Nights with the Kids...You Never Know What You're Going to Get!

Sometimes my nights alone with the kids go well, and sometimes, not so much!  But last night was a great night with the kids.  Olivia didn’t nap yesterday after school so I was planning for just a miserable, whiny night, but the kids totally surprised me!

As I’ve mentioned before, Kahn is getting his MBA so he heads down to Georgia Tech on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  I’m so proud of him for going back to school, but it’s been a long 2.5 years and I am ready for him to be done.  He graduates this summer and I can’t wait!  But some Tuesday and Wednesday nights when he leaves for class…I’m not going to lie…After a full day at work and having a crying child clinging to my leg and the house is a complete mess and dinner is yet to be made and the thought of bedtime seems so far away, I get slightly jealous that he has 3 hours of peace and quiet and no kids.  Sure, I definitely don’t want to go back to school, but his ‘nights out’ actually seem like a luxury sometimes.

But last night was one of those really good nights where the kids were just perfect.  Yes, perfect is really exaggerating, but they were good and it was an enjoyable night.  Sometimes they are just hysterical and last night they definitely didn’t disappoint.  Our dinner and bath time conversations are a trip.  I wish I would have the video camera out sometimes.   If anyone knows little Kahn, then you know he doesn’t shut up!  He actually talks really well (too good) for his age and he just rambles and goes from subject to subject.  Last night in the tub, he was talking about school and then breakfast and then playing with his friends and then about his toys being ‘expensive and special’ and then about daddy going to school and then about his penis getting bigger (yes, he’s a boy…it happens!) and on and on and on…  And Olivia is right behind him, although she doesn’t talk about her penis!  She is very advanced verbally with her speech.  She basically can say anything, calls herself ‘trouble’ when she does something wrong, always yells ‘Kahn poop’ when he goes to the bathroom and tells me she’s ‘all clean’ after her bath.  Her poop talk is probably not the most appropriate thing for an almost 18 month to say, but it’s just funny!  And last night, we had some good, totally entertaining bath time conversations that made the night fun!

After bath time, I always read the kids endless books and then put them to bed (all before 7pm).  But last night, before I went in to Olivia’s room to read her books, I had to run downstairs and get her medicine.  When I came back, this is what I saw…

Kahn reading Olivia her bedtime books!  So frigging sweet!  I guess sometimes he does really love his sister!  Seeing this at the end of the night really made the night that much more special and so thankful that I get to spend such special moments with my kids!  I definitely wasn’t jealous of Kahn at school last night and actually felt bad that he missed such a sweet moment!

True Partners!

As everyone knows, both Kahn and I work and try our best to maintain a healthy work/life balance. It isn't always easy, but I work 4 days/week and Kahn works the typical 5 days/week. So, there is absolutely no question that Kahn and I are in this parenting thing 50/50. There's really no "I do more than you" as there typically is with some husbands and wives. (Yes, it is true I breast feed the first 12 months of my kids lives so I typically do all the feeding that first year and middle of the night feedings those first few months....but don't worry, he makes up for it in diaper duty!) My friends laugh at how spoiled I am...how good I have it sometimes. He cooks, he cleans, he's home most nights and always helps with bathtime, he is absolutely engaged with our children when he is with them, we do things as a family every weekend, he gets them ready for school and drives carpool (4 kids total...all in carseats!!!) at least half the time, if not more...he's just an amazing partner in this wild ride of parenting.

So, last week when he was out of town for 5 nights for work...I had my work cut out for me. I mean, I am used to doing the evenings on my own on Tuesdays and Wednesdays since he's getting his MBA and has classes on those nights, but he's there at night in the case anything happens with the kids and he's there to get them ready for the day.  But FIVE nights on my own...that's a different story! He left on Sunday morning and for the most part, Sunday went well...actually much better than I expected. However, at about midnight that night, Olivia woke up vomiting.  She must have caught the stomach flu and puked all night and the following night.  That meant...I got zero sleep that night.  As I couldn't expose my nanny and Averie to her illness, I had to stay home with her on Monday.  Tuesday, she was still sick and I had to stay home from work again.  Ugh!  But by Tuesday afternoon she was fine.  But then, of course, little Kahn got sick that night...he puked for about 4 hours straight and finally I got some sleep about 2am.  Needless to say, I was exhuasted but really had to get to work on Wednesday so I went in that day.  Wednesday went well...and Thursday started out fine but my nanny called me at work about 2pm and said Kahn was really acting weird, lots of moaning and just laying around.  So, I left work again to make sure everything was alright.  It turns out he must have been dedydrated so after lots of fluids he was back to his old self.  But by this time, I had missed quite a bit of work!  Bathtime and bedtime on Thursday went smoothly and that night about 9:30 big Kahn got home from his trip. 

And on a side note...I am pretty sure anytime one of us has gone out of town, or both of us have gone out of town, or we go on some sort of family trip...the kids get sick!  The very first time I ever spent the night out away from little Kahn, he spiked a 105 fever and had to be taken to the hospital.  So, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when they both got sick last week.

But I survived the week!  I try not to take for granted how amazing my husband really is, but those 5 days on my own trying to deal with sick kids and sleepless nights and endless laundry and trying to show my face at work when possible made me appreciate him even more!  Those 5 days on my own really made me realize I how lucky I am; how much he really does for our family; how much I appreciate our parenting style; how amazing of a father he really is; and how much I really need him in my life! 

I love you so much, Kahn!  I really wish you were there with me holding hair back and changing sheets and giving middle of the night baths while the kids were sick, but I also know that you were working hard so our family can be blessed with everything we have in our lives.  I thank you for all you do for our family!  I know it's not easy, but there is no other person I'd want navigating this journey with me!  Let's just pray you don't have any more work trips coming up anytime soon!