Without Mommy: Day 1

Jennifer and I woke up around 5:40am to get her ready and out the door to catch a 8am flight. She went to a beach resort in São Paulo state for a missionary women's conference. We expect her back late Friday night.

I have to admit that I have been dreading this week a little. I love spending time with Elisa, but not having my the other half of the tag-team is hard. I really do think that people who are single and want to adopt (I know a couple) have a little crazy in them. They deserve extra blessings from the Lord for willingly taking on the responsibility of child rearing alone. I have done this thing a couple of times for a couple of nights, but we are doing a Monday through Friday stretch this time. It will be all good though. I have a plan: a schedule of meals and activities.

I must warn you now that this week I will be rambling about each day's events/activities. Jennifer took the camera, so no pictures. Sorry.

Today hasn't been too off the wall. Elisa woke up at 8am. We ate breakfast together and then watch a little Baby Einstein movie. I realized that we ran out of gas (to heat the water and work the stove/oven). So, I ordered more and we waited about 25 minutes for it to arrive. The gas was delivered and off the "guys" went in their big green truck. Then Elisa took a bath and we got her all dressed.

Around 10am we were out the door to pay our monthly bills. We got to the bank and paid the bills and were on our way to Blockbuster to rent a couple of movies by 11. After Blockbuster we picked Benay Blume up. She dropped us off at home and borrowed our car for the afternoon because her's is in the shop (again... sigh). Elisa played for about 30 minutes while I made us lunch.

Today's menu: 4 Cheese Ravioli w/ Red Mushroom Sauce and Green Beans.

After about 10 minutes of sitting at the table Elisa was begging to take a nap! I started using her desire to "need to rest" as leverage. "Take 2 more bites of noodles with cheese and one more green bean and you can go up and sleep in your bed." It worked. She was in bed taking what I hope will be a nice 3 hour nap by 12:15.

I plan on picking up around the house for the next couple of hours (iPod attached to my person of course). Around 4:30 (or whenever the car returns) we will be out the door to pick up Claudio (every Monday I give our dear friend Claudio a ride home from work. It is about a 3 hour excursion). Elisa loves to play with his daughters, so that will be a good way to end the day. We should make it home between 7 and 8 tonight. She will eat and go to bed by 8:30.

Hopefully tonight I will plop down on the couch (if my chores are done) and watch what will probably be a bad popcorn movie. I rented "the Incredible Hulk" and "D-Wars". We'll see. The main thing is that they are flicks that will probably keep me somewhat entertained until I want to go to bed - which with luck will be around 11. The other thing I have dreaded about Jenn being gone is that I can't sleep when she isn't here. It is the worst.

Well, that is Monday (even though in reality it is only 12:45pm right now). Stay tuned for walking at the mall, painting and if we are lucky... breaking in the pool for the first time this season.