Separation.

I admire all those single moms, military wives of deployed husbands, and any other mom out there who has to keep the house and kids together while their husbands are away, for any period of time.

Its tough! Not only because you are "doing it all" on your own; and not only because anything that can break, will break when the husbands are gone; but because where children are involved, its a whole 'nother ballgame.

I'm not just talking about the logistics of taking care of the kids...although bathing and bedding 2 babies is somewhat of a daunting task...I'm talking about addressing the questions from your children...

"Is Daddy coming home soon?"
"Why does Daddy have to go away?"

Or calming the fears...

"I don't want to sleep in my room...I'm scared."

Noah & I have been through separations from our Daddy before, but since we've been on shore duty, he really has NO idea that Daddy's job involves A LOT of separations, for months at a time, not just a week here, or a week there. Plus, it only gets more challenging as he gets older. He can ask more questions and feel more emotions. It was a piece of cake up until he was 2! (Well, as far as handling his emotions; the other stuff was still kinda challenging...like being Mommy AND Daddy 24/7)

I have noticed some slight changes in his behavior...he's clingy-er than usual; he seemed somewhat withdrawn at school; he gets easily angered by his brother; his appetite has decreased. It saddens me that he's affected this way by his Daddy's absence! But, Daddy being gone is a part of his job.

I thank God that He's made me somewhat resilient in the deployment department and I can only hope that will impact my children positively. I firmly believe that a mother's attitude toward a temporary separation directly effects how a child will deal with it, at least partly.

What's going to be fun is when BOTH kids are fully aware of his absence... :P