Last weekend, Nicholas went away to a youth trip in Tianjin. Although totally apprehensive that he was leaving us all alone, I had my big girl pants on and told myself I could do it. Single moms do it all the time right?

So the first day was Friday, and I felt like it was a completely normal day. Just like Nicholas always does, he left around 6 to get to work. And then there were no problems really the entire day. This was long enough for me to feel very confident.  Then, around bedtime, E and I were doing our routine, washing and eating for the last time. Everything was normal except for one thing: no daddy. She noticed but there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. Through the next day however, I noticed she became more and more irritable. She also slept less and less. She also became very very fussy when she was eating.

I slowly watched E decline into a state of distress (that is probably dramatic) by Sunday night. On Sunday, E didn’t sleep at all after 10am. I also declined into a state of distress by Sunday night. I was tired, hungry, lonely. Although we have a lovely community who brought me 3 meals that weekend, no one had stayed to visit with me. I longed for some adult conversation. My aching arms longed for respite from carrying a 12lb. baby. This was only 60 hours after Nicholas left. How do single parents do it? Seriously, I have so much empathy for parents who are total bad-asses at this whole thing.

When Nicholas finally came home at 7pm on Sunday, I have never felt so much physical and emotional relief! The funny thing was, that even though E missed her daddy so much, she was very upset when she was deposited in his arms. It took some cuddle time with mommy and daddy on the couch before she was happily smiling and chirping with her dad again. I love how God makes us each with a special personality and disposition. I see it with E all the time, I like to believe she was pouting and afraid daddy was going to leave again.

On Monday, Nicholas woke E up right before he left for the day. I’ve never seen her smile more. She napped 4 times on Monday. Sometimes a little girl just needs her daddy.