something that Brock and I have worked hard to incorporate into our marriage and parenting.  It isn't easy to master within ourselves let alone teach to kids.  Many times we fail but in when we fail; we apologize, ask for forgiveness, and try to do better the next time.  The most humbling moments are when we have to go to our kids to apologize but this is what makes our bonds with them stronger.  (Ok that was my parenting tangent for the post)

Tomorrow, will bring a quiet day at home of planting our seeds in the morning, playing some games, and painting with "Mama's real paints" as H puts it. Maybe some baking as well.  We shall see.

Sunday! Sleeping a bit later (hopefully), CHURCH.  I am really excited for church.  I have missed it the past couple weeks as crazy sick virus with a fever got my 3 loves and I needed to care for them.  And then off to reunite with my Beloved once more at CVG!  I am ready to have him back and he has been gone just over 24 hours and will only be gone for 3 days. I know, I'm ridiculous; but that's my Love.

4: If You Ever Fly Solo

So to all the parents who read through to this point hear are my final thoughts:
If you are going to be flying Solo there are somethings that you should remember.

1. Switching roles with your significant other for some time can be really eye opening.  My SAHHubs/dad does far more in a day than I ever could at home in terms of keeping it clean/organized. And I wish I could accomplish 25% of what he does. I'm blessed.
2. HAVE A PLAN!  Know your kids schedules/routines/meds/meal plan. This will be beneficial for you and for them.
3. Do something that you don't normally get to do with them.  HAVE FUN!
4. Be flexible. Don't schedule every minute and have the time be overly exhausting for everyone.
5. If you are going to work on large transitions like the pacifier or potty training. Make sure you let your SO in on the deal.  They may have really good reasons as to why you should wait, ideas on what could help you succeed, or just need to be filled in on what they will be returning to when the roles flip back.


And truly if you have stayed with me to this point; from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! Our time is precious.  I hope you enjoyed my musing for today. Blessings to you and yours.