March #2: Cori away & James' week parenting alone

A couple of weeks into March, Cori went away for a week to Birmingham to work (at a science convention thing):

So it was just me and the boys left behind.

There was a lot of preparation which went into Cori going away - a lot of preparation of bottles to get Oshin through, a lot of list making, and also a lot of fretting over whether Oshin would be ok.
It wasn't that I was incapable, but we'd just never testing Cori being away before, so we just weren't sure that it was going to work at all. Cori was fretting over whether she should go or not, but go she did, leaving us to cope on our own.
Happily, this was a video I was able to send to her on the first day, demonstrating that we were coping ok, even at an evening meal time:

In actual fact, this was a window of perfect happiness, in a general time of mostly-happiness.
Knowing that there was no fall back, I was sufficiently on-edge by it all to be very efficient. I cooked early, we ate early, everyone got to bed early, I prepared food for the lunches in the evening, I made sure that everything was washed up and ready for the morning - I was a household machine!

The main thing which meant that success was possible was that Oshin slept - these were the most prised pictures Cori received on those first days:

Of course, Oshin didn't like it at first, but the first night was easy enough. I was well prepared with patience and sleep, so he was fully asleep within an hour of starting, I went downstairs and did all I needed to, then returned to bed and sleep early. He woke as he normally does (at about midnight, 3'ish and then 6'ish) and I had managed to have enough sleep to be able to do it again the next day.
In actual fact, because I wasn't breast-feeding him, he wasn't so fussed about having a great deal of milk at night, and I didn't need to hold him, so he was fed on the bed, which meant that he fell asleep, and, more importantly, stayed asleep better. So, by the time Cori came back, we'd got into a rather nice and manageable schedule.
But the days were very long, hanging out with children all day!

It was nice having Cori away for a short time; nice for her to feel free, and re-refresh her enjoyment of the family (which can be a bit grinding when it's constant!); and nice for me to do it, and to be empowered in parenting through just doing it. It's good to feel capable.
However, it was rather telling that everyone at the school gates were very concerned about me and us, worrying about how I was getting on and offering help etc. I went along to a Manx conversational meet-up before school pick-up, which was inevitably mostly mums (such is the nature of picking up children from school), so when I took Orry and Oshin in and Oshin was fussing, he was immediately taken off me by a well-meaning mum. I didn't complain - I just sat down and got down to chatting Manx! Though, I soon had to give up though, as Oshin wasn't settling, so I have to leave Orry, who was being "shy" on his separate table colouring in, as I went out to walk Oshin around until pick-up.

By the time Cori returned, she was ready to be back, and I was never happier to collect someone from the airport I don't think!
But the children, and certainly Oshin, made it very hard for her getting back. It seemed like it was days before she was able to put Oshin down at all!
But we soon settled back into a new normal.