10. Your son’s first baseball practice ever is scheduled for the first night your husband is out of town, and you’ll get to tote your 3-year-old and 21-month-old along to experience it.
9. Thirty minutes after your husband leaves, your son wakes up with a rash all over his body. You get to take three kids to the doctor’s office and find out your son has strep throat–all before ten a.m.
8. Your son, who has been looking forward to his first practice for two weeks, cannot go to baseball practice. You now get to carry around the guilt of knowing that your cursing the timing of his first practice with your husband’s trip has somehow caused him to get strep throat.
7. The rare coffee date you scheduled with your friend almost a month ago for when two of the three kids would be in preschool must be rescheduled.
6. Knowing that you’re quickly losing your mind the longer you haul around three small children, you make a short list of items you will need to get at the grocery store while waiting for your son’s antibiotic. While you leave the store with three items that you did not need, you manage to forget the first item on your list–and your brain.
5. You find yourself sitting on your bed twitching and eating M&Ms–and you don’t even like chocolate.
4. Your husband, in his kindness, planned a menu for the week, made a corresponding grocery list, and bought the food before he left. However, he neglected one small detail–that each meal would take two plus hours to make, and you would be feeding the kids dinner at 8:00 p.m. (You’ve never even made one of Rachael Ray’s 30-Minute Meals in less than an hour and a half).
3. During the two hours you spend cooking that first meal when your husband is away, your children conjure up the North Wind to sweep through the playroom. You grab your camera to capture evidence of the catastrophe, but the batteries are dead. You then grab your phone and snap a few shots, but the photos aren’t there when you try to upload them to your computer. The disappointment of not having proof for your husband is worse torture than the actual clean-up.
2. Deciding she can’t make it until she reaches the bathroom, your daughter pulls down her pants and pees on the kitchen floor that you had just mopped a couple of hours earlier–and this daughter is NOT the one who is potty-training.
1. Your youngest child decides that 10:15 p.m. is a perfectly acceptable bedtime.
What craziness happens when your spouse is out of town? What chaos ensues if you go away?
Jennifer Vignola Davis 
Oh MY! But that last picture is cute. Hope everyone is feeling better.
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Thank you! My little man seems better today!
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Oh deary. I wish I could pop over with a couple of easy meals ready to put on the table for you. What a day! I have been there and it is hard. I would just chuck the menu plan and pull out the pbj, scrambled eggs, pancakes, mac & cheese for the duration. Make life as easy as you can! Sorry the kidos made you miss your "mommy date" Big bummer! Thanks for coming over to Day to Day!
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Had I made the menu, I would've ditched it as soon as I saw it was not working. However, I felt more inclined to try it since hubby was so nice to make it for me. And I do like cooking, but, boy, did I have bad luck! Yes, pbj sounds great for tomorrow! 🙂
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Oh, this made me laugh! You forgot the kids start puking or my favorite, it continues to snow, and you are trapped in the house for days without coffee.
Jumped over because I heard (from Michelle!) you were doing a link-up on Mondays.
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No one's puked, yet, but hubby's not home, yet, either!I'm so glad you stopped by today! Yes, I have a link up, but it's on Friday. I do hope you'll consider joining us! I post the topic every Monday, and you can click on my 'Journeys' tab at the top of the page for more guidelines :http://www.jennifervdavis.com/?page_id=1474. This week's topic is 'Love.' We're working through the fruits of the Spirit. Thanks, again, for commenting today! 🙂
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WOW. I would be scheduling my own "business trip" with a girlfriend the minute my husband got back in to town! You def need a vacation! 😉
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Honestly, I'm too tired to go on vacation! I'd be happy if someone takes the kids on vacation and lets me go to bed. 😉
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Priceless picture. If It makes you feel better, my 3 and 1 year old went to bed after 11 pm last night (and my husband IS in town, but gets home from class around 9:45 pm). Their bedtime seems to creep ever later all the time. I also find that those 30-minute meals take a bit longer than 30 minutes. I'm glad your daughter didn't pee on carpet!
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She didn't pee on the carpet THIS time. You need to read the last one of these I did when i got to clean pee off the kitchen countertops….But you're right–it can always be worse! 🙂
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So know how you feel! Of course, when he returns everything will just fall into place perfectly…
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Of course! Not to say that there isn't chaos on a daily basis in my house, but it does seem to intensify when the hubby's gone!
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that picture of chloe is too much! funny post, tho i'm sure it's not all really that funny! 🙂
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I can laugh once they're all asleep!
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I like this one, Jennifer. To be honest, I'm kind of hit and miss with your posts and I don't relate to a good number of them as you can probably imagine. But this one I caught and I do relate! #10 reminded me right away of the many things our military parents miss out on when they deploy for 6-12 months at a time. The rest of it reminded me of the many challenges our military parents who stay behind get to endure solo. I think it's pretty much guaranteed that when one parent leaves, it's all gonna fall apart. The good news is the military is getting smarter about all this as the newest buzz word is "resiliency". There's no exact formula for how to build that, but there are ways. Anyway, just wanted to say I liked the post!
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I'm glad you liked it, Joy! Thank you for sharing! I think any parent, if he or she is honest, can relate to kids or life spinning out of control on occasion…or more than one occasion, in my case! 🙂
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Oh Jennifer, I am laughing out loud at this one…but with you, I promise, I'm laughing with you…because man, I've been there! You are funny — I love it!
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I laughed and cried while reading this post! My husband is traveling this week and I was so nodding along with each number. Not that my two sons (ages 5 & 3) were doing any of that but just what a struggle it can be when your life partner is out of town. Thanks so much for this post!! Priceless!!
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I pray that this week goes quickly for you with no (or at least very few and minor) incidents! 🙂
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Me and my husband are kind of geeky. We track each others flights and send emails like "You're over Peoria right now"! Well last night I was watching his flight to Chicago and he just beginning to cross Lake Michigan when I saw that the altitude of his flight was sharply dropping. Soon he was over Lake Michigan and it said "0 ft". I was crying and ripping out my hair, certain that I was now a widow when he texted me and said "Hey baby, I landed. Call you in a few." The websites map was not updated in sync with the altitude clocker. That sharp dip was his plane landing at the airport but the map still showed him over the lake. What a heart attack!
Anyway, when my husband is away our dog Macie lays on his side of the bed and whines until he comes home. 😦
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Your story cracked me up! Of course, if I were witnessing what you witnessed, I would've freaked out, too. I'm glad your hubby is okay! 🙂
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