Final Day - Afternoon/Evening (April 8, 2014)

The afternoon went rather well actually. We went and picked up Nicholai from school and drove back to the house.  We had lunch and the boys very graciously played outside allowing me to clean the living room carpet. It was the last room I needed to do. It came out pretty good I think.

I then took the boys over Suri's house and let them run each other down a bit.  Nap was done a little later than usual. I finished up by vacuuming the living room floor and the car so that Laura has a nice clean car when she takes the kids back tomorrow.

The boys had to be woken up from nap but were very happy to see mommy when she came home.

Today was Laura's last day of clinicals.  She ended with 270 some odd successful blood draws.  She got rave reviews from the staff and going away gifts from them as well.  I'm very proud of her and all she has done at the VA hospital.  I really think that if she wanted to she could get a job there.

Bedtime was a little rough but we're waiting for them to fall asleep now so everything is looking good.

I must say,  I will severely miss being able to take my boys to school and spend one on one time with Masen. It made me feel so much more like a dad being able to do that stuff.

But, this is it.  The last entry for this blog. I don't know that I will ever blog again.  I've never really felt I've ever had something of interest to blog about. Nor did I really think this would be seen as many times as it was.  Last I checked,  this blog had over 250 page views which is impressive if you ask me.

Either way,  that's it. For those that have been following me, thank you for reading.  It's always inspiring to know people read what you write.

Since it's technically not tomorrow I can sign off with this name one last time.

Temporary Mr.  Mom

Final Day - Morning (April 8, 2014)

So, this is my last morning taking Nicholai to school and getting to spend some one on one time with Masen.

We got to school with plenty of time to take a nice leisurely walk up to the school. Nicholai went in with no problems as usual.

Masen and I hit up three stores trying to find what we needed.  He was quite the trooper getting in and out of the car over and over.  He sat pretty well in the cart at the commissary and in Target so I let him get down and walk around a bit at Food Lion. 

Why so many stores you ask? Well the commissary didn't have Masen's rice milk or the Jell-O No Bake Cheesecake mix I needed.

Target had the rice milk but not the mix I needed. Finally Food Lion had the mix I needed. Now we sit and wait to pick up Nicholai for the last time.

Sigh.

Temporary Mr.  Mom

Day Eleven - Afternoon/Evening (April 7, 2014)

I'm combining these two because I didn't really notice a difference between the two.  This afternoon consisted of us going to Suri's house and kids played while I helped Suri make cupcakes for Laura.

I took the boys home and put them down for nap.  Nicholai got up early so I figured,  why not and tried to get to the dealership to pick up the car and get back in time for Laura to take it to class. The dealership called and said that the upper and lower radiator hoses were pitted and might leak coolant soon. That repair would be $550+ if we wanted to do it.  I said no because there was no way for me to discuss it with Laura since she gets zero reception at the VA hospital where she's doing clinicals.

That's when it began.

It started raining heavily as I went inside to get the verdict on the car.  Nearly $900! They were already running the coolant flush when they noticed the problem so they couldn't stop it so they had to charge me for it. Ugh.

Then the machine that was running my card was having issues.  So many to the point that where she had to call the bank that ran the machine and do all kids of weird stuff.

Consider my plans to get the car back in time for Laura screwed.

It continued to down pour as I switched the car seats from the loaner Elantra to the Fe.

By the time we got back I rushed to get dinner done and do the end of day cleaning.

It has been a day and it's my second to last one. Tomorrow is my last day as a Temporary Mr.  Mom and I have learned much.

Temporary Mr.  Mom

Day Eleven - Morning (April 7, 2014)

Wow...this morning has been...rushed at best.  Rushed and got the kids out the door in what I thought would be well over enough time to get done what needed to get done which was getting to the Hunydai dealership taking the car seats out getting them put into a loaner from the dealership and get the car put in for a tune up.  It took waaaay longer than necessary to get paperwork drawn up and signed especially when we had an appointment.

Despite previous contact with my wife, they still were not sure what needed to be done on the car.  The kids cooperated midly but getting the carseats into the small loaner car they gave us (Elantra) was a pain and we had to HAUL ASS to get the kids to school on time.  My heart dropped a little as the guy explained to me how much everything that the wife wanted done would cost.  When did engines become so difficult to work on?  What does everything that requires regular maintanence have to be burried so deep?

