Good morning and a big shout out to all the parents who have made it to September! We may be smiling but are also crying on the inside, LOL.
We like to hide inside our L.L.Bean sweatshirts when we get nervous, which has been quite frequent lately. These striped sweatshirts were basically our quarantine uniforms March-June and these fall temps has us pulling them back out once again! While I have no affiliation with L.L.Bean, I would be happy to be their spokesperson if they are looking…
This summer has been a rollercoaster of emotions and while we have had many highs we also have had just as many lows. There have been plans that have had to be changed and many pivots in our daily family and work lives. We normally would have started school by now but this year we are starting after Labor Day which means we got a couple of extra weeks of summer.
Someone at our house is especially happy about this turn of events! While I definitely am excited to get back into the groove of school (even if 3 days a week will be remote) I definitely am starting to get antsy about what it will look like. We, at 11 weeks in, are finally in our summer groove and now we will be shifting gears once again…
Transitions…
I know it will be different from this past spring (which was tough for all parties involved!) and we have amazing teachers so we are in great hands, but it is going to be an adjustment. I always have a lot of anticipation before transitions. I like predictability and knowing what to expect, and many things are still being figured out right now and of course like everything, subject to change!
We have been working on getting back into school year routines, like going to bed before 10:30 pm, for example, ack! And while this pandemic has been hard on so many families, ours included, it has also been a great reminder fo me that flexibility can be a good thing. I have reimagined many very ingrained routines over the last six months, and some of it has even been for the better. Except maybe for Kristy, who has been moved to the floor because three’s a crowd in our little office…
Work-Life Balance?
Lucas and I figured out how to balance work and care for our kids this entire summer by flexing our own work schedules and swapping kids with a couple of our friends…and of course a little a lot of help from our amazing babysitter, Fortnite.
There are currently four boys 10 and under in my house as I write this…so yeah, my trusty noise-canceling headphones have definitely been a daily accessory. Sometimes I don’t even listen to things while I am wearing them, but just use them to dull the noise level a bit.
Summer Days…
And we did it, and most of it was actually just fine. We let some things go but the important stuff got done…eventually. I have realized, I can be a night owl, and after a lot of trepidation about what it would look like to go into work after a full day with the kids, I found I really love my quiet evenings at our photography studio (and missing the whole scene of dinner and bedtime a few days a week…winning!!!) That is as long as I don’t listen to true crime on my dark drive home, which I made the mistake of one night…shudder…
I have soaked in our slow mornings (I can’t believe that pre-covid19 we used to leave the house at 7:20 am!) and that the boy’s freedom and lack of “schedule” this summer has actually taught them so many important things and built confidence in themselves.
This summer was hard but also great in so many ways. It was a good reminder that we can figure out things that feel almost impossible at first.
*I say this with the privilege of having work that can be done on my own schedule…because there are many people who don’t have this flexibility and that adds a whole other layer of difficulty and I see you!
September Sharing!
I am planning on sharing regularly here during the month of September and am writing this to hold myself accountable! Honestly, I have been overthinking almost everything lately, and that even includes writing here. I want to share freely but never want to come across as not having perspective…
While I am pretty much an open book in “real life”, I think writing on a public blog can be tricky to portray all the nuances of life especially when this is only a tiny sliver of things. So I think that if I just do it more, I will get back into a routine, so that is my goal for September! I hope you to see you along the way. And I will be back soon with my August monthly book recap! xo
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