Family Visit (con't)

Can time just slow down or stop because that first day flew by? I made my two check-ins during the night and I only needed the alarm on one of them. I was awake but was late getting to the alarm. I was able to watch my wife sleep which was wonderful and I also stole a peek of my children sleeping. This is such a serene sight and it will be forever etched in my mind.

There was no need to rush and get up since we weren’t going anywhere (literally). Everyone awoke at their leisure but the early morning was not without a concern. My son woke up and proceeded to throw up. Thankfully, he made it to the bathroom and this isn’t anything new with him. He seems to have these occasions where he throws up and 2 minutes later he is fine. This was exactly the case this morning as he is so resilient. My wife and I were concerned because we didn’t have any medication and if things got worst, who knows what would have happened. Fortunately he was okay.

Time was marching by and all I cared about was togetherness. I do love being a Dad and love being with my children. We played an assortment of board games and went outside for a game of catch and running bases. Today we took precautions and applied “OFF” before going outside. The bugs were non-existent and I enjoyed the outdoor games. During a game of catch, my son threw the baseball well over my head and it went sailing into the brush. I had to come inside and put on long pants to look for the ball. I searched all over for it but to no avail. My son is so sweet and he said, “That’s okay, you tried your best.” This cut our game short, but did not deter my son’s spirit. While inside we played catch with a ping pong ball which satisfied him very much.

The time was spent much as it was yesterday. I was content just sitting with my children as they watched television. I had my arms around both of them. I have missed the kisses and embraces. My son has always been more affectionate than my daughter and nothing has changed. He still gives kisses and I gladly accepted each one. My daughter is more stoic, but she loves to be tickled and this is what I did. She laughs beautifully and again the day was wonderful.

We sat down to another lovely dinner – soy meat tacos – and I talked to my daughter about nutrition. She has terrible eating habits because she gets much like I did when I was her age. In fact, she makes the same faces I make about certain foods. I was trying to tell her she needs to eat more and more fruit and vegetables and she won’t be as tired. She agreed to eat a carrot which turned out to be not so good. (More on this later) Her eating habits need to be addressed unlike my son who eats almost everything. My wife has done an incredible job with the kids but sometimes it is easier to just give in to her picky eating habits. Anyhow dinner was wonderful and we settled in for the night as we watched television. I haven’t watched much TV over the past year so I was more interested in watching my children watch TV. Both of my children seem to have a very good attention span even my son. We were watching some reality series (American Inventor) and my son was getting into it so much so he was asking some very good questions. My daughter did retire to her room to read her book. These are great children and I cannot wait to rejoin their lives on a full-time basis. I have some hurdles to overcome and I will!

The children went to sleep and for some reason I was exhausted. I turned in earlier than my wife and I didn’t hear her come to bed. This is where I messed up because I should have waited for her but instead fell asleep. Our time together is limited and here I am falling asleep. This upset my wife and rightfully so. I don’t know what was the matter with me and I had to apologize in the morning. This is where I need to be more attentive to her. I have to think about everyone not just my children. I do need to be a better husband and look forward to re-establishing myself when this journey is all sad and done. With me being asleep, my wife had a rather bad night’s sleep.