{clock hands}

When Rod is gone week after week after week it starts to become exhaustively normal. I learn to adjust. We all do. Its not fun, but we manage. 5 o'clock rolls around & no one is walking through the door. No kids running to the window when they hear a car door shut. Its me. Its them. Its a lot of noodles for dinner. But between the quiet tic tocs & slowly moving clock hands I find little moments that I wish Rod could see, that i get to cherish. Like Cooper grabbing every ones cheeks, getting right in their face & saying "I love you too!" out of the blue. Like Presley asking Maddox to play with her in her room at quiet time & finding them snuggled together under a white comforter on a cold afternoon. Like Britton reading,no, devouring, every single book in the house & his insatiable need for more things to read. Like Maddox insisting on making every single meal in his easy bake oven with the aid of his trusty rubber chicken. Like Tre offering to cut up green apples for snack time so I can finish folding a weeks worth of fresh from the dryer towels. I get to have these moments. They are mine to keep. It makes these solo months bearable. 

(pictures from winter break. playdate with Carson Paige, play doh, easy bake oven, 

dance parties, reading, sassing back. In no particular order.)