"single mama"

This week Mark is away on business and I am doing the "single" parent thing.  Not truly single parenting, as I was able to change my schedule so I don't have to work during the week and have daycare/Montessori where the kids go so I can get some work around the house done and errands completed.  This is what I have come to realize after the first 3 days...

1. I love my children, but they are exhausting

2. It is really hard to not have a partner to support you and back you up, especially when both kids are crying, the dog shit on the floor, and the pasta is boiling over

3. Shaving your legs is over-rated...though itchy

4. My daughter really misses her dad and is definitely "off her game"...even though when he is here she will resist his kisses and refuse to let him put her to bed

5. I have no idea how anyone is a single parent without significant family and social support.  There is no way I would have been able to go to work and do my job if I didnt have anyone to help...for free.

6. Pets SUCK when you are the only adult.  Walking the dogs in the AM and PM is quiet the ordeal, especially when Oscar takes FOREVER to poop.  Thank god I can pen the kids up in the kitchen and can keep my eye on them while I walk the dogs in the backyard.

7. Bedtime is even more awesome.  Thank god for a margarita, a good book and my fireplace.

Much respect to single mamas and papas!

Much love!

friendship

I am an introvert.  I know this about myself.  I would rather sit on the couch with a book than go out to a party.  I am shy in new places, with new people.  I find small talk exhausting.

I have been thinking a lot about friendship since moving.  I do much better face-to-face, and one-on-one...which makes it very hard since moving away from my dearest friends. Talking on the phone is not ideal.  I want to see the person, connect with them, touch them.  Distance is hard.

I was struck this week when my friend had her baby with how deeply this moved me.  I was caught off guard at how emotional it was.  I couldn't be there physically, but all of my energy was with her.  The power of becoming a family.  The power of labor and birth.  The power of motherhood.  It was almost a visceral reaction that I wasn't prepared to experience.  Is it because I am a midwife?  A woman?  Or, is it the invisible threads of friendship that know no distance?  My heart is full.    

Below some pictures from the week.  We took the kids to Tanglewood Nature Center.  We all had a blast looking at all the animals...and even got a private tour of the birds of prey that had been moved inside due to cold weather.