My month as a single mother

Today marks the start of the last weekend of Chris' month-long hiatus!  I always approach his time away with apprehension because not only will I miss him while he is gone, but it also means that our parenting game plan changes from man-to-man defense to two-on-one offense.  I approach his month in Israel as a challenge (because it certainly is) but if you get in the right headspace and just take one day at a time, everything is manageable.  I am happy to announce that with only three days until his return, I am proud of the way the month has gone and it wasn't as terrible as some people think it would be.

Sure, there are times that I am counting down the minutes until bedtime or stressing to walk Addison before the rain starts and I have to get the boys from camp, or I forego dinner and just wait until the house is quiet to eat some cereal - but as a whole, the time has gone pretty quickly and we have had a lot of fun!

We have had lots of fun playtime at home in the backyard, we went on adventures to the pool, the Children's Museum, the grocery store and birthday parties.  We have watched movies, had dance parties, read hundreds of books and watched our plants grow.  We have waited for garbage trucks, walked the dog, done art projects and watched the rain.  We have really all enjoyed each others company and I think I can say with a pretty high level of confidence that the boys had as much fun with me as I had with them.

Would I choose to do this on my own all the time?  Of course not!  But if you approach each day at a time and not look at the month as a never ending chunk of time, you can do anything in little pieces.  That being said, the boys and I are all really looking forward to Chris' return in just a few short days!

Asher is 1 1/2

If you need an indicator to confirm that time is flying by, just think for a second that Asher is 1 1/2!  It is crazy to think that he is that old already but sure enough, he is no longer a baby but every day he is more and more a little boy.

And to prove that he is no longer a baby, he is showing the growth charts who's boss.  He is now at the 90th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight.  I measured him to Riley's growth chart the other day and he has at least an inch on where Riley was at 18 months.  I even told Riley that I think Asher might be taller than him one day, but he was pretty skeptical of the thought.

At 18 months, Asher is very, very active!  He is able to jog (or really fast waddle sometimes), he loves to swim at camp, he has favorite foods (these pictures showcase his love of waffles) and his absolute favorite thing is to play baseball.  We go in the backyard and he either watches Riley and I play or we set him up with the tee and he can take some swings himself.  He says 'baseball' and gets pretty upset when I don't let him go in the backyard and play as soon as we get home from camp.  Try explaining a rain delay to this one - it does not go over well! 

The doctor was a little concerned that he didn't have a lot of words yet, so we are going to talk to a speech therapist and see what steps can be taken.  His is super communicative and gets his point across - we just play around a little until we get there sometimes.  And he has a mouth full of words just bubbling at the surface, and I know that as soon as he figures out how to get them out, he is going to have a lot more to say!