No self-pity party

I haven't mentioned on this blog that my husband has been away since Thursday. He's been at a conference in Hong Kong...learning I don't know what. But thankfully he's on his way back home today. Some people may choose to be sole parents (many don't, I know), but not me. It is horrible. We've had good moments and yesterday was mostly good, but I'd rather share the stress of raising three strong-willed, spirited boys (in a foreign land) with a partner. I've been spared the joy of throwing a self-pity party by a friend on Facebook who shared the other day that not only had she just given birth to her third child in three years (in her mid 30s), but her military husband was about to go away for six months! How can one happily throw a self-pity party with knowledge like that in one's possession? My mind boggles. She assures me that she has heaps of help, but I, for one, don't believe that any amount of help will replace the one who loves you. Especially if that one person is willing to help in the middle of the night when you have one child to feed, another to take to the toilet and a third to calm back to sleep. I'm past that stage, most nights anyway. But I sure could have used some help in those awful hours of 5.30-7.30pm, especially with baths. I hate supervising baths/showers. Don't know why, but I do and the ugly me usually comes out. I guess I am tired anxious to get them in bed so I can finish everything and take a bit of recreation time myself (or get more work done). In any case, my husband does bath-time with so much more grace than I. We really miss him when he is gone. On a more positive front, my nights recently have been taken up with preparation for a birthday. Yes, our three y.o. turns, you guessed it, four tomorrow! In line with the good Aussie tradition, he has chosen a cake from the AWW cake book (apart from our Bible, the most read book in the house) and I am trying to replicate the "sword" cake. It hasn't gone quite as planned, but hopefully I'll have a decent enough photo to post on Wednesday! Back to work, now...