I had every intention of blogging each day while Mike was in Puerto Rico so he could see all of the awesome things the kids were doing, but as you can see, that didn’t happen. As Mike said though, we were able to talk to him on the phone each day and the kids made sure to tell him goodnight each night as well.
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| Hayden and Violet got along great for the entire week! |
That brings me to a great update – Hayden can REALLY talk on the phone now! He always starts with a friendly hello, listens intently, answers your questions and is always polite and says goodbye when he’s ready to be done (usually throw in a kiss to the phone). I honestly don’t remember when Violet started talking on the phone and was engaged with the person on the other end. The first time I realized Hayden was really growing up was the first time I talked to him on the phone while he was at daycare. I could hear him in the background yelling, “I TALK! I TALK MOMMY!” while I was on the phone with our provider. Just hearing his little “wuv you tooooooo” on the phone melts my heart every time.He’s such a little person now. Alas, I digress.
Mike left for Puerto Rico last Sunday. The kids had a ‘normal’ week ahead of them, with their days being spent at daycare since I had to work; I figured it would be a smooth week with limited disruption from Mike being gone. That very first night without Mike, the kids decided that they weren’t going to sleep very well – at all. So lo-and-behold, on Monday, I was plagued with a migraine and was ever so grateful that my father-in-law could come down and help to take care of the kids. He came down after work and helped keep the kids occupied while I worked on dinner. He returned on Tuesday after work and had worked on dinner already so I just had to wrangle the kids into eating (but it was strawberry/banana/PB fruit wraps – so they had no objections).
Each night seemed fraught with issues – stuffy heads, bad dreams, runny noses, sore throats… I’m truly glad, however, that this all happened at home rather than in Puerto Rico (we had considered me taking the kids on a vacation while Mike worked).
On Wednesday, my friends Amanda and Mark came over and played with the kids and had dinner with us. It was fun to have them over. I think, however, having company over every night was loosing its glamour and they weren’t quite as good of listeners. But I will say that I was shocked when Mark was able to clean up Hayden after dinner – with NO complaint, NO fuss, and NO crying. I should have Mark come over every night just to wipe Hayden’s face!
On Thursday, both Paula and Ray came down – with the Beast (aka the turtle). The kids were absolutely ecstatic that the turtle came to visit (and grandma and grandpa too, of course).
Additionally, Grandma and Grandpa picked up Hayden his very own vacuum. He now reminds us that there is: a vacuum in the closet, a vacuum downstairs, a vacuum outside, and a vacuum in the bathroom. We should be set for vacuums… He loves his little dust buster. What he does not love, is that the battery runs out before he is done vacuuming (15 minutes? maybe more?). We’ll see how indulging his love of vacuums will treat us in the long run. I’m sure all will be fine, and he’s just being a kid (with a weird obsession with vacuums).
As Mike said, on Friday the kids worked on making “Welcome home” signs for him for when we picked him up at the airport. They had a great time making them, and I think they turned out really great. The hardest part of picking up Mike was getting the kids to not be crazy at the airport. We went up and down the escalator a few times and tried sitting in a variety of seats/areas. They managed to make some friends with a couple other kids who were close in age and they spent some time laying on the floor. Luckily the mom of those other kids was pretty cool with it. When the kids saw him, they were so excited. Violet made sure to mention several times how much she missed him. I was nearly in tears seeing how happy the kids were.
Paula and Ray stayed over Friday night and headed back home on Saturday. It was a full week, but all-in-all it went pretty well.
And for your watching pleasure, here’s over 2 minutes of Hayden vacuuming. This went on and on. It’s not very exciting, but you can really see how much he truly enjoys vacuuming!