Anyway, both kids are at school so I'm off on my own to do I don't know what.  I know a coffee is in order but past that I'm at a loss.  I don't want to drive all the way home just to have to drive all the way back out here, but it would probably be the best time to get the carpet cleaning done for the living room.

Maybe I'll do it after school and see if Suri will watch the kids at her place while I do it and hope that it's at least mostly dry by the time we come home for nap.

Sigh.

That's pretty much it for now.

Temporary Mr. Mom

Day Ten - Morning/Afternoon/Evening (April 4, 2014)

Very tiring morning and afternoon.  On a whim I volunteered to watch a friend's little one on top of having my two boys.  It's amazing how much that can exhaust.  But I did manage to get the hallways and our bedroom carpets cleaned.

Boys went down for nap and actually stayed down.

We did cooking out for dinner.  It seems like I should have more to talk about considering how exhausted I am but I really don't.  I got stuff done but it wasn't much.

Now on to the weekend and a break from Mr.  Mom duties.  Except for dinner.  That will continue.

Temporary Mr.  Mom

Day Nine - Afternoon/Evening (April 3, 2014)

Spent the afternoon at Suri's house. The boys go their play on it was a mess. Sand everywhere; in people's hair and clothes and just everywhere.

We came home and played on the trampoline for a bit then spent a decent amount of time trying to desandify Nicholai's hair and body before settling down for nap.

During nap I did something I hadn't done in a while, I played my guitar.

Well, I didn't play a lot. Just enough to tune it and play one song.

Then Nicholai woke up super early so I had to try to put him back down. He woke up again 10 minutes later so I just let him get

Laura came home and played with he kids while I made dinner. It went OK I guess.

Putting the kids down was a boy aggravating since Nicholai was being ridiculous, but eventually he went down.

Tomorrow is going to be interesting with Nicholai not having school.

Temporary Mr. Mom

Day Nine - Morning (April 3, 2014)

This morning went much smoother. I decided to try taking the back roads to school today. Not any difference in time really. Dropped Nicholai off with his toy for show and tell and away Masen and I went to my job.

Submitted my National Defense University packet today. Masen clung to me for the most part while at my job. He wouldn't high five anybody.

However, as we were leaving we bumped into my Group/Brigade commander who simply held his hand out. TWICE Masen high fived him. Lol. At least my two year old knows who it is important to impress lol.

Target for a snack and some wipes and then to Mommy's work to leave a little note of "thinking of you" on her windshield. Boy was her car a pain to find in the 5-6 different mass8ve parking lots at the VA hospital.

Then it was off to pick up brother for our afternoon gig.

Day Eight - Evening (April 2, 2014)

Uneventful evening really. Pizza from Papa Johns for dinner with some cheese bread. The only thing really crazy was Papa Johns messing up my scheduling. I planned to have kids done eating by the time the pizza actually got there. It took nearly an hour and a half for a place that's down the street to deliver an order of a pizza and so cheese bread.
Ridiculous.

Mommy came home and the kids list their mind like they always do.

Bath and bed were relatively smooth.

Tomorrow is another busy day

Temporary Mr. Mom

Day Eight - Afternoon (April 2, 2014)

So picked up Nicholai from school and got right on the road to Masen's speech therapy when I ran into this red car driving in front of me.  Not only does he have a license plate hanging on by some hanging document protector but he also is driving....and driving....and driving with his left turn signal on.

I flash my lights at him, I flash my blinker at him. I do this for about two miles and he finally gets the hint. He waves his thanks and then, get this, changes lanes to the left and makes a left turn without even using his left turn signal. All I could do was shake my head.

Got home with no other incident and borrowed the carpet cleaner from Suri. Thankfully, Suri's kids kept my kids occupied enough that I could clean the carpets in their rooms and let it dry. My back is killing me but that was a good chunk done.

Now to chill for a bit and figure out dinner.

On to the evening.

Temporary Mr. Mom

Day Eight - Morning (April 2, 2014)

What a morning. I thought I was ahead of the game when I was able to leave a little earlier than usual but boy was I wrong.

Got to school and realized I forgot Nicholai's backpack and shoes for Masen. Dropped Nicholai off and went back to the house to pick up shoes for Masen and Nicholai's backpack. Then drove to post to do my DA photo.

When getting into my dress uniform I realize I'm missing a crest for my current unit.  Luckily I had the two I needed from my previous one. Then I had to make changes according to the photo tech. Took a half hour to do what should have taken 15 minutes.

Next was a quick trip to target for snacks and then to pick up Nicholai. Sheesh. What a morning.

Hopefully the afternoon is better.

Temporary Mr. Mom

Day Seven - Evening (April 1, 2014)

Well after some lunch and time at the park we went to the house and the boys played some more outside. Then settling in for a little bit of a movie before nap. Now they are both down and its time to finish laundry and chill for a bit. The momma doesn't have class tonight so she'll he home right around when they get up but I'm still making dinner.

Tonight it's sausage with peppers and potatoes. Hopefully the kids will eat. Tomorrow is another busy day with my DA photo and Masen's speech appointment along with the usual school for Nicholai and so forth and so on.

Here's to another day!

Temporary Mr. Mom

Day Seven - Afternoon (April 1, 2014)

Got so much done today so far and Masen has been immensely well behaved. He played with toys quietly while I got my haircut and he even put up with standing in line at the DMV, with the help of some goldfish and a Galaxy tab. Picking up Nicholai at school was easy enough. Just gotta get a hold of Suri to see if she wants to hang today.

We'll see how that pans out and then do something about lunch then nap. Quite a productive day so far.

Temporary Mr. Mom

Day Seven - Morning (April 1, 2014)

Morning went OK I guess. Nicholai woke up early. I guess you could say they both woke up early though Masen woke up later than Nicholai. Laura's friend showed up at the house. Don't know how. I didn't see an extra car at the house which leads me to believe that someone dropped her off. As to why that person couldn't give her a ride to work is beyond me. 

Schedule conflicts I guess.

She got off a little late but I got some stuff done early this morning so it will be easier to get out the door sooner rather than later.

I'll have the Prix today and littlest man all day. Hopefully he'll behave while I get a hair cut. Or maybe we'll go to Barnes and noble first...

Guess we'll see what the rest of the morning brings.

Morning all.

Temporary Mr. Mom

Day Six - Evening (March 31, 2014)

Both boys got up a little early from nap and were awake when mommy stopped home before going to school. Neither threw a fit when she left which was nice. I finished cleaning the master bath and then made a quick dinner. Everything was vacuumed and cleaned up, kids were fed and we were just beginning to relax and quite down and then mommy came home.

I swear they hear that garage door open and they lose their minds. All the calmness I once had in place vanishes instantly. And of course she wants the car seats taken out of one car and put in another like right bow because she wants to take the other car tomorrow because she's giving a friend a ride to work and doesn't want her to see her driving the "POS" as she put it.

Tried to get the kids down for bath and bed on time but with her nightly routine and kids not wanting anything to do with me at bath it took longer than it should have.

I thought about going to see a movie, but since the wife had work and school today I didn't want her to end up having to do both parts of Nicholai's wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night routine. So maybe tomorrow night.

Either way, the day is done and the next two are going to be busy. Tomorrow I need to get a hair cut and maybe get the registration on the Prix done. I was going to pick up the carpet cleaner from Suri today and surprise Laura by cleaning the carpets but there's no way I'll get it home in the Prix with the kids.

So Wednesday is going to be crazy too. DA photo and making sure my NDU packet is good to go and submit it. Whxih means stopping by work. Then maybe pick up the carpet cleaner and try to do it before she gets home.

Sadly she probably won't notice or care but its something that she wants done.

Oh well.

Temporary Mr. Mom

Day Six - Afternoon (March 31, 2014)

Not too much for the afternoon. Tried to treat the boys to some sweet frog froyo in the afternoon after school. Nicholai did OK but Masen not so much.

Then we went home for what became another impromptu play date with our neighbors at the end of the culdesac. I really should try to learn their names next time...

A little after that Suri and her boys came over for a while and then it was nap time as Masen was cranktastic mess. The boys went down for nap easily enough although I did end up falling asleep in the rocker with Masen for a little bit. He's just so damn comfy and cuddly.

Well, that's the afternoon. Time to start cleaning the master bathroom.

Temporary Mr. Mom