Month 4: In the Blink of an Eye

This week, I was a single parent. Fernando went to Kids Camp to lead worship, and had to be gone from Sunday - Thursday night. It might not seem like a long time, but for the Dad who can't see his kid for 5 days (and for the Mom who's on her own at home) it IS a long time.

So, in the spirit of taking away something positive from this week, here are the lessons we learned over the past seven days:

1) I am not made to be a stay at home mom. Period. I love my son, and I love spending time with him. But right around the third nap of the day mark, I start going stir crazy.

2) 4-month-olds change immensely in five days. This can be shocking to the parent who is gone for those five days. Babies are able (as demonstrated by my son) to outgrow clothing within five days, change diaper sizes, learn new tricks, learn to make new sounds (he has discovered his inner motor & bubble machine - the spit showers just don't stop...) and grow long hair (again). All in five days.

3) While I could probably survive as a single mother, I NEVER want to. I would miss the help, the support, the love, and even the body taking up half of the bed :)

4) Daniel sleeps through fireworks. I don't understand how, but he didn't budge when those gunshot-sounding explosions starting happening outside. His first encounter with fireworks was the same - he was only 6-weeks-old at our Easter service. They were LOUD. Come to think of it, most loud noises don't bug him. On Monday, I hit the panic button on the van keys. He didn't even blink - stayed sound asleep. Thirty minutes later, his aunt Keila sneezed and it scared him and made him cry. I don't know if that's selective hearing or some magic power.

That's about all I can think of at this point. And after that initial "re-adjustment" period, we're just all happy to be re-united. It's been a loooong week, and we're looking forward to not doing that again until this time next year!