Lindsey Unedited: January Mayhem

Last week was one busy week! I got my taste for what it's like to be a single mom again, when Manuel went to CES in Las Vegas for an week. Hats off to all you single moms who endure tirelessly through all of the full-time responsibilities of taking care of a family.

It seems like everything broke while Manuel was gone. I was fixing toilets, sinks, electronic devices and everything else that usually Manuel takes care of. I shoveled the walks and driveways, took out the garbage and all of Manuel's usual tasks in addition to running the kids to and from school, to dance, swimming lessons each day, making meals, cleaning and helping them with their reading and homework. Somehow I managed to fit in going visiting teaching and having my visiting teachers over, grocery shopping and a few appointments. By the time I put them all to bed I only had a small hour of time for myself before I was too tired to keep my eyes open any longer.

In addition to all of that a very problematic issue arose between me and the company licensing out hydroheel. I so needed Manuel here to help get around the uncomfortable situation but faced it head on without him. I have an excellent attorney and he stepped in to mediate. It was no fun.

To take my mind off of all of the craziness, I came up with a fun idea. My son said that he needed me to make him a treat for movie day at school the next day. I had no energy to make treats, so I told the kids they could gather up all of their piggy bank money and we would take a trip to the dollar store after dinner and they could have a shopping spree. They were so excited! Each of them rounded up four dollars in change and off we went. They each took a shopping basket and helped themselves through the store until they had four items they absolutely wanted. Then they went through check out and paid the clerk all by themselves. They were so proud. When we got home they spent all night enjoying their treasures. Cambrey was really proud of her Strawberry Shortcake mouth wash.

When pizza night rolled around I decided to let the kids be a part of making dinner to ease my burden. I bought pita bread and let them choose their own toppings and decorate their own pizzas. They chose hotdogs, pineapple, tomatoes, green onions and cheese. We baked them and enjoyed a salad with it. We went down an enjoyed a movie with our dinner until Manuel called us ready to be picked up.

We dropped Manuel off at the airport on Monday and picked him up at the Park & Ride in Kaysville late Friday night. It was good to have him back! Gabe made him a welcome home poster and hung it on the garage door. As tired as he was was from being on his feet all week and working 15 hours a day, we were up the next day as I made food for a baby shower, wrapped gifts for a birthday party and then we headed off to go ice skating with my family to celebrate January birthdays.

Being that I can't be on the ice with a baby in the oven, Manuel had to rotate taking each of the kids out on the ice with sore and achy feet until help arrived. My sister and her friend helped take the girls and then during the last 20 minutes my nephews (who play hockey) arrived and showed the girls some fun on the ice. I was so proud of my husband for being so good and patient with each of the kids on the ice. I had never seen him skate before and didn't know he could and someone said he was very handsome out there. I was also proud of Gabe who had never ice skated or roller skated before and after his first time around on the ice, he picked it right up and skated by himself the rest of the time. He was pretty good too!

After skating, we sang, had cake and watched Easton and Cherise open presents.By the time we got home it was time to make dinner and Manuel and I both had lessons to prepare for primary on Sunday. Sunday came and was very exhausting as I substituted in my daughter's sunbeam class. She was a handful because I was there. By the time we got home, I just wanted to fall asleep but it was already time to make dinner and so the story goes....

The weekend before Manuel left, we took the time to have some fun. I asked the kids what they wanted to do and Gabe chose the trampoline park. We found a coupon in the mail and headed on over. The kids had a blast getting out all their energy and then we went to a favorite local pizza place here in Layton. The waitress let the kids each pick a toy out of their treasure box. I think this last week has been so much fun for them. It's been fun to watch them grow in confidence as they learn to swim, learn to ice skate, learn to shop on their own and excel with their homework.

I am now one tired mom!

DAILY QUESTION: What kind of things do you rely on your spouse for? Do you married ladies ever feel like single moms? And how do you single moms do it all? You are amazing!