Is it a-a gathering, a shindig or a hootenanny?

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Overheard, Bean making a pretend phone call this morning:

Hi Daddy.
{Sniff-sniff}
I ... hate mommy.
I want you.

All because I was just trying to do a little work and cram in some blog time in my first thirty minutes of the day.

Being the custodial parent is a world of different from being a noncustodial one, IMO. There's so little downtime, and I actually get 4 more days a month than most folks do. Typically, the noncustodial parent covers the first, third and (when it happens) fifth weekend, meaning the custodial parent often only has 6 days off a month. My usual is 10. The other 20 days are all mommy, all the time. Natch, there's a good chunk of mommy at work/kids in daycare but all the home time is all me.

And I don't have kids that give me free time when they're with me; I have to cajole, wheedle, sneak and sometimes holler to get a few minutes alone. I pee, they're there. I shower, they're there. I cook, they're there. I clean, they're there. And not just hanging out or helping, but incessantly talking/whining at me to stop whatever it is I'm doing and pay attention to them. Play with them. Listen to them.

Don't get me wrong, I really do adore them, but 20 days of the month, if I'm home, I'm not catching a break until they go to sleep. Which takes an hour of me being with them. And then it's 8:30 or so and I have about 9 hours before the next day starts. So it's constantly a choice of "do I sleep, or do I read/blog/write/clean?" And the personal time usually wins.

We had friends over today for a potluck; it's funny - you spend hours cleaning to have folks over, and within, what, about 15 minutes the kiddos have turned the place into something health inspectors would condemn, given half a chance. But it was awesome to see everyone and to get the kids together, and totally worth the cleaning :) I swear, I have the greatest friends!

I got to wrap up my day with two very sleepy and very snuggly girlies; we read stories and they both fell asleep pretty quickly (under 45 minutes) so I can sneak in a blog post and finish the post-get-together clean up then maybe grab a solid 7 hours tonight.

Wish me luck!
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