Weekends should be longer...yes?!

Funny how we can worry and worry and worry about our kids so much and then they totally surprise you and you’re left wondering why you wasted all that time worrying…

Marley marched in to the Cub Club room for her test run on Friday.  She walked right in, lovey in hand, and sat down at a table where 5 other kids her age were working on art projects.  The director asked me for my phone number, confirmed whether or not Marley has food allergies, and said, “Don’t worry, she’ll be so busy she won’t even realize you’re gone.”  And Marley never looked back at me.  No goodbye smooch, no hesitating to be left there alone, nothing….she just sat down and started making friends.  It was the first time I really felt it…felt her growing away from me a bit.  And felt a sadness that we had gotten here so fast. 

Little Miss has quite the obsession with Spider-Man these days.  And that hair.  Oh.  What will I do with it??

When I picked her up, she was sitting at a teeny little lunch table with about 8 other kids.  They were all laughing and talking and Marley ran to me when she saw me.  Then we walked back to the cubby where she had left all her stuff and the director told me about her time there that morning.  She said Marley pushed her lovey aside about 5 minutes after I left.  She described her as very social…said she made friends instantly, was not shy to talk to the other kids and ask questions and participate in circle time.  Then she said, “She’s ready for this.”  Yep, I knew it.  And I was proud of my little baby girl for being such a good person…

Now that the test run is out of the way and we feel confident that it is the right move for her, we’re left with sorting out the details.  Much easier than the worrying part!  Ahhhh!

On Saturday I took the kids to my cousin’s baby shower in Faribault while Travis worked.  It was so fun to see all my mom’s sisters and a few of my cousins that I only run into once a year (if that)!  My grandma had not met Jax yet…so I snapped a photo of the little man trying to smooch her on the cheek.  Two of my mom’s sisters and my grandma mentioned something about Jax’s mouth/lips resembling my grandpa…and that made me happy!  He was a handsome man and if my little Jaxie has some of his features I’ll consider that a blessing!!

Grandma Mahagnoul and Jax!

 

I got my baby fix on Sunday!  Yipee!  The whole fam drove down to Zak and Sam’s house to visit baby Blakely!  Of course, the kids are too little to really get into “meeting” their new cousin….but that’s alright!  I was quite content to hold her for 2 hours.  She was snuggled up so perfectly on my tummy.  Makes me want another one.  Right.  Now!  But wait, I will….we have to get Marley a little closer to kindergarten before we can fully embark on that adventure!  For now, I’ll soak up all the cuddles with Miss Blakely.  She’s perfect!!

Life with 3.....la vida loca!  Give me another year or so and I'll be ready to do it again!  Because who wouldn't want another one of those 2 I already have.  Come on cuteness!!

To Preschool or Not to Preschool????

There are 2 things that relieve stress for me….one is working out (and I need to do more of this).  The other is, and always has been, journaling of some sort.  My mom can attest to this.  I have boxes of old notebooks from when I was a teenager.  All full to the brim with the scribblings of a young girl trying to sort out life.  I’ve let the journaling slip in the past few years….enter kids…and list making, all kinds of lists, has taken its place.  But that is NO FUN!  This blog has always been a nice little outlet for me.  An electronic journal of sorts.  So, this dusty old thing might see some action over the next few months!

Topic of the day…making decisions, hopefully good ones, for your kids.  We’ve been in this place of entertaining the idea of Marley NEEDING preschool for the last 6 months or so.  She started acting out a bit at daycare and at home.  At first, I just chalked it up to her being 3.  Which, for the record, is SO MUCH MORE DIFFICULT than being 2.  But then, as time went on, I wondered if she might be a little bit bored.  Ready for some more age appropriate challenges.  We LOVE our in-home daycare.  I cannot stress that enough.  Marley has flourished there.  But the demographics have changed.  One of the older girls if off in kindergarten and another is in preschool, preparing for starting kindergarten this fall.  That leaves Marley as the oldest…and not that it would be a problem for all kids.  I know her personality and can only assume that her “center of attention” attitude can dominate the daycare setting for the younger kids, Jax included.  With that being said, Trav and I both agree that Marley would do really well with a more formally structured day.

To make a long story short, we started looking at our options in the area.  We had a few REQUIREMENTS that had to be met in order for us to consider moving Marley (and these requirements further limited our options).  Here’s what we MUST HAVE:

1.        A location that is close to their current daycare (as Jax would be staying put).  We didn’t want to be driving all over the city at the end of the day trying to pick up 2 kids and get them home.

2.      A location that preferably had preschool and an all-day care option (because we can’t leave work mid-day to get her from preschool back to her current daycare).

3.      Comparable prices to what we pay now, though we understood that we’d likely be paying more because of adding on the preschool piece.

