Going "Solo Dad" for a week

11/15/07
This morning was not the best morning by far. Cayden did not want to go to school and, for lack of a better description, was rather unruly in the car. I was late getting him to preschool and then ended up late for work. I'm glad my boss is understands my situation and encourages a good work/life balance. That helps soooooooooooo much. (Extra O's emphasize how helpful that is to me.)

Pick-up time was a lot better. Not as much stress, but one thing did shock me about Cayden: he wanted to stay at school! Normally he can't wait to leave and get home to play with everyone. That is actually a good thing, believe me.

We just finished dinner (6p.m.); well, at leas the kids finished dinner. I'm going to whip something up quickly so I can get to some cleaning around the house.

And no. Still no pictures. I'm really trying. Honest!

I'm getting used the schedule, so that is a good thing. Who knew the body could run on such little sleep?

11/14/07
There is nothing like picking up your youngest from daycare (right after nap time) and hearing "my socks are wet." That was something I hadn't heard before, so I decided to check out the rest of Cayden's clothes.

Yup, he was wet from below the waist all the way down his legs into his socks. Three guesses what it was: and the first two guesses of water fight and garden sprinkler malfunction don't count.

AND - I'm sorry I don't have any pictures yet. I'm still working on getting a camera.

Getting the kids to bed was good for 2/3 of the brood. Cayden held out the longest, but I finally got him to take a bath, get his teeth brushed and even put on a pajama shirt!

One cute thing that Cayden said to me last night after bathtime - "Daddy, please hold me. I want to be warm." What a way to end the day!


11/14/07
About last night. (11/13/07)....oh my. What an adventure! First off, I have to say that Khalid and Kiya (the oldest kids at 11 and 10) exhibited the best behavior EVER for me. They were both helpful and didn't argue when I asked them to help out. That made the evening go by without many low notes.

Cayden (our youngest at "almost 4") was a little bit more stubborn. It started with dinner - first he wanted "Chili Mac Mac & Cheese (that's Mac & Cheese and Chili for those not in the know), and then it was a sandwich. Then it was Chili Mac, and then something else. After about 8 times, we finally settled on.....Chili Mac! Yay! I was cooking and needed to make a few calls, so that was quite an adventure. I almost burned something during one of my calls, and then Cayden started to change his mind. My co-worker on the other end had a good laugh at my expense.

We then talked to Mom around 7 p.m. or so (10p.m. Georgia time); it was kind of sad because Cayden thought we were going to see her that night. So I did the next best thing to distract him: "Hey Cayden, want to go get a milkshake?"

Then we go home and next was the shower/or bath/or shower/or bath/or shower/or bath, or....whatever discussion with
Cayden.

Other than that, I did some laundry, picked up around the house, did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. Needless to say, it's going to be pretty much the same thing tonight.

There may have been some more funny stories, but I don't quite remember much.



11/12/07
Oh my - what a morning! Today is the first day of "Mission Impossible: Solo Daddy." (Big ups to Kate for that inspiration.)

No pictures right now as Nicole packed the camera and I didn't want to go digging through her luggage to get it. I'll hopefully borrow something later today from someone.

We got up around 3:50a.m. today. 'Nuff said.

I loaded some new music on Nicole's iPod so she'd have enough to listen to on her flight - she goes from Portland to Chicago and then into Savannah, Georgia.

About 4:30a.m., we woke up the kids and piled them all into the car. Yeah, it's not ideal for the first day back after a school holiday, but they wanted to make sure and say goodbye to mom at the airport. I'm sure they'll sleep hard tonight.

It's almost 6:30am. as I'm writing this entry. My two oldest - Khalid & Kiya - are gettting ready for school while my youngest, Cayden, is watching Power Rangers Dino Thunder.

11/6/07
Next week will be one of the more interesting challenges I've faced this year. I'm going 'solo' next week while my wife is away.

My wife is going on vacation (by herself) to visit her best friend in Georgia. This is the first time she's been away from all three kids at one time, and it's also the first time I've watched them all by myself for more than 2 hours. I llove them all so much, but I know this isn't going to be a walk in the park.

I know everything will be okay (fingers crossed, rubbing the rabbit's foot, looking for 4-leaf clovers, etc.), but be sure to check back next week as I plan to post as much as I can in the way of journal entries and photos.