Daddy at Home Days are what we call Mark’s days off around here. Because of his medical student schedule and the monthly rotation changes that go with it, these are not always on weekends or consecutive days. This is one of the reasons why we are planning on homeschooling- it will allow our family to capitalize on the days that he is home, even if its a Tuesday. Typically, we try to get as much chores (ones that I can’t tackle on my own) and fun/memory making activities as we can into one day.
We’ve been having a lot more Daddy at Home Days here lately than usual because Mark is on the interview trail and not on a rotation. He’s still busy- with 13 interviews in several different states, he’ll be criss-crossing the country for the next few weeks-, but in between interview dates, he’s all ours. My brother-in-law, Matt, says that year 4 of medical school was the most expensive vacation he ever took, and while that is undoubtedly true, it’s also a wonderful change for us. Most weeks of year 3 the kids were lucky to see Mark a couple of times a week, which just plain sucks. And that will be true again soon once residency starts next July, so for now we are soaking up the quality time.
Yesterday Mark did a chromatography experiment with the kids using fall leaves. It blew my color mixing activity out of the water, and was prepared with much more scientific precision, as I’m sure you’ll note from the carefully labeled specimens.
Today we took a fabulous hike in the woods, with Mark baby wearing all the way.
I am beyond grateful for the man that my husband is. He puts his whole heart and soul into his job when he’s at the hospital, but he never forgets that he has a family at home, and he never lets his kids feel like they come in second or me feel like I’m a single parent. He is a man who pitches in with the chores and wants to know every little thing that the kids did while he was at work. It’s a lot of work being a medical students with a wife, three kids, and a grandma at home, but boy, does Mark excel at it.
