One of the biggest parts of parenting I was not prepared for is how much I can miss someone who lives in the same house as me.
Life as a parent means you can be in the same room and not finish a conversation. You can be in the house and not even manage to say hi when your other half walks in.
He leaves for work usually before we’re awake or if the girls and I are up, we haven’t yet made it downstairs.
He comes in half an hour before bath time. The girls want all of his attention, all of his love, all of him in general.
We bathe the girls but have barely looked at each other yet. We each put one in bed and manage a smile as we kiss the other child goodnight.
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Finally, they’re in bed. We come downstairs while one makes our dinner, the other one tidies up the chaos of the day. We sit down to eat and finally speak to each other without shouting from another room.
Dinner is done, and we are so tired and ready for bed. We stay up and watch TV together just for some quiet time in each other’s company, thinking about the early morning coming our way tomorrow.
We give in and go to bed, we go to sleep, and he’s gone before I’ve woken up the next morning, and the day starts again.
I felt this after one child, after two it was a shock. I felt this while I stayed home, but when his work journey got longer, it was a shock.
We have few and far between hours, or moments of time, when the girls are elsewhere and he is off work. Then we remember why it is that we have this down so well—the routine, the shared job tasks. We do this so well because we are such a team.
But, wow, it really doesn’t matter if it’s a Monday or Saturday—there is no time.
I sometimes wonder if it’s normal to miss someone I live with this much.
We try and sneak a cuddle, and we are tracked down by little feet that sense we are having 30 seconds alone.
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I am so thankful for these years, and I know they will feel short when I look back. I am by no means rushing them. But, oh my word, I am excited to see him properly. Yes, life goes quick, and our babies grow fast.
But life also goes quickly when it comes to other relationships, and I cannot wait to be able to take you in and savor our years too.