When the Husband Comes Home...

We made it through the seven weeks!  It wasn't easy at times, but we made it!  The girls are still alive and in one piece, the house is still standing (and is actually in better condition... more on that in another blog later on), nobody starved to death, and I have yet to check myself into the nut house for people gone crazy!

Danny arrived home last Friday around suppertime.  While he was gone, we had an every-other-Friday-pizza-night tradition, so when I told Gracie the pizza man was coming soon, she wanted to wait outside for him.  It was a beautiful evening so out we went.  Gracie picked flowers and made rock piles and Ella played in the dirt and tried to eat stones.  Danny called to tell me he had just picked up the pizza and would be pulling in shortly.  When I saw the car turn onto our road, I said "here comes the pizza man, Gracie!"  She got all excited until she saw the car... then she just stared at it, and sort of whimpered. I don't think she quite knew what to think since it was supposed to be the pizza man.  She started saying something (which I couldn't make out) and when Danny got out of the car, she didn't know what to do.  She thought about crying, but then I said "Who's that?!?" and Danny took off his sunglasses and hat. 

Here's a video of the homecoming... I had to link to my Facebook page, since Blogger wouldn't let me upload the darn thing!  As you can see, Gracie was quite excited to see her daddy, and even Ella threw a smile his way for the occasion.  And obviously, Gracie was terribly impressed with Daddy's new shoes!

Things got back to normal pretty quickly at our house.  Gracie had lots of hugs and kisses for her dad, and he had to be the one to read her stories at bedtime for a few nights.  She talked a mile a minute, telling him all the things he had missed, and pointing out all the new things in our house:  "Daddy, come here.  Look at this ladybug on the window!" "Daddy, come  here.  Look at my new trump-a-leen.  Nanny and Grampy bought it for me."  "Daddy, look! Darrell painted my walls.  Not Mommy!" (Thanks for ratting me out, kid!)

The next morning we went to the grocery store, and then the zoo.  We went to the park that evening, and Gracie thought she was in heaven.  It was a spectacular weekend for the girls with their daddy home!  And the best part... the girls had a bath that first night, and Mommy sat on the floor while Daddy did alllll the work!!  Of course, it took a while for Gracie to realize that Daddy was home, since the whole weekend I heard "Mom? Mommy!? Mommy? Mommy!  Mom?? Mommy!?"  And when I would point out that Daddy was home, she would smile, give him kisses, then proceed to finish her demand of me.  Danny just laughed.  I said "You could take the reins here, you know!" but I think he was quite enjoying being the centre of attention without having to deal with toddler requests and demands!

Danny's been home a week now, and I must say it's nice to have him home again!  Instead of going to bed at 8:00, I stay up and talk to a real-life person!  When I realize at 7:30 p.m. that we're out of milk, I don't have to call my sister to save the day!  When the kids are acting particularly heinous, I can just laugh and say "it's sooooooo your turn to deal with it!"  Bathtimes are done with a partner, meal times are tackled together, and we're all just plain old happier!

Danny found out on his drive home from Ontario that he's been switched to a day job.  Although it wasn't a position he expected (or even wanted, to be truthful) the benefits of having him home every evening and on weekends with us makes me smile.  He'll be working during the day, which means he can sometimes pick the girls up from daycare and I don't have to drive like a bat out of hell to get home by 4:30 every day.  He'll be there to entertain the girls through witching hour, so I can get supper made without too many tantrums and dramatics.  He'll be home on the weekends, which means more zoo time, park time, and family time.  It also means he gets holidays with us.  The other thing it means is that the girls don't have to go four days in a row without seeing him!  It also means that on weekends, he can get up with us since he doesn't have to sleep off his 11-11 shift from the night before!  Yes!!!!

So here we are, back to our normal, crazy, lives.  Hopefully the sheer exhaustion of the past 7 weeks will fade shortly, and I can get back to posting about the craziness that is the Ford Family!!