Leaving

Tomorrow, I will leave the house before my children wake up and I will board a plane to San Francisco straight after work. I won't see my children for almost 96 hours, and I'm okay with that. Here are two reasons why I can enjoy myself, sans children, for the weekend:

1)My husband is amazing. He really is. Bryan can cook, do laundry (albeit, much differently than I do it), handle time outs, dirty diapers, bath time, play time and everything in between; all without breaking a sweat and whilst studying for Organic Chemistry. Am I bragging a little? You betcha! Out of all the married woman with children that I know, I am one of the only ones that not only trusts my children with my husband while I run errands, get a pedicure or visit family; I have a husband that actually enjoys watching his children. Does he enjoy every minute of it? I would assume he does not; and, come 8:30pm, I'm sure he's happy to to have the boys retire to their beds for the night so that he can finally rest and catch up on some Top Gear; but I can rest assured knowing the hubby has everything under control.

2) I'm still Crystal. Just like the Crystal without children, mommy-of-three-Crystal  likes going dancing, shopping for new shoes, eating at nice restaurants and getting pedicures. All things I would rather not do with children-mine, or otherwise. I know that my children need to feel like they are my number one priority, so I'm not talking about doing these fun things every day (or even, every weekend), but I do know that in order to be responsive, active and fun while with my children, I need to charge my "mommy batteries" by doing something for me. Just because I have three children with needs to be met, does not mean that I have to ignore all of my own wants and needs. I can make time to take a bubble bath, read a good book (preferably uninterrupted) or spend a weekend with my best friend in San Francisco. Taking the time to do these things-and enjoy them-will make me a better mommy when I reunite with my children.

I really do miss the snot out of my children and my husband when I'm not with them. And, sometimes-like when I catch myself having a little too much fun, or a nice big laugh-I find myself looking for them and thinking "Why aren't my boys here with me?" and I let myself be sad for a minute, before I go back to enjoying myself.