The "Single-Mom" Project: Reflections on Week #1

Exactly one week has passed since my husband started his new job.  That means I spent an entire week as a "single-mom" in the evenings.  Everything went much smoother than I thought!  Granted there were a number of odd things that happened throughout the week that could have easily derailed everything, but overall things went really well!

I will admit that I spent a few days psyching myself up for what I thought was going to be the week from "H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks" but things went great.  Aside from the fact that our kitchen flooded from a loose fitting from installing a new faucet, we discovered ants in our basement bathroom, the dishwasher died, the cable company had to put in a temporary line for our Internet, and the garage door broke - otherwise it was an awesome week.  My little boy did surprisingly well without his Daddy around.  I knew by the end of the week they were both starting to miss each other so we made sure to have lots of family time this weekend to make up for things.

Since my husbands new schedule is significantly different than his prior one, I have to had make major adjustments in my own but they are all good adjustments. Now that he is home in the morning I have an extra set of hands during the Morning-Madness Marathon - which is fabulous! Now I can wake-up at 6AM - which is about the same time that our little man wakes up.  I can get him out of bed, change his diaper and then I can lay him in bed with my husband so they can snuggle for a while in the morning.  In exchange for not being home in the evening, my husband takes the lead on getting the little guy ready for daycare every morning.  After "snuggle-time", the little guy has a bottle and they might play for 20 minutes or so and after getting dressed and having plenty of hugs from Daddy we are off to daycare.  During this time, I am able to get ready, make my lunch, gather up anything I need for the day and maybe drink some of my coffee before jetting out of the door. 

Throughout the week I did notice one major change in my day, aside from the morning routine.  I noticed that I don't have to cook dinner every night.  Now that its just me in the evening I can eat from the leftovers stash in the fridge!  So now I only have to cook dinner a couple of nights during the week.  It seems weird that my husband and I would be eating the same amount of food throughout the week, but I'm cooking less.  I don't understand it either, but it works! Must be one of those "mystical kitchen things".  I am assuming that everything just evens out since my hubby isn't at home to eat dinner when I do cook.  In turn, there are more leftovers from each meal.  I'm not really sure? 

My final reflection on The "Single-Mom" Project: Week #1 is that I've felt less stressed this past week than I have in a very long time.  My morning routine goes much smoother, I don't have to cook every evening, I get to spend more time focusing on my little boy, and I have time to relax and enjoy the silence in the evening.  I'm sure it's a combination of all of the above factors that helped me feel less stressed throughout the week, but I am going to attribute the bulk of it to the fact that I get to spend so much quality time with my little boy each evening.  I'm thinking that it is helping to eliminate some of the "mommy-guilt" that I have for sending him to daycare all day.  

I know you are all probably thinking that its weird that I don't see my husband much during the week and to be honest with you I think its a little weird too.  We have always had strange schedules.  I think I actually see my husband more now than I did with his last job.  Previously, we would see each other for maybe an hour or two a day depending on if he was on the day-shift or the night-shift.  The majority of the time if we did see each other it was for a couple of hours before bed and by then we were both tired and just wanted to zone-out after a long day.  Now we see each other in the morning when we are both awake and ready to start the day. We are morning people so early on in the day is our best time together.  Even though we don't see each other much during the week, the fact that we now have all-weekend, every-weekend together for family time really makes up for our lost time during the week.  This past weekend was fantastic and I can't wait for family time next weekend.  

I don't have a Tip to Help Juggle Kids and Work today, but I will leave you with this piece of wisdom that helps me to feel less defeated when the pile of laundry doesn't get washed or when it's time for bed, but the sink is still full of dishes...

Stay tuned for more tips and tricks from The Modern Day Juggler!