Sunday, October 31, 2010

Double, double toil and trouble....

Fires burn and cauldrons bubble....

Yes, Halloween. That glorious time of the year that you go knocking on your neighbors door and ask for free stuff. I know that kids love it, I know I did as a kid. It fell in line with Easter candy and stocking stuffings. All the sickeningly sweet stuff that dentists hate. My own personal favorite is typically the Reeses peanut butter cups but lately I have definitely had an affinity for almond joys. YUM!

But tonight, we changed things up a bit for us. We decided through a chain of events in our family as well as the fact Halloween falls on a school and work night that we would do something different and stay local to trick or treat. The girls had a blast but it was so cold. I missed the 70 -something temperatures of early last week and reminded myself that last year it was also balmy on Halloween itself. But this year it was true fall weather.

We walked across the street and down the cul de sac across from us. It was low-keyed for sure. Then part way through straight of the mouth of babes, Aimee asks "why do we go up to strangers houses and ask them for candy?" I had no good explanation other than it's Halloween tradition and it's just what you do. I have no idea where it came about so I need to do some reading up on that. And it also occurred to me how hypocritical it was of us since we just drilled it into the girls' heads that you don't talk to strangers even though many are very nice, you just don't know who to trust so it's better to just not talk to strangers. And never ever ever take candy from a stranger. So what do we do? Encourage them to go up to strangers houses, knock on their doors, talk to them and take candy. Bravo. There's one for contradiction huh? No wonder my kids give me some strange looks some times. I forget how literal kids can be sometimes and it is always refreshing when they bring me back to Earth.

The girls had a great time. I had a little Belle from Beauty and the Beast with Nicole and Aimee decided to be a sparkly witch. And you know people actually commented on how sparkly her costume was? On Saturday night, we went to the Norwell High School to do Trunk or Treat there. It was a fundraiser for the National Honor Society of NHS so we decided to try it. It was so fun, that could have been enough for them.

I love that they get to wear their costumes so many times. They had a dancing Halloween party, Nicole had a parade at school and we went to the Trunk or Treat. So there are a few donnings right there. Makes me feel like we got our money's worth, you know?

So Happy Halloween to all the ghost and goblins out there. I hope that you had a good one and that all of your frights are over!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Jill of all trades...

Master of none apparently. I can now see why working mothers give up their careers specifically when the kids get to real school. I mean I only work part time so I give the full time working moms with kids in school a real big "hurrah" and "here here" to them. Two weeks ago I was flat out at work. My mom who is always happy to be my fallback child caregiver was away for a week and I needed to work 32 hours. Do you get that? A whole 8 hours more than I normally work. At first I though, that is no sweat - what is 8 hours. Oh, how dumb I was.

My friend Missy was nice enough to come over and watch the girls for me while I was at work that extra day and took up the slack from my mom being away on my usual day in the office that I need child care coverage. Missy and I went to high school together so I have known her for about 20 years. She is also and out of work preschool teacher so she did and AWESOME job with the girls. They had a lot of arts and crafts time, she took no stuff from Nicole who has proven to me that terrible twos are a misnomer but that is a whole different post and the girls have asked again and again when she will be back. So if that doesn't spell great sitter I don't know what does.

Anyway, I had to work 4 days that week and by the end of it I was fall down exhausted, had little patience for the kids and their antics/fighting, particularly at bed time when I was going to be going to bed right on their heels.

What it taught me? That I have yet to master this whole work life balance. I don't really know how anyone does it effectively or maybe that is really the whole idea. Maybe every other working parent I know does it all with smoke and mirrors and their houses are just as much chaos as mine can be. Luckily I married the right guy because he took up the slack I was laying down on my motherly/wifely part of our house such a cooking, grocery shopping, kid pick up and drop off, lunch packing and bill paying. Work has calmed to a respectable level though part of me misses the adrenaline rush of the weeks with so much to do.

So my thoughts still wander to how other people do it? How are there enough hours in the day? How do they fit in the kids, work, personal appointments, *gasp* workouts, etc. Maybe they sleep less or maybe they have children who go to bed at 7:30 on the dot instead of constantly pushing the limit to 8:30ish with the latest demands for water, another baby doll, lovey, etc. Or maybe they go through the same struggles. Maybe they don't sit down to dinner each night as a family as we strive to do. Maybe they don't see their significant other due to opposite working shifts. There are a lot of maybes out there. But it has been comforting to know that some of the families I have met thus far through Aimee's class seem to be in a similar juggle as I am with family watching their kids, one kid here, another one there, mulitple drop offs, extracurricular activities, etc. I just think they do it with more flare, better hair and matching socks.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

September? Gone?

Yeah yeah I didn't get a single post in during September. I stink I know. But it's mid-October and we've been knee deep into things here. I can't even believe that school started and now we are only about 5 weeks from Thanksgiving. CRAZY.

So what have we been up to? Aimee started Kindergarten (sniff) and while I was a little sad that my baby is 5 and getting on the school bus, she loves it and it just makes my heart swell to see her beaming as she gets on the bus. She loves her teacher and is making a lot of new friends and it's just been so so great. Nicole is also loving preschool and her teachers tell me that she is so cuddly and loves to be held on their laps, etc. Luckily she is barely tipping the scales at about 29 pounds so she's easy to hold and carry for the short distances in the classroom. Aimee even loves to come with me to drop Nicole off and see her past teachers from both the 3 year old classroom and the 4 year old classroom. It's such a great school and I am so lucky to be able to send my kids there and to have gone there myself.

What I have found with school starting is that we have so much to do. Every day is a shuffle and it's been stressful trying to make sure we have everyone where they need to be every day. I can see how couples could have friction from this. It sure means that you and your partner have a good give and take relationship and value the other's schedule and needs. I could never ever work my current job without the support of my husband. He does the pick ups and drