Brian stood at the door, waving with a slightly forced smile as Lexi disappeared down the driveway, her suitcase bouncing behind her. She was off on her first solo trip—a well-deserved weekend getaway with her best friend. No kids, no husband, just relaxation. Meanwhile, Brian was about to have a first of his own: his first time alone with their three little ones for an entire weekend.
As soon as Lexi’s car turned the corner, the house seemed to grow twenty degrees louder. The kids—Sophie (6), Max (4), and baby Ellie (18 months)—were already buzzing with energy.
“Daddy! Can we have pancakes for dinner?!” Sophie shouted, hopping from foot to foot.
“Yeah! Pancakes!” Max echoed, while Ellie banged a plastic spoon on the coffee table like a tiny drummer.
Brian took a deep breath. Okay, we’ve got this. He checked the detailed list Lexi had left taped to the fridge: meal ideas, nap times, emergency numbers, and a giant note at the bottom that read “HAVE FUN! YOU’RE GOING TO DO GREAT!”
Feeling reassured, he ruffled Sophie’s hair. “Pancakes for dinner it is!”
The first few hours actually went surprisingly smoothly. Brian whipped up a messy batch of pancakes shaped like stars, hearts, and what he claimed were dinosaurs. The kids thought they were hilarious. They had a picnic dinner on the living room floor, syrup sticking to their fingers and faces.
After dinner, he set up a “campout” in the living room, complete with sleeping bags and a “campfire” made from flashlights and orange tissue paper. Sophie and Max beamed with excitement. Even Ellie toddled over, babbling happily.
“This isn’t so hard,” Brian muttered to himself. He texted Lexi a photo of the kids around the fake campfire, feeling proud.
Lexi responded almost instantly:
Lexi: Love this!!! You’re killing it. Miss you guys already ❤️
However, by bedtime, the cracks began to show.
Ellie was fussy and refused to sleep in her crib. After thirty minutes of rocking, singing, and googling “how to get a toddler to sleep without losing your mind,” Brian gave up and let her snooze on his chest while he watched cartoons with the older two.
Sophie insisted on telling scary ghost stories, which led to Max refusing to sleep at all unless all the lights in the house stayed on. Brian finally wrangled them into their sleeping bags around 10:30 PM, only to realize he hadn’t packed any clothes for himself in the living room campout.
Exhausted, he pulled a blanket over himself and passed out on the carpet with one leg still sticking out of the sleeping bag.
Saturday morning started with a bang—literally. Max had somehow dragged a stool into the kitchen to get cereal by himself and knocked over an entire shelf of Tupperware.
“Surprise breakfast!” Max yelled, arms wide.
Brian chuckled and started the coffee pot. “Buddy, you might be onto something with cereal today.”
They spent the morning building blanket forts and playing “superheroes,” with Brian as the villain who had to be defeated with stuffed animal attacks. Around noon, he realized he hadn’t even brushed his teeth yet. Or the kids’ teeth, for that matter.
He lined them up like little soldiers and went down the line with a toothbrush, making buzzing sounds like a race car. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.
Meanwhile, Lexi was having her own adventure. Her best friend Jessica had surprised her with a spa day as soon as she arrived at the cabin.
For the first time in what felt like forever, Lexi sat in a hot tub, no sippy cups, no endless questions about dinosaurs or princesses. She laughed at Jessica’s stories, let herself breathe, and didn’t check her phone every five seconds.
Well… maybe every ten seconds.
Whenever she did sneak a peek, she smiled at the flood of photos and videos Brian was sending: pancake faces, pillow forts, Max wearing two different shoes proudly.
She could tell he was really trying—and she felt a new, deep appreciation for how much he loved their crazy, beautiful little family.
Back home, things took a chaotic turn Saturday afternoon.
Brian decided it would be a “good idea” to take the kids to the park to burn some energy. Halfway there, Max tripped, skinning his knee. While Brian comforted him, Sophie led Ellie toward a giant puddle, where the baby immediately plopped herself down like it was a tiny swimming pool.
By the time they got home, everyone was muddy, tear-streaked, and tired.
Bath time was pure madness. Ellie hated the water today, Sophie refused to get out of the tub, and Max thought it was hilarious to splash like a maniac. Brian ended up just as soaked as the kids.
Still, once everyone was clean (sort of) and in pajamas, they all curled up on the couch together to watch a movie. Brian looked around at the pile of small bodies leaning against him, feeling a huge wave of gratitude. Exhausted didn’t even begin to cover it—but he realized he wouldn’t trade this feeling for anything.
Sunday morning came quickly. They made chocolate chip muffins out of a box mix and had a dance party in the kitchen. Brian only burned two muffins, which he considered a major win.
As Lexi pulled back into the driveway late that afternoon, she was met with the sight of Brian, covered in stickers and marker scribbles, Ellie balanced on his hip, Sophie twirling in a tutu, and Max proudly showing her a fort made entirely out of couch cushions and laundry baskets.
“Welcome home!” Brian called, grinning sheepishly.
Lexi dropped her bag and ran to hug them all at once. “I missed you guys SO much!” she said, squeezing them tightly.
“How was your trip?” Brian asked, handing Ellie over.
“Amazing. And peaceful. And quiet,” she said, laughing. “How was your weekend?”
Brian paused, looking around at the absolute chaos of the living room, the syrup stains still on the floor, and the happy, giggling kids.
“It was… the best kind of crazy,” he said honestly.
Lexi smiled. “You did great. I’m proud of you.”
He felt his chest swell a little at that. Yeah, he had survived—and maybe even thrived—his first weekend alone with the kids.
And as he and Lexi caught up, kids climbing all over them like puppies, he realized something else:
They were a team.
And now they were stronger than ever.
