Mom's night out... (Dad's logistical nightmare...)

Tonight my wife, Sabine, had her first night off with some of her girlfriends in over 6 months without any children (a 3 year and 5 month old). I'm happy for her, although I was kind of fearing what my evening would be like. I was sort of quiet and to myself when she left, but I suppose I was just mentally preparing my strategy for evening (when one is crying, and I have to feed the other dinner, which one do I tend to first?).

The evening went smoother than I had expected, and I was even able to go outside with both of them tonight for about a 1/2 hour. My daughter was attached to me in the Baby Bjorn, and my son "mowed the lawn" a few dozen times with his toy mower while I watched. Later, I got my son to bed on time, and my daughter finally went down around 10pm tonight, after her bottle and countless times of walking around the living room with her in my arms to get her to sleep.

I think what tonight made me realize is: how do single parents handle kids day in and day out without going absolutely crazy?!? I know that my wife has enough to deal with during the day when I'm at work and is exhausted when I get home, but at least I come home, and we can then share the burden of looking after both of the kids. O.k., tonight was only 5 hours out of my busy life (there are dishes to wash, things to catch up on, and I've got a class paper to write for school tomorrow!), but the 5 hours without my wife around helping, made me wonder how any single parent manages it alone with kids.