What Has Possessed Me?: Blog Hiatus

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Blog Hiatus

Posted by BellaLovesPink at 9:32 AM Snipit o' info: Brought to you by Daddy-O

As I'm sure you've noticed, I've been away. I've pretty much been a poor blogger, but I'm ready to get back on the bandwagon. Much of the lack of posts has to do with a wee bit of travel and overall crazyness that has been the month of June. A wedding, work travel, and cake after cake after cake, has left little time for me to sit and be, let alone blog. SooOOOoo, Dad has jumped on board to recap much of the time I've been absent, and then next week, it's blog business as usual.

**********************************************

As many of you may know - Avery and I went though a 15 day stretch where Doreen was gone for 9 days. Needless to say I have a new found respect for single parents.

I thought a little re-cap of a day in the life might give a little idea of what life was like for 9 days.

5:30am - wake up call - Avery comes running into my room 'Daddy, I gotta go potty'.

6:00am, I'm up, showered, Avery is dressed and it's time for breakfast.

We make scrambled egg whites and she helps me make coffee. She knows all the steps and is quite the helper.

6:30 - breakfast done, I talk her into watching sports center for 36 seconds and then it's Backyardigans- it's a new episode I haven't seen so I'm okay.

This will grab her attention while I do her hair:)

6:45 - hair is done, she's not super happy, but she'll survive. Now it's time to check email, update my calendar, and get my lunch ready.

7:00 - Lunch packed, her blanket and pillow loaded in the car, emails responded to and we're ready to go.

7:05 - we're out the door. Now it's a 20 mile drive north to Tempe.

7:37 - Avery is checked in to pre-school. She shows me around her class and shows me her artwork. After 1,012 hugs and smooches she finally lets me get on my way to work:) now for the drive back to Chandler.

8:05 - I arrive at work - I start preparing my presentation for my 9am meeting.

9:00-12:30 - first meeting of the day at 9:00. Meetings straight through until 12:30. One of them is an awards presentation where I find out I'm recognized for two awards for projects I worked on...what do I get...a lousy mug that Avery will commandeer later tonight to drink water from:)

12:30 - I sneak out and drive to the gym - get a decent workout in - it's hot out so I am sweaty!!

2:00 - I decide not to drive back to work, instead I drive the 20 miles back to Tempe to pick up Avery. She is very surprised and excited to see me. I do get scolded however because I forgot her pillow and blanket in the car when I dropped her off. She had to nap without it:( Tomorrow she forcefully reminds me and I don't forget it again during the 9 days of Doreen being gone...she made an impression:)

3:00 - We arrive home and I get her settled in with a snack, get my computer up and running and connected and check and respond to emails/IMs.

4:00 - my next meeting starts. I have 2 meeting right now, but have to skip one. The meeting lasts for the whole hour, so I scramble to check on her, get her a drink etc before my next meeting at 5pm.

5:00pm - My next meeting starts. 15 minutes in I mute the phone and run to the kitchen to start getting avery's dinner ready. I grill up some chicken breasts, steam some brocolli and set the table. 5:25 I run back to my office to participate in the meeting and thankfully it ends at 5:35.

5:40 - dinner time. Avery is such a great eater! She eats her chicken and a lot of brocolli, she loves broccoli and 'white broccoli' (cauliflower).

6:00 - Pool time:) Avery and I spent about 45 minutes in the pool practicing her swimming and her jumping into the pool. She's getting very good and kicking and making strokes and loves jumping off the edge (and the waterfall) into the water. Not as much fun for daddy, but I know she has a great time.

6:45 - bath time. She's very quick in the bath, doesn't like to play too much and pretty much once we're done scrubbing her down she's ready to get out.

7:00 - Jammies on, hair brushed and time for a treat. She gets some skittles and is SOOO excited. She only gets a few but enjoys them and even shares. We watch part of her new Barbie/Mermaid movie and start winding down for bed.

7:45 - Mommy calls. So exciting. Avery re-caps her entire day and actually carries on a good conversation. She's such a good phone talker - SCARY!!

8:00 - bedtime. We read a book, shut off the lights, chat for a little bit and then she's ready to go to sleep. 1,001 more kisses and hugs and she's off to sleep.

8:30 - My last meeting of the day - this is a short one and wraps up right at 9:00pm. Finally done for the day, I turn on sportscenter and try to relax for a few minutes.

9:30 - time for daddy to sleep, I know Avery will be up early tomorrow so I better get some sleep while I can.

Believe it or not, that was about the average day. I didn't have meetings until 9 every day, but at least until 6 or 7pm. One night we had swim lessons thrown in there and one Saturday, I watched one of Avery's friends too (who happened to be sick at the time so that was a whole different adventure:).
All in all, it was extremely stressful and tiring for daddy, but Avery and I had a great time and did a lot of good bonding. She helped me clean, do laundry and clean the pool! She slept through every night and was a very good listenter...overall, we had a great time:)