The Journey of Parenthood…

Days Without Daddy

Fall is a very busy time for Zach. Most businesses have their open enrollment seasons at the end of the year and typically like to roll their Aflac stuff in at the same time. So it’s a time when we miss Daddy but are thankful for the opportunity he has to provide for us! 

We got back home from Hawaii on a Thursday and Zach had to leave to go out of town that next day. He was gone all weekend and several days the following week. Y’all. It was HARD. Having him gone during the week is tough but over a weekend was even tougher. I wanted to have a fun time with the kids as they had been missing us so much while we were away! However, I’m limited with Tess nursing and taking so many naps each day. I was also exhausted. I didn’t get much sleep in Hawaii (had to get up to pump through the night), didn’t get much sleep on the overnight plane ride home, and was still getting over sickness. 

I started off REALLY in a good spot! I had some small, simple, fun things planned to make the big kids happy and I was NOT going to be bitter at Zach for being away. Yes, this trip of his included golf. So it was hard for me to stay positive 😉 But I did a pretty good job of it! I sent him lots of pics of all of us and really felt like I handled his time away well. 

Kicked off the weekend with cinnamon rolls!!!

At the breakfast each morning in Hawaii they had boxes of cereal. My kids think “colored cereal” is like the coolest thing ever. We only ever eat Cheerios at home so they get PUMPED for Fruit Loops. I brought each of them a box of the colored cereal home from the trip and we used it to make snack necklaces 🙂

After watching Saving Mr. Banks on the plane I was dying to see Mary Poppins. I haven’t seen it since I was a young girl and I totally had forgotten how straight up awesome it is. And watching Saving Mr. Banks only makes you love it more! The kids and I watched it together and all LOVED it. We spent the whole weekend singing all of the songs and we actually ended up watching it twice 😉 Here’s the kids dancing to the songs 🙂

After I fed Tess we went on a walk! It was a beautiful day and our neighborhood was having a community yard sale so we thought it’d be a good thing to check out. Tess was not a fan of the walk. She fussed most of the way but we kept on going 😉 We went down our whole street and got to visit a few sales. Of course they were pretty picked over by 11:00! 

Each kid picked a prize 😉

Yes, Britt dressed herself haha

i used the double stroller so Britt and Tess could ride and then Kye walked along beside me. It worked out well!

Sending Daddy a pic of their treasures

Poor third kid came home empty handed 😉

Egg sandwiches for lunch!

Sending pics to Daddy to remind him we love him 🙂

A couple years ago I bought a cardboard house for Kye to decorate and I put it in a cabinet and totally forgot about it. Before Tess was born I found it and bought another house for Britt to have to decorate and then I saved them for a time when I’d need to entertain the older kids at home. This was the perfect opportunity! They had a great time coloring their houses and they spent hours playing with them. Um. It was AMAZING!

They tend to argue while playing together but instead they had a great game going and played SO happily! Britt, of course, was the “bad guy” trying to destroy Kye’s city haha. 

Kye also did some note writing…he sure does love hot dogs 😉

On Sunday we didn’t go to services. There was just no way I’d be able to get all three kids there solo! Instead we did our own little devo and Kye was awesome. He lead us in prayer (video), song (video), and even in sermon! His sermon portion was so long it took three videos to get it all in: 1, 2, and 3 🙂

We had a lazy day at home and Kye did some great one-man-band entertaining for us 🙂

Tess missed her Daddy at bath time!

I’m SO thankful I froze a ton of food before Tess was born. I was functioning on such little sleep and it was great to have easy meals ready for us!

When Zach is out of town I often let the kids have a bath in our bath tub. It’s a special treat that they LOVE and it allows me to take a shower too while they are in the bath! 

Can’t forget Donald 😉

Kye has been playing games each night since he was around Britt’s age…which means it’s really time for Britt to start staying up a little later and playing games too! It CRAZY for me to think she’s already old enough for this experience and I’ve been very impressed with Kye. I thought he’d be upset to share the game time with her but he’s done really well! He has been super excited about having her play with us and loves explaining how to play the games to her. And he even cheers for her when she wins (which is rare haha). 

Zach didn’t get home until late night Tuesday. I did AWESOME the first couple nights he was away. But by that last day I was a ZOMBIE. Like I was a mess of tears and emotions and just felt awful. I needed SLEEP so bad! Kye, of course, had a field trip that day that I had to attend with him. Thankfully I had a spare minute to run through McDonalds and get an iced coffee. I seriously do not know how single moms or military wives stay thin. I was running on fumes and eating pure crap! Times like those ALWAYS give me a fresh perspective on how blessed I am to have such a hands on husband. He’s a legit helpful person to have at home and he is missed in MANY ways when he’s away! 

I was so, so, so happy to have Zach home. I didn’t need any gifts to go along with his return but he surprised me with THE sweetest card, some of my favorite seasonal candies, and some pretty flowers (which was a plant…that died within a week…we do not keep plants alive in our home haha). I for real cried when I read the card. I have been struggling with feeling low and feeling unappreciated and the card was so uplifting and encouraging and was a reminder that my sweet husband appreciates me and that my hard work doesn’t go unnoticed 🙂 

Emily Parker
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