We landed on Blessed Trinity in Richfield.  The school met all of our requirements and has a great preschool program for 3 year olds, followed by a 4 year old program as well.  They have what’s called CUB CLUB…an all day daycare program that preschool students can go to.  It really is a perfect fit for us!  And bonus…it will introduce Marley to a Christian/Catholic school setting.

But now we need to decide some of the more specific details…like, do we send her to Cub Club only on Mondays and Fridays when she has preschool, keeping her in her current daycare Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday???  Or do we just enroll her in Cub Club full-time and take her out of her current daycare entirely???  I’m constantly second-guessing my parenting decisions, re-evaluating how I came to those decisions, and questioning myself.  How do I know if it’s the right thing for Marley?  How do I know what is best for her?  Am I rocking the boat for no reason at all or is preschool necessary?  Change is just never easy and I always worry how Marley will react to the change.  I feel like I’m asking too much for her to just dive in and LOVE her new surroundings, if we do decide to move her.  But on the other hand, I feel like I’m doing her a disservice if I don’t give her the tools she needs to grow and be challenged and learn.  After all, she’s not going to make these decisions for herself! 

So, here we are…..at this crossroads.  I’m sure this is just the first of many difficult parenting decisions we’ll have to make, and maybe I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill.  How do you all go about making big decisions for your kids?  Do you think preschool is a must?  How can you tell if they are ready??

Only posting this because it's funny....kids....so dramatic.  These two are never on the same page!  One happy, one sad.  One hungry, one not.  Oy vey....gray hairs, here I come!

 

Ten-Four...Breaker, Breaker?!?!

Happy Spring, err….whatever.  Whatever season this is.  I’m not quite sure.  Happy April!  How ‘bout that?!  Pretty sure we’re all suffering from seasonal affectiveness disorder by now…

Here I go, about to sound like a broken record, but life has been crazy lately.  Crazier than normal….or maybe it’s just the new normal.  I don’t know.  But I don’t like it.  I’m finding myself staring at my calendar, a mounting list of things to do, places to be, appointments to make (more things to do)….all on top of everything else…you know, working full-time and then some, being a mom to two little nut-jobs (thanks, Auntie….we love this term), holding down the fort, aka the house, trying-but-desperately-failing to be a good wife…….sometimes I feel like I’m sinking.  And I’ll just get this out there right now, NO, I’m not depressed.  I would not be afraid to admit to that.  I’m just trying to stay afloat in this pool of “stuff” that keeps pouring in……….more bills to pay, more projects at home, more decisions about kids/daycare/preschool, more GUILT about everything that I just can’t seem to get a handle on.  It’s overwhelming.  There.  I said it. 

Perhaps this is just life now.  But I wish it were simpler.  I wish it were less cluttered and chaotic.  I wish there wasn’t this NEED to be in every single place that you are ever invited to be…..and this NEED to fill every square of our calendars for the summer months with obligations.  The pressure…agggghhhhh!  Since when does “non-stop-busy-for-months-on-end-on-top-of-everything-else” = happiness??????

**Note:  I mean no offense to anyone that I have PLANS with this summer.  I’m just be honest about life right now.

Anyway….the point of this is not for anyone to feel sorry for me.  I’m venting.  Maybe you are in the same boat.  It’s not a very happy boat, so I’m sorry if you are here with me!  I’ve got a game plan to turn things around and it starts now.  Time to re-prioritize life.  Waste less time doing things that mean nothing.  Spend more time (uninterrupted) with my babies and my hubby.  Maybe even give some time to MYSELF…for me.  A weekly yoga class.  Time to read a book.  Craft.  Who knows????  For me, the most obvious 1^st step in making more time is disconnecting.  And so I’m going to…ya’all know I love me some social media.  But I’m saying good-bye for now.  To see how things go without the distraction, without the phone always in my hand--ready to snap a "shareable" photo at any God-given moment is not how I want to live my life.  My plan is to spend this early spring and summer cherishing my sweet little family…chasing frogs, jumping off the dock, snuggling by a bonfire, squeezing in a date night, praying that God decides to save Trav’s brother and cure him of his cancer (but in the meantime making lots of new family memories with him)…away from my phone, away from Facebook, away from the constant connection to the rest of this crazy universe!  I just want to re-set and re-commit to my family and myself.  It's been a long time comin'...

This is going to be my new motto for life!

 So...friends and fellow mamas, XO from me!  I'll miss all your updates but I'm off on a special mission!  I hope you all know that sometimes we just have to give ourselves a break.  This job of being a mama....it's tough, so tough.  Like, fall-on-the-couch-in-a-pile-of-tears tough.  I know, I did that last week and probably the week before.  But it's the single most important job on this planet!  YOU'RE DOING GREAT!!!!!!