Becoming a Single Mother - well, not really

We broke ground on our first built-from-the-ground-up house.  Our first house was a foreclosure that we bought and flipped.  I loved that little house.  We brought both of our children home from the hospital to that house and it was our little love nest before that but the day we brought our second child home from the hospital, I stood in my living room and watched our perfect little cottage shrink down to the size of a shoe box.  So, here we are, in the process of building a new house.  A 4 bedroom, full basement, new england colonial style house of perfection (well to me at least).  Let me explain the single mother thing a bit though......my father was a homebuilder for 25 years before moving on to greener pastures.  So, when we decided to build a house...naturally, it was my father who we called on.  This being said, we are basically building our house on our own with the help of my dad....and when I say "we" I mean my husband because, to my father's dismay, I can barely hammer a nail into a piece of drywall...much less a stud (he should, however, be proud that I know what a stud is....right?).  Hence the single mother reference in the title.  For the next six months, I will get to experience first-hand (almost) what it is like for single mothers out there....minus the trying the date thing....my husband would be pretty pissed if I took the experience to that level i think.  For my first challenge, this weekend, my mother, sister, and one of my best friends, are going to a local vintage sale that I have been clamoring to go to for a long while.  What does this mean for single mama here? This means, I had to get a babysitter to come up on Saturday morning at 730 am and pay her $10 an hour to go and browse through items I will likely not buy because there is no way I am bringing my crazy children into a warehouse where they have collected lots of expensive antiques...NO WAY! The realistic side of me should say, "I'll just do the responsible thing and stay home" but the HGTV loving side of me is saying "Go! Break through those barriers that are holding me and all those single mother's out there down!"...okay maybe I'm taking this a little too far! I don't actually think I know what real single mother's have to go through on a day to day basis but I really want to go to this thing and I am not too proud to piggyback just a tad.  Anyway, I'm going...paying the overpriced babysitter price and all! I know this is all worth it in the long run but it's hard to voluntarily commit to 6 months of single parenting....dream home at the end of the tunnel or not.