School Year Routine

 

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was trying to get refocused as the new school year was starting.  Making more of an effort to spend more time with the girls.  Making more of an effort not to be crazy mom.  Ok, I really would call it psycho mom.

I knew that every day wouldn’t be perfect.  Because perfection does not exist, remember?

This is what I have found out in the past few weeks:

·        I don’t need as much “mommy alone time” in the mornings as I thought.  Now I only take 30 minutes of waking up/coffee time.  I realized that any more than this, and I actually start to lose my motivation for the day.  Weekends are the exception, of course.

 

·        Eating breakfast before I leave for work (as opposed to once I get to work) helps tremendously with my blood sugar and overall mood.

 

·        I find myself saying “yes” more to the kids’ requests.  Katy wanted to go on a walk one evening.  I knew she wouldn’t want to walk very far and I was feeling tired from the day, but I said yes right away.  And Katy and I enjoyed our short walk.  And she made me play follow the leader.  The other day, the kids wanted me to get their bikes out.  Usually, I would say, “Let’s wait for Daddy to get home.”  But I said yes right away and enjoyed watching them.

 

·        I’m having fun just hanging out with my kids.  I watched them wash Barbie dolls in buckets of soapy water outside.  Then they asked me to make some minor repairs on the clothes.  And they thought I was an awesome seamstress.  I can barely sew a button.

 

·        I think the kids are having more fun hanging out with me.  Mornings are busy around here, but are no longer a panicked frenzy.  Lucy makes more comments, such as “I like this” when we are doing something simple, like snuggling in my bed together, each of us reading our own book.

 

·        I’m not always successful at getting all of my to-dos finished on my day without kids.  Honestly, some days I’ve been playing around on the computer.  And getting dental work done.  It hasn’t been a total waste.

 

·        We still have quiet alone time.  And we value it.  We can’t be together all the time, especially at the end of the week. We need a break.  And that’s ok.  We do better together after a break.  We do better if we can retreat to our Peace Place.

 

Can we keep this up year round?  Who knows.  I sure feel a lot better.  Calmer.  I sure would love more of that.