Night five and last night solo parenting

It’s night five of solo parenting and I am so thrilled to have my partner back home tomorrow. I can’t say it was an easy five nights but taking it one night at a time helped. Here’s a recap of what we did while my husband left the country:

Day 1 (first evening alone):

• Drove to pick up an IKEA Kallax (4 square) unit from someone off craigslist (with screaming kids in the car for a 7 minute drive)

Day 2:

• Attended a NEXUS appointment for our youngest, Sloane who is the only member of the family who doesn’t have her card
• Bought a mini crib (which I am so excited about!)
• Spent the evening setting up the crib in the main room

Day 3:

• Parent participation preschool with Blake (and Sloane)
• During nap time, I managed to move our IKEA Kallax unit (8 square) out of our bedroom and set up a mini crib. If you have me on instagram (@twodegreeslater), you would’ve seen the mini crib fail photo I posted. If you didn’t see it, here it is:
  

  When your baby falls asleep in the bedroom and you decide to build the mini crib in the main room thinking it'll fit through the door frame after. Okay curved out designs, you win this round.

  A post shared by Heather Mannas (@twodegreeslater) on Apr 5, 2018 at 1:17pm PDT

  Let me take a step back and talk about Sloane. Some of you must be wondering where she was during nap time if she normally sleeps in our bedroom. While she was nursing, I realized I had collapsed her pack n play (where she normally sleeps). While I had her attached to my boob, I managed to throw a bunch of blankets and towels into the tub with the mattress for the new crib into the bathtub to set up a somewhat safe and quiet environment for her to sleep in. She seemed quite content if you ask me.

  

• Who knew bathtubs were multifunctional? Let’s go back to the mini crib fail. Those edges on the crib that curved out screwed me and I had to take the crib apart to get it through the door. Yes, that’s right, the night before I assembled it. Then the next day I couldn’t shove it through the door frame so I had to dissemble it only to assemble it again in the bedroom. The important part is it was all set up before both kids were awake so I think that’s a mom win there.
• Two words: Sleep training. I’m not really sure why this was such a good idea at the time but I decided since the crib was set up in the bedroom for Sloane, I might as well give sleep training an attempt. Let me say that Sloane is a champ and I want to give it a couple weeks before I comment on any of it.

Day 4:

• Sold a few items thanks to Facebook Marketplace (mama’s gotta make some money, am I right!?)

Day 5:

• Gymnastics
• Grocery shopped (on a Saturday…)
• Attended a birthday party which we made it to after a nap! Sweet success!

I didn’t do a lot of crazy things these five days but I definitely got a lot accomplished with tidying up our home and selling extra items we don’t need around the home.

Here are my tips for solo parenting:

• have zero expectations
• repeat to yourself “you can do it!”
• remember “a shower is a need, not a want” (like I said, these are MY tips…)
• imagine the light at the end of the tunnel. In particular, night time when the kids are sleeping and remember it’s all about you when they’re finally in bed
• ask for help and/or accept help if you have family and friends

Miles, I’m ready for you to come home!