I’ve found this time around we’ve had several different versions of a “babymoon” (think honeymoon, but with a baby instead).  Babymoon version 1.0 was the four days we were in the hospital.  The nurses took fabulous care of us, food was presented to me at regular intervals (even if it wasn’t always the best food), pain medication was brought to me whenever I needed it and if we ever felt that we needed to be getting more sleep than we were getting?  We could call a nurse and tell her to whisk the baby off to the nursery and she would, no questions asked (we totally only did this a couple of times and I felt horribly guilty each time).  Leaving the hospital was almost a little sad because that meant we would lose the lovely buffer we had there and the real world would be knocking on our door from now on.

Version 2.0 was having Kile’s mom here to take care of us.  She would take care of Liam when our hands were full with the baby, she would watch the baby while we ran to the store on quick errands, she would fix me coffee in the morning and help with dishes and making meals.  Her help was invaluable to us.  The day she left was a dark day indeed and we practically clung to her leg as she climbed her truck to drive back to Elko.  Because now we would have to take care of ourselves!  How would we ever manage?

Which brings us to babymoon version 3.0.  This was the period of time that Kile was at home with us.  We were beyond lucky that he was able to take a full three weeks off of work to stay home.  And his being here was absolutely essential.  Until last week, I was unable to even so much as pick up Liam myself (much less Evie’s carseat or the stroller) and certainly couldn’t have managed on my own.  He handled Liam while I was dealing with “hold-me” baby, nursing Evie or doing whatever else it was she needed (I’ve never changed so many diapers in my life).  He would see that we all had lunch and dinner and breakfast and even took care of a few little projects here around the home (including putting an extra power outlet in the boys’ room).  True, a lot of xbox was played, butt hat’s to be expected with guys, isn’t it?

Today, Kile went back to work.  That means I’m sitting here with THREE CHILDREN all by myself.  Okay, Harry hardly counts because he is so wonderfully self-sufficient these days.  Liam is having his morning milk in his pack n’ play and Evie is crashed out on my chest.  So far, so good.

HOLD ME.

After all, it is only 8:15 and we have hours to go before Kile comes back home.  In the intervening hours I will have to deal with nursing and Liam running amok and lunchtime and naptime and diaper changes and… gah.  I’m sure it won’t be so bad.  I’m sure I’m just blowing this up to be a bigger deal than it really is.  After all, the endings of babymoon versions 1.0 and 2.0 weren’t as bad as we expected them to be.  We survived just fine.  And chances are, I’ll survive just fine in the aftermath of version 3.0 too.  I just need to reestablish a routine and maybe come up with some new, creative solutions for logistical issues.  Because when you have two under two and the older of the two is a mischevious imp and the younger is a “hold-me” baby, you better believe you have logistical issues.

Wish me luck.