Dad.

There's been a huge void on this blog – something I haven't talked about, even though I think about it all the time. It's like one of those appendages at the end of your hand that you don't pay much mind to until it's broken and wrapped in a cast and suddenly you're crippled. In this case, it's my husband.

Dad

For the past nine months, while business has been slow, Scott has been Mr. Dad. When Arden was born, he kicked into high gear. We play man-on-man defense at home. He gets Sawyer up, fed and dressed every morning. He drops him off at daycare while I deal with Arden. He picks Sawyer up every night, feeds him dinner, and rocks him to sleep after I've done the bath and books routine. He cooks us all dinner and cleans up the dishes and picks up the house while I bathe the kids. And two or three nights a week he does it all himself while I work late at the newspaper or cover events and meetings. He's the one daycare calls when Sawyer needs to be picked up and he's the one that takes the kids to the doctor. When I put try Sawyer to bed at night, he looks up at me with sweet round eyes and says: Where's dada? Want hug dada.

He has a magic ability to get our babies to take naps.

Having two babies - let's not mince words here - is Really F-king Hard! (okay I minced one word, but it's a family blog). And I couldn't do it without Scott. I'm not one of these super domesticated women. I'm terrible at cleaning. I hate recipes. I'm really not that good at taking care of the children (we survive, somehow). I take no pride in my domestic chores. In fact, I'd rather work and make NO money if I could hire a maid and a cook and a nanny to do the hard parts and just get to enjoy my family. Me being a housewife is about as laughable as me being a quarterback for the Washington Redskins.

Naptime is not my forte: Evidence.

Scott, on the other hand, excels at all these domestic things (he's cringing as he reads this) and were it not for the crushing weight of bills and the fact that his income potential so far surpasses mine that it takes a whole extra sheet of paper to graph it, he might be perfectly happy to stay at home and raise the family.

On a playdate to the museum.

But the world being as it is, and us having two-point-five children to support, he needs a good, steady, reliable job with benefits that we can depend on for the next 20-something years. We're all done with self-employment (at least until we retire and open a ski-yurt-b&b-ranch in Colorado). And - so - DRUMROLL PLEASE . . .

Scott has taken a job in Northern Virginia with a wonderful construction company that builds high-end custom homes in the Great Falls area. For now, that means he is going to be living up there during the week while I live down here. (It's about two hours away). I know that raises about a million questions - How will that work? Won't it be hard on me? Will I move up there soon?

She's her father's daughter. (J. Kim photo)

The truth is, we don't know yet. All we know is that this is a really good opportunity for Scott, and we're going to try this happily-married-living-separately for a while and see how it goes. It's not like we are the first family ever to do it - many parents travel for work. I may not be the ideal candidate for single-momdom, and BELIEVE ME, I am going to miss the heck out of him (especially when I'm trying to potty train Sawyer). But the world is crumbling around us, and on the same day that congress failed to sign the bailout, Scott signed his offer.

So, Monday morning this blog will take on a whole new purpose. It will be a way for Scott to be with us for all those little moments that happen sometime between breakfast and daycare.

Encouraging us to try new things. (J. Kim photo)

And Scott: We love you. We are SO proud of you. And, we wish you Good Luck on Monday.