A Little Vindication

A few months ago, we instituted “Mommy Time.” It’s a recurring special event in which I can do whatever I want after dinner. The Husband is in charge of tubby time, jammies, books, singing, prayers and getting the girls in bed.

It’s supposed to be their special bonding time; a time without the FixItMommy being in the way. With the Husband’s crazy schedule, the girls get used to the way I do things and are sometimes hesitant to let the Husband do anthing for them when I am home. There is a lot of “NOOOOO, Mommy DO IT!!!!” that goes on.

So during Mommy Time I am out of sight and out of mind. Yesterday I had a dentist appointment. The Husband came home from work early so I could get my teeth cleaned. I was actually looking forward to it. Not only would I be alone, I was hoping for the massaging char. Unfortunately, since my appointment had been changed, there was no massaging chair for me, but I was at least alone.

After the dentist, I stopped at the store to pick up a few things. I had been gone two and a half hours when my phone rang. It was the Husband and the conversation went like this:

FixItMommy:  “Helllloooooo, no I am not lost I will be there in 5 minutes.”{he has a special ringer so I knew it was him.
The Husband:  “Hey! Ummmm, I think you need to stay out until 6 and just do tubby time.”
FixItMommy:  “I’ll be home in five minutes.”
The Husband:  “They are killing me. They are wound-up. They are crazy. I am exhausted. You need to do tubby tonight.”
FixItMommy:  “It’s been 2 and a half hours? I’ll be home soon. And yes, I can do tubby time if you are too tired.”
The Husband:  “They are all over me. They are going agro. OH! And it looks like a bomb went off in the playroom. I am just warning you.”
FixItMommy:  “I expected as much. I will be there soon.”
The Husband:  “Okay. You don’t really have to do tubby. I CAN handle it.”

So I get home and as expected it’s a mess. I get dinner ready and move on with the evening. When tubby time rolls around, he says he can handle it so I can go out to the store to look for something for his mom.

So I head out and he starts the routine. I talk to him about an hour later and he says that we need to re-evaluate the Mommy Time negotiation. He is exhausted. So I say fine we’ll talk about it when I get home.

I took advantage of being out and stopped at a couple stores. When you live where we live, it’s best to combine trips to save about a trillion dollars on gas. So about 45 minutes later – at 8 p.m. – he calls again and sounds utterly defeated. He tells me he is done for the day. He is going to bed.

Mind you he had them for two and a half hours. And actually the Little One was asleep for 60 minutes of that. So he had the two of them alone for 90 minutes. He didn’t cook a meal, do any dishes, do any laundry, nothing. He just had to entertain two kids for 90 minutes. And he about died doing it.

At first, I admit I was a bit mad. He’s been TDY so often and for so many days recently that I rarely get a break it seems. But then I just laughed and figured this will make for a great blog!

{In his defense he does wake-up by 4:30 everyday and works from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. everyday. So he is very tired, very early. But again it’s still pretty close to the last TDY where I am on duty 24 hours a day with no relief so I am not feeling too sorry for him yet!}