Home Again

Wow. It's been awhile since I posted. So much has happened. The kids are out of school, my hair grew a few inches, and Dallin speaks almost in sentences. My how time flies!

Most importantly we've had a very happy turn of events for us. Cal was offered a job managing an online business- working from HOME. That's right folks. He came home. No longer on the roads, we hired another guy to drive our truck and Cal came home! It all happened so fast, I couldn't have even guessed this was coming. We've been patient for 2 1/2 years of truck driving, and though he's been lucky enough to have routes that brought him home weekly, it has been a challenge.

So we are thrilled, no ESTATIC, that he is an official, permanent part of our family again. The week before this all happened I tried to tell Grant that his grandma was coming to visit. "Grant," I said. "Somebody very special is coming tomorrow to spend the night with us. Can you guess who it is?" Grants eyes got all big and he said, "Dad?!" Yes, Dad has been more of a guest at our house (at least according to Grant) and now he is here to be involved in all the day to day things a family does. We are so excited! We'd been praying for a way for him to come home because despite how magnificently well I raise the boys on my own (ha ha), they need a dad- (and I needed a break!)

Whenever people hear that he's now working from home, I immediately get a 'look' and then they whisper under their breath skeptically, "Are you ok with having him work from home?!" Without fail I get that question. My response is always the same. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" He's been home for 24-36 hours a week for 2 1/2 years now. We are SO glad to be together again. Granted, we're smart and have set up some good boundaries and whatnot about having him work from home. But for the most part, we are in heaven. So far we've only disagreed on 2 things:

1) The house temperature. Cal is from Vegas- he likes his AC. When it gets warm, I open windows to avoid turning on the AC yet. (Luckily it's been pretty cool out and opening windows has sufficed).
2) Whether we should force our kids to eat their dinner. The first week home he didn't think the kids should have to eat things they don't like at dinner. (Eating dinner together sitting politely was an adjustment as it was. I never ate sitting with the kids!) Anyway, after watching me plan meals, shop, cook and then clean it all, Cal suddenly realized why I didn't want to make a separate meal for each puppy-eyed boy that felt like having something else for dinner. They now eat whatever we're having for dinner. (And Cal continues to express his gratitude that his meal is not from a can or a drive through).

There are other adjustments to him coming home. We've had a few miscommunications. Like the first week when I asked him to take out the trash- and then pull the garbage out to the curb because the next day was garbage day. He was working with Grant to help him take out the trash (working with Dad is something they boys have desperately missed!), which was great, but Cal got caught up in the wonderful teaching moment and forgot to pull the garbage to the curb. When I went to take Grant to preschool the next morning, I noticed the garbage was already back in it's spot! What a man! Then I realized it had never been TAKEN to the curb at all and we had missed garbage day. 2 weeks of garbage (plus an extra day due to a holiday) really piles up fast! He hasn't missed the garbage since.

I am adjusting to cooking more meals. Actually, I should say I'm adjusting to cooking meals AT ALL again. I like to cook, but it just wasn't worth it by myself so we'd eat very casually and simply. Let's just say my kids are actually sick of mac and cheese!!! (This explains my 5 lb weight gain...) Suddenly I'm planning and cooking a lot! It is nice to eat healthy again.

I love that when I'm cooking dinner, I'll turn around and suddenly notice the family room has been cleaned! And after dinner, it only takes 15 min to clean up all of dinner with Cal's help (he makes the boys help too- something I just avoided before). It's like I have an extra pair of angel hands (very manly angel hands mind you) there to pick up the slack.

BEING A SINGLE MOM WAS VERY, VERY HARD!!!!! I am so glad to be turning to a new chapter in our life. (Though I was never actually 'single.' Thanks to cell phones, texting and the internet we probably actually communicated more than most couples do daily. We spent lots of time talking- something we've been doing ever since our first date). I recognize that there will be challenges with the new adjustment (we went from gone all the time to home all the time! How opposite is that!), but we are both thrilled to accept those 'challenges.' Time is precious. Time together as a family is precious and it all is meaningful, even if you are mowing the lawn or simply eating dinner together. I hope we never take that for granted again.