My Weekend as a "Single" Parent

I was on single parent duty from Thursday afternoon until Monday morning because Todd went to California for my brother's bachelor party and all I can say is, wow, I'm so thankful that Todd is typically home and doesn't travel much for work!  He's traveled for work before but that's typically during the week when I'm also at work part of the time so it doesn't seem as bad.  Not that it was bad but it's just tiring after four straight days of chasing after a 14 month old and trying to run errands with her in tow.  And it figures that this past week was when Lucy decided to just completely drop her morning nap too.  Although I honestly think the worst part of Todd not being home, besides missing him of course, was that I didn't have anyone to tell me to get off my iPad or turn the TV off at night and go to bed.  Most nights, I'm in bed by 9:30 PM and for some reason when Todd is gone, I can't manage to get to bed before 11:00 PM and then I would be up at 5:30 AM to work out and shower before Lucy would wake up.  So yeah, I've been tired the past few days but I guess that's my own fault (and I have to be at work at 3:45 AM tomorrow...ugh!).

 

Lucy & I really did have such a great weekend together though and it seemed like we really weren't home a whole lot.  I don't work on Fridays so I took her to the Y while I worked out (and she did much better this week, hardly any tears!) and then after lunch, we went to the mall and she ran around in the play area (and, of course, was hugging random kids).  After dinner, we went to the children's Christmas festival at church.  My dad is actually in charge of the event so he was working and my mom helped me with Lucy as she was trying to get into EVERYTHING.  She saw Santa again (as you can see in the picture below, it clearly didn't go any better this time around), played some games, and danced.  She was worn out and was asleep within just a few minutes and slept until 8:00 AM on Saturday!

She still doesn't like Santa

 

Playing games

Bean bag toss

Participating in the cookie walk

Dancing

On Saturday morning, we picked my dad up and drove over to visit Aunt Tootie at the nursing home.  I've really been slacking on going to see her and it's been a couple years since I've been.  She was able to meet Lucy for the first time too.  We spent an hour there visiting....which mainly consisted of Lucy leading the way and wandering all the hallways while my dad pushed Aunt Tootie around in her wheelchair.

Me, Aunt Tootie, and Lucy

Once we got back home and had some lunch, Lucy played before taking her nap.  Afterwards, we did some Target shopping and then went to my parents' for dinner.

She flipped her chair over and then started hiding all her toys underneath it

 

My dad & I usually break the wishbone from the Thanksgiving turkey but this year I passed the wishbone tradition to Lucy

We started our Sunday morning off with breakfast, laundry, and grocery shopping.  We then headed to my friend's house for our annual book club Christmas party where we each bring our favorite $5 thing for everyone.  It's always so fun to try new products and see what other things people love (that typically also soon become some of my favorite things). We were encouraged to wear our pjs and I knew Lynn would be bringing Olive so Lucy would have a friend to play with.  Lucy loved playing with "new" (to her) toys and running circles around the house.  She was exhausted and took a 2.5 hour nap when we got home! 

Lucy in her pjs

Lucy & Olive staring each other down

And of course she goes in for a hug

Selfie!

 

She spent a significant amount of time taking all the presents out of the bag and then putting them back in

Some of the favorite things that I got....dry shampoo, Trader Joe's cookie butter cups, lip gloss, face wipes, face masks, reusable bag, scarf, and not pictured is a set of Jamberry nails (I brought a box of Starbucks Salty Caramel hot chocolate for each girl)

A few of the girls hanging out

Lynn & I with our sweet girls

 

The rest of our Sunday evening was uneventful & I was sure glad when Todd got home after midnight that night.  All I know is that I think he owes me a pedicure & a night out with my girlfriends, don't you think?