Real Talk: My mom secrets revealed

It's no secret that Chris' travels a lot.  The short trips are easy. The longer ones - the two and three week trips are tough.  Not because I can't handle it, but because Jake really starts to miss his daddy. It's hard to explain to a four-year old the concept of time.

The question I get asked the most is "so, what do you do when he's gone?" It's kind of a funny question right? I do the same thing I do when he's home, just with one less set of hands to help out. I think sometimes people think I have it easy because I have both my parents live near by, as well as my in-laws. It's true they do help me out.   They may bring dinner some nights, play with the boys on the weekends and will even babysit so that I can have dinner with girlfriends. But the reality is, I'm still the one getting them up and ready in the mornings. I'm the one that picks them up from school, feeds them and gets them ready for bed. I'm the one that's raising them. Not my parents. Not my in-laws. Me.

But I've managed to find little tricks here and there along the way. They aren't even tricks, so much as ways to make my life easier - whether Chris is here or not.  Since he's getting ready to head out on another trip, it made me think about some of these things, so figured I would share. Maybe it will spark some good ideas for you as well.

• Establish a routine and stick to it.  Seems intuitive right? But it's essential. Whether it's the morning routine and getting ready to head to school, or at night, getting ready for bed, establishing time with one kid and the other makes things roll smoothly every time. For example, at night, when I'm putting Shane to bed, Jake watches a cartoon and has quiet time. Then, he gets ready for bed, we read stories, say prayers and snuggle. He's then left to go to sleep on his own.  
• Grocery delivery is a beautiful thing.  Peapod is one of my best friends. The fact that I can shop, aisle by aisle online and have it delivered to me directly, means that's one less trip I have to make with the kids. 
• Join a meal service and set the menu for the week.  I subscribe to Home Chef (it's just like a Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, etc) and it has made the dinner process so much better.  Not only am I making a complete meal, but it's usually a fairly simple prep process. I receive my order on a Friday, which allows to me plan out dinners for the week.  It doesn't seem like that would make that bit of difference, but it does. I know exactly what I'm making, I already have the ingredients ready to go, and everyone is getting a balanced meal.
• When the kids are in bed, so am I.  I need sleep.  I'm not a night owl. I also cannot function before 6am. I know some people that wake up at 4am or 5am just to have time to themselves, but not me. The only way for me to function and be on my game is to have a good amount of sleep.  All said it done, it's usually around 8:30pm by the time I get everyone down. I then clean up, take Charlie out one last time and get ready to call it a night.
• Keep breakfast easy.  I do not have time to cook fancy meals in the morning.  Having frozen items that can be heated up save so much time - waffles, pancakes, french toast. You name it. It's in our freezer.  We also have cereal boxes out the wazoo, but Jake generally likes cereal as a snack.
• Have something to look forward to on Fridays.  When Jake was having a hard time adjusting to school, we tried to find ways to reward him if he stuck it out.  We started "Pizza/Blue Slurpee" night on Fridays. The local pizza joint has an Icee Machine and he knows that come Friday, he loves to get his slice of cheese and blue slurpee (as he calls it).  It's a great thing to hold over his head (i.e. be nice to your brother or no pizza/blue slurpee). It gives him something to look forward to and keeps him in check during the week. Win-win for everyone.
• Offer weekend treats. And by treats I mean games, movies, or in Jake's case, the Wii.  He LOVES to play Mario Kart and win trophies. But he's only allowed to play on the weekends. It can tough in the winter when you have to stay inside all the time.  He can also watch movies on the weekends if he wants to chill out.
• Have countdowns. This is probably the best thing we ever started with Jake. We have countdowns for everything. If Chris is gone, we have a countdown for when he comes home. We have countdowns for birthdays, vacations, etc.  We have a calendar on the fridge and Jake gets to mark a day in the mornings and count how many days until...whatever it is. He also has little Lightning McQueen magnets that he puts on special days.

Obviously these things may not work for everyone, but these are things I've found to help me get through the weeks, especially when I'm by myself.  Do you have other tips or tricks? Send them my way - I'm always looking for ways to make my life easier!

If you are interested in Home Chef, click here. I have free $50 trials to share with friends and family, so if you would like me to send you a direct link to use it, let me know!

Today's theme song: Workin' for a Livin' (Huey Lewis and The News)
Today's Pandora station: Best of the 80s Reloaded