Korea, Korea

Jon's job hasn't required any travel in probably a year. And before that it was minimal--short trips once or twice a year. The last time he had a serious chunk of travel was when Seth was a baby. So it was a bit of a shock when he was sent on a short trip to San Diego, followed by an eight day trip to Korea, followed by a month-long trip to Dugway (which, thankfully, didn't pan out). 

I've realized that there's a pattern to my life when Jon is gone. The first two days are actually kind of fun--I don't have to cook a real dinner, I can sleep in until the kids get up, plus I can do whatever I want once the kids are in bed! But by day #3, the novelty is gone. I'm tired from staying up too late reading, the kids are tired of hanging out with me, etc. Then by day #5 we've settled into a nice routine (I still put them to bed 30 minutes early almost every night--there are limits to the patience of a single mommy). Getting to church was the hardest, especially since I had to be there 30 minutes early and I had to wake Seth up about 15 minutes before we had to go. But we survived!

Our only method of conversation with Jon was via Skype. We had set Skype dates every day (except the two days he was flying all day). It was usually some awful hour in Korea for Jon (2 to 4 am), but he was wide awake anyway with nothing to do in his hotel room.

I have no cool pictures of Korea to post because Jon didn't take any. All I got out of him was that he went shopping, took a short hike, and had an unplanned bus tour of Seoul when he couldn't figure out the correct route to the church building. 

The kids were VERY excited to see their Daddy on Sunday morning. Not sure how much was because they missed him and how much was because he promised to bring them presents, but they were ecstatic either way.

Seth looking slightly crazed by his golden turtle from Korea

Jon (who managed to attend church with us) modeling his new suit, and Catherine in her new dress.

She was SO adorable about this dress--from the moment she opened it she was excited. And once she had it on, she just minced around the house, very pleased with herself. I was actually quite surprised: who knew vanity could kick in so early?

Me, starting my third trimester

Modeling my scarf from Jon

(I swear I'm not actually as big as I look here. I SWEAR.)

Looks just like a little Korean girl, doesn't she? She'd blend right in.

I knew trying to readjust to Maryland time was going to be hard on Jon, but it was hard on me, too! The worst part was having to skip my Sunday nap because Jon was asleep. After singing time I NEED that nap on Sunday! I tried to relax and just let the kids play, but they were having none of it. "Play with me, Mommy!" 

How can you resist an invitation to play from such a cool, cool guy?

Finally, in desperation, I gave them permission to color all over my arm (I had written a note to myself on my hand earlier in the day and Seth was intrigued by the idea). I got a good 20 minutes out of the activity, then probably an hour or so more when they got bored and went back to whatever they were doing. Totally worth the bruise-colored stains from the allegedly-washable Dollar Tree markers.

Jon was a very tired, jet-lagged boy for about a week (we'll skip over some of the grumpiness that accompanied said jet-lag) before he finally recovered. Nothing like a week of doing it on your own to realize how much you depend on having him home in those evening hours when you are DONE being a parent.  I am truly grateful that I don't have to be a single mother.

(Now it's my turn to take off for a week and require a week of recovery time so I can be appreciated. Right? Right?).