2 months down, 2 to go

One of my biggest fears came to fruition Sunday, it snowed AND I had to shovel (gasp). Let me preface this conversation with 1) we have a snow blower but Carl rarely uses it, he claims it’s not working and 2) before Carl left he arranged to have our neighbor’s son shovel for me. So when it started snowing Sunday I called my neighbor and he confirmed that his son was home so he was going to call him and tell him to go outside and shovel. I was out shopping but when I got home that evening our driveway hadn’t been shoveled yet. I probably should’ve waited to see if he was going to do it, but at that point it was already dark and I didn’t want to chance it not getting done and having to wake up early in the morning to do it. An hour and a half later and I'm sore, freezing, and have soaking wet hair and pants. I immediately called my father-in-law and asked him to come get our snow blower and have it fixed because I am not going through that again.

I was also worried about handling the boys all on my own. One positive is that since Carlene is living with us I don't have to worry about daycare drop off and pick up. But when I get home from work she's off the payroll and it's just me and the boys. By the time I get done with dinner and baths I'm exhausted and there's very little down time. Although I'm quickly realizing there’s no such thing as down time when you’re a parent, let alone a single parent which is in essence what I am for the remainder of this deployment. But I’m really missing the shared parenting responsibilities. Carl and I have a good thing going; we have assigned days for primary parenting responsibilities. Meaning that parent is responsible for all diaper changes, feedings, baths, bedtime, etc. Not to say that we don't spend time with the boys on our "off" day; we still eat dinner as a family, play with the boys and help out with anything as needed. But it allows each of us to get personal or household things done without having to worry about attending to the boys needs. So 2 months down, 2 to go. Is it February yet, we're exhausted?