I wonder how they manage

I wonder how they do it. Single parents, that is.

The husband is on a long business trip (2 weeks!!!!) and I'm really struggling after the first week. Firstly there's something strange about my body's reaction to the knowledge that I am alone and solely responsible for the kids for the next 3 days/1 week/2 weeks. The last time the husband was out for 4 days I got a severe stomach upset on one of the nights, so bad that I wanted to faint. I somehow held it together till bed time and collapsed in bed. The next morning i was fine. Of course i haven't got a stomach ache before or since.

And then today. I woke up with a headache but i thought it would be cured by 3 coffees. I had slept enough - from 10:45 last night till 8 this morning, only interrupted a couple of times by A (can you believe it she's nearly 2 and still wakes up so often and cries in the night! poetic justice for having S who slept through the night from 8 months onwards) and thought the headache would go away. Bad mistake. I had taken S (and A of course) for a trial ballet class and the headache got worse and worse during the class. And after the class we did some grocery shopping and then S wanted to play in the snow and by the time we were ready to leave myhead was splitting, I was feeling nauseas and my hands were shaking. I prayed to all the Gods to help me drive back home safely. Somehow made it home where I put the TV on, put the kids in front of it, took a Saradon and told S to look after A and not trouble me for 15 mins. I was not actually much better after 15 mins but the kids lunch had to be prepared and A had to be fed and I somehow had to get it done.

I'm really missing the hubby this time. Weekdays are somehow manageable with the kids school and their activities. Monday and Thursday I have my German class. Thursday is the children's playgroup in the afternoon and Friday is S swimming class. About once a week we go over to S friend's house for a playdate or they come over. So the days pass by quickly.

But the weekends are a different story. I don't like to trouble friends and intrude on their family time (here everyone likes to spend weekends only with family) so I need to plan activities for the kids alone. Luckily this time, S friend's dad is also out of town on Sunday so me and the other mom are planning to catch up with the girls for an early dinner. But today i felt quite out of it when saw that most of the other families all my friends were either in the mountains skiing, or in neighbouring France/Germany. Facebook damn you! And i am not driving alone into the mountains with these two brats!

Anyway coming back to the main point of this post. Really i don't know how single parents manage. To bring up kids alone itself is a huge challenge. And then work on top of it? Which means that the half an hour you get free in a day after doing all the housework and looking after the kids you're probably checking your BB to see if anything urgent has come up. I am struggling to manage alone for 2 weeks and people do it their whole life!

Ski lessons

And so we had our first skiing experience last Sunday. We went to a nearby ski resort (Hoch YBrig, which is 1 hour 15 mins away) which has a good beginners slope. We had booked 4 hours of classes and managed to get about 3 hours done (what with the time taken to rent skis, get outfitted, trek all the way to the slope with 2 kids, factor in the kids lunch etc etc). But it was good fun and a whole lot better than I expected.

S had her first lesson too. I was in the playroom with A (its really convenient, they have a creche right next to the slope so you can leave your kids there and go skiiing and pick them up when you're done, and its right next to the slope so you can keep dropping in and checking if they're ok) so I didn't get to see much of what S did but the hubby said she did good. She was a bit scared of going with the trainer and fell down quite a few times as well, but when I asked her later whether she wanted to go again she said yes!

I found everything about skiing extremely difficult. The heavy boots, the long skiis, difficulty in walking up slopes and extreme difficulty in braking! I just couldn't learn how to stop and fell down at least 5 times. I guess it will come with time and practise. And so much effort - taking a gondola up, wearing some 3 layers of clothes, making the kids wear three layers of clothes, the heavy boots which bite into your leg after some time...

But the snow topped mountains and view is so amazing, and watching the other skiiers ski gracefully down the mountains is so awesome that you don't mind the effort. And with the sun shining you don't even feel that cold!

So we're definetly going again next weekend....even if it is do fall down another 5 times.