July has been nick-named “solo parenting month” because out of the 31 days, Daddy is away for approximately 17 of them between four separate trips to various camps to make promotional videos and a weekend tournament event.  At the time that I’m writing this there are only two more days and one more overnight to go before things return to normal again.  I am blessed to be a part of an incredible tribe of mamas that have helped to keep me sane this month with coffees, emergency Tylenol drop-offs, company, meals, and much more!

This particular morning, and really most of my July mornings (and nights) involved this little bed buddy.  This TEETHING bed buddy I might add so we keep each other company every couple hours throughout the night as we wait for the illusive teeth to appear!  Once we hear brother waking up down the hall, it’s time for freedom from the swaddle and lots of stretching.  Levi is okay to chill by himself for short periods sometimes and usually first thing in the morning is one of them.  So he just hangs out in bed while I go to rescue Micah.  The best way to combat the grumps in the morning is to arrive with a peace offering in hand (warmed milk in a bottle).  After a quick diaper change, we head out to the living room, turn on morning cartoons, and are greeting by a massive pile of laundry that I didn’t get to the day before.  I try not to leave stuff like this to wake up to, but did I mention I was solo parenting?

Once Micah is settled (and dressed since most of his clothes happened to be sitting on the floor waiting for him), I go back to grab Levi and change his diaper as well.  Loving having some new cloth diapers added to our stash!  Most of my friends who are selling their old diapers have had girls so we picked out the least girly ones from their stashes!  Then, as I know I have a friend on her way over to keep me company for the day, I head off to get myself ready, but of course not alone – never, ever alone… haha.

After I’m presentable for the day, I grab breakfast for Micah (who loves to squish everything) and an “iced coffee” for myself from the fridge.  Aka – coffee I put in there the day before.  Thankfully, while I was folding the laundry, my friend arrived with REAL iced coffee for me – bless her.

I have two little boys and she has two little girls, so between us we had four kids under two in the house!  (Well, her oldest is two and a few months, but close enough).   If you’re going to have crazy, having it with a good friend is the best way!  The babies started holding hands immediately while we all died of cuteness overload.  Arranged marriages in their futures?

Another friend popped over super briefly to pick up some house decor that I was purging and paid me in yet another iced coffee which was perfect since I was almost finished my first one!  I will gladly accept payment for things in the form of hangouts and caffeine almost anytime ;).  After that, we fed the older two kids lunch and tried to put everyone down for a nap.  Micah cooperated perfectly.  Levi, true to his current form, also cooperated as long as he was ON me.  Her eldest wasn’t having it, but her youngest eventually fell asleep too.  Three out of four isn’t bad when three out of four are teething!  How is it that the only kid not teething didn’t nap?

Did I also mention that this wonderful friend brought and MADE lunch for us while I snapped some quick photos of Levi before he went to sleep because I realized it was his three-month birthday?  Seriously, I know good people.

A couple of hours later, the full gang was back up again.  The kids shared a snack and the parents turned on Paw Patrol and took turns closing their eyes on the couch because we were both dying of tiredness.

After my sweet friend left around 4pm, I fed Micah another quick snack and tidied up.  Levi, who was propped up on the couch, suddenly seemed very quiet and sure enough, he was ready for his late-afternoon nap as well.  I managed to transfer him to his crib for a quick catnap, and pulled out my computer to deal with some work emails.  He didn’t last long in there, but was content to be on the couch for a tiny bit while I attempted (in vain) to finish.  In the end, I just plopped him back on my lap and finished my emails over on the couch with him.  His nick-name is not the “tiny siren” in our household for no reason!  Micah was content to watch some t.v. in his highchair while I reviewed all the notes for the next day’s wedding.

I propped Levi back up and proceeded to pack the boys’ stuff for Grandma and Grandpa’s the next day.  For a full wedding day babysit they need a LOT of stuff….  Meanwhile, Micah discovered a ball that got left behind by my friend which kept him quite happy, but the kid was off-the-wall hyper so I eventually paused what I was doing to help him get ready for bed a bit early that day because I just couldn’t deal with the spastic energy anymore.

Next up was kid no. 2’s bedtime routine.  Disposable diaper, swaddle, feed, and cuddles.  Then it was back to packing and making notes so I wouldn’t forget anything the next day as on top of packing for the boys, I also had to pack all the gear for the wedding, frozen breast milk for Levi, and all my pumping supplies for the car.  Most of the gear was on its way home with Daddy from his shoot, so I finished that up once he got back around 9pm.

In the midst of everything, I remembered to actually water our lawn and mostly finished packing just in time for Levi to wake up and need rocking back to sleep.  But finally everything was ready for the next day, both boys were asleep, and Mom and Dad crashed in bed to catch up on the time away.