Weekends are rough!

 We made it through our first weekend without Joseph and lemme just say it was rough! Thank God for my sister-in-law, who let us practically spend the whole weekend with her! I tried to keep busy and we were actually able to talk to him a lot so it wasn't horrible. It's just inevitable that I'm going to miss him.

The other very difficult part of this is having two very young children all on my own. I feel like I constantly get disapproving looks when out, like people are thinking "what the hell is wrong with this lady trying to do this herself". Then all they can think to say is "you've got your hands full". Well yes, yes I do. Please if you see someone with two young children DO NOT say this to them. We know our hands are full.... believe me. You don't need to remind us at that point when the baby is shrieking and the toddler is throwing herself to the floor during a fit.

In other news,Valentine's Day is upon us. I finished the kids' Valentines for school and they came out super cute. I got both ideas on Pinterest. The goldfish one can be found here and the fruit pouch one can be found here. They were super easy to do and perfect since Cole and Isla have a toddler class and an infant class.

We have a good amount of activities planned for the coming weeks including a visit from my parents and some play dates!  Hopefully it will keep our minds off the time and make it fly!

D-Day has come and gone...Day 1 without Daddy.

It happened.

That day we were hoping would never come, did.



Deployment day.


Yesterday, Joseph boarded a long flight overseas. I cried, he cried, and Isla gave kisses. I drove home from the airport thinking, "Man, a year is soooo long. How am I going to take care of these babies, and work, and do it all.... by myself?" The thought of it was scaring the crap out of me. Until I got home.
I spent a few hours cleaning, organizing, and getting ready for the single parent life. I let Isla skip a nap and put her down at her old normal bedtime of 7 pm thinking maybe I could get her back on schedule easily. At 2 am, she was up. Screaming. I brought her into bed with me and then she woke up Cole. So here we are, all three of us up at 2 am. I know I was missing daddy and I'm sure Miss Isla was too. Cole is partial to me at nighttime, so I know where his allegiance lied. It took about 3 hours of drum playing, crying, and feeding for the 2 of them and myself to all be asleep, semi-peacefully in the same king-sized bed. I, of course, was in the middle squished and wondering how two such tiny people could make me feel so uncomfortable in such a large bed.
But I know we will get used to it, even if every night it ends up that the 3 of us are sleeping in that bed together. And before we know it, he will be home again. I'm prepared for it to be difficult some days. I'm prepared to break down once in a while, it's inevitable. But, we will make the best of it.
This morning, we all rolled out of bed around 8am. I got the kids ready for school. Their teachers were so happy to see them and when I picked up they said they really enjoyed music class. Miraculously, when we got home, I fed them both lunch and they both went down for a nap. Then we played, watched Tangled, and had dinner with family. I almost didn't cry.


Isla and Daddy




Spending some time with Daddy before we left.




Clapping




Big Hugs :(




Right after Daddy told Cole to take care of things while he's gone!


That was until I got my camera out and looked through these pictures. I know he was so upset in them, you can see it in his face. As much as I am going through, I know he is going through it ten times more. I can not imagine being away from our sweet babies so long. He has to be so strong.

If you think of it, say a little prayer for him tonight.

I got to skype with him a few times and it was nice to check-in and know he made it safely. He's getting settled and these first few weeks will be rough for him. I know it will go quickly though and before we know it, we'll have him home again!