Big D, I was a single father for 4 years. My daughter was an infant when "The Greatest Mom in The World" left. She doesn't pay any support and never has. She started seeing my daughter again after she was 3. It's a hard job, but it can be done. The thing that I learned was to teach her everything I could as fast as I could. My daughter is now 8 and is almost completely self-sufficient. She likes to help out around the house and she does! The more you can teach the kids to do for themselves (with your supervision, of course) the easier it will be on you. Another thing you can do is to prepare meals in advance. I used to (and still do) prepare the meals for the week on Sunday. I would get stuff pre-prepared and ready to go so I didn't have to do so much when I picked my daughter up from daycare. That way all I had to do was feed her and wash the dishes. I usually did laundry while she was asleep. But, you constantly have to be on your toes to get everything done and at the same time be an attentive parent. I still don't sit down at night until after 10 pm. It does get really lonely being a single parent. When I ended up on my own with an infant daughter, most of my friends and family disappeared. I went a period of 2 years where no one came to my house. I'm not exaggerating. No one. Just the mail man. It takes all of your mental ability to endure the grueling physical requirements of holding down a job (or two), then being a full time parent and taking care of the home. Add to that the sometimes crippling lonliness and lack of sex (!), and it really sucks. I never used a vacation day for vacation, either. I saved up all my sick and vacation days to use when she was sick and couldn't go to school or daycare. I usually went to work sick as a dog so I wouldn't run out of sick days.
Just keep on keepin' on, dude. It will get better. And the kids will love you for it. Just do the best you can. You can't go wrong by loving your kids and trying to take care of them.