Spare pair of hands

The last week or so there have been many times where I have thought, "If only we had family around..."  I think that in the last two years of living out here I have only thought that a handful of times and like I said in the last week there have been multiple times I have thought that.  Just as a spare pair of hands to help with the boys - and to think I have another on the way.  I will say though that in the last year I feel that I have made some friends that I can call on to ask for help.  One being my neighbor, which makes things very handy!  With doctor's appointment I have been able to schedule around her and therefore she has been able to help with the next two appointments.  One thing that makes it hard... however a blessing as well, is that Michael has been crazy busy.  It is hard to be upset about him being gone all the time with work, work is money and this house does not run on my organization and hard work alone!  This morning for instance I was telling Michael that he had me for two more days then he was on his own.  Very quickly Michael said, "I am working on Saturday."  I chuckled and said, "Nice joke."  To which he got a very grim face and said, "It's not a joke."  Well I leave Friday at 4pm and will be gone until Sunday around 2pm - what is my husband going to do with the two boys while he is at work all day?  If only we had family around to call and help out...  I know that it will work out, but things like this seem to be coming up a lot more frequently.  Another one is, Ki's surgery... granted it is not scheduled as of today however while talking with Michael on Monday after the appointment, Michael informed me that I am pretty much on my own for the next month.  I inquired if that meant surgery too, and he simply said, "I sure hope that Zeke behaves for the surgery and six hours post surgery."  Ugh!  A spare pair of hands would be nice every now and then!