Being left behind while the husband is away

For the last nine days Ram has been away on a work trip. He started in San Francisco for a conference and then took a trip to Las Vegas, because it's on the way home. Although I'm pretty used to evenings and nights alone, it was by far the longest that he's been away since we had the children, and the furthest apart geographically that we've ever been.

I've been very lucky while he's been away. My Mum came and stayed for a few days which was a great help, and I've been visiting both parents as well as being visited myself by friends. Now that the children are older it's not nearly as hard as it would once have been, and during the week it didn't really feel much different than normal. Of course we all missed Ram, and Harry in particular did seem a little bit unsettled at times, but we've had fun too.

I've eaten a few more chocolates and baked a few more batches of cookies than is good for my waistline, especially as I've been missing out on my regular gym trips. I've rewatched a fair bit of Breaking Bad, started up a new crafty project with mini Hama beads and scheduled plenty of blog posts ready for our upcoming holiday.

I was very good, and every night but one I resisted the temptation to scoop a child out of their beds and put them in with me when I went to bed - while night time cuddles are lovely children do tend to wake up much earlier when they are in bed with me!

Things have been relaxed a little bit, the children haven't quite managed a bath every night and I've been a bit lazy about tidying up. But they've also become a little more independent - I've been encouraging them to serve themselves to drink and cereal and to help with the tidying and cleaning a bit more.

Now I'm thinking that it's my turn for a break away somewhere, although I'm not sure I'd want to go quite so far or for quite such a long time!