Whenever my husband is away, I tend to feel a little bit of panic that I'm in charge 24-hours a day. So I compensate with elaborate planning. Erik was gone on a five-day photography trip and I wanted to fill up Kellan's waking hours with places to go and things to do. It's not like our routine changes that much when Erik is gone, but I do make sure I have one tired kid on my hands by the end of the day. It makes bedtime so much easier.

We played with friends, visited the Children's Museum, took walks, made crafts and ran errands. One morning we went to Inflatable Kingdom. The name says it all. It's basically a warehouse filled with different bounce houses. I have two words: Kellan loves. We went up and down an 18-foot inflatable slide at least a dozen times in a row. By the way, this outing counted as a workout!

But after three days packed with activities, Kellan woke up one morning and just wanted to stay in his pajamas and play with his cars all morning. So much for going swimming, but it made me realize unstructured time is vital. I shouldn't have to run him ragged.

It definitely felt good after a busy day to hear Kellan snoring softly in his bed so I could finally read a book or watch a chick flick on cable. But I shouldn't be afraid to have a day that's a complete blank slate. It's not a waste of time to "do nothing" and just enjoy each other's company. Besides, all that running around made me just as tired as he was!