Adventures in solo parenting

Is Mommy home yet?

Before Aurora was born, M spent about 10 days in Zimbabwe as part of some work she's doing at the Medical School there. At the time I was 30 weeks pregnant and not super happy about her being gone, but was proud of the work she's doing. Well here we are in 2013, and M is back in Zimbabwe for a 10 day trip to continue her work there. While she's away I'm getting a tiny taste of what it's like to care for a child on your own, it's exhausting! Thankfully my parents and some friends have chipped in to make it a little easier.

Mommy has been gone for 5 days now, and Aurora definitely misses her. In the morning she points at M's bathrobe and asks, "Mommy?" and I explain that Mommy is in Africa. The one thing that's made this easier for her (and me too), I think, is that we've been able to see M via Google Hangout. So twice now in the morning here (early evening in Zimbabwe) we've had a video chat. Aurora says, "Hi!" to Mommy and leans in for a virtual kiss.

Aurora and I have had some fun together. She's learning to blow bubbles (instead of just dripping the liquid everywhere), she's doing lots of coloring, and we've read every book she has at least 10 times. She changes so fast, it's hard for me to imagine what it would be like to be away from her.  Tonight for the first time, she said, "Goodnight," when I put her to bed. While it is nice to get this time with her, I think we'll both be pretty happy when Mommy gets home.