Shout Out to Single Moms Everywhere

Single moms deserve a medal.

Actually, they deserve a month long, paid for, all inclusive trip to Figi with daily spa treatments, a personal chef, and a $10,000 shopping spree.

Matt was out of town this week. And by "this week", I actually mean: overnight on Monday. He was gone from Monday morning at his usual time until Tuesday night at 7:45.

He has been away before. I have stayed alone before. I do the stay-at-home-mom thing every day. You would think that an evening alone plus a long day on Tuesday would be easy enough.

But, oh man. It's tough doing it solo around the clock.

I wasn't totally unprepared. I was mentally ready. Even still.

Trying to get dinner made is probably the hardest part of the day for me. Harder yet when Matt isn't there to entertain the boys.

Monday night, I put Mason in the highchair with some cheerios - because he had been screaming babbling in a frustrated manner at my legs for twenty minutes as hot things bubbled on the stove. Jasper was whining to go out. Maddox was playing with the magnetic letters on the fridge. And by "playing with" I mean whipping them at the fridge to see if they would stick. As I am putting Mason in his chair, I look over to see that Maddox has stopped throwing magnets and grabbed a jar (can? tub?) of cocoa off of the counter. Which normally isn't on the counter. But Matt had bought some Starbucks peppermint syrup (for coffee) as an early birthday present for me, so that I could make peppermint mochas at home. Hence the cocoa on the counter.

Where was I?

Oh yes, Maddox had gotten the cocoa off the counter, opened it, dumped it on the floor and was crouched down and licking up the cocoa powder off of the previously dirty, and now dirty and covered in what was quickly becoming a slobbery chocolate goo, floor. Along with Jasper, who, at least momentarily, forgot about wanting to go out. Hence the slobbery goo.

I wish I had grabbed my camera, but understanding that moment probably tells you why I, in fact, did not.

You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you that while dinner was boiling on the stove and I was trying to get biscuits in the oven while simultaneously shooing Jasper out of the cocoa and attempting to sweep it up before it was tracked all over the kitchen, Maddox dumped an entire bag of cheerios on Mason's tray.

Then again, maybe you would.

I can't imagine doing this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on my own.

Shout out to single (and military) moms everywhere! Someone give them a vacation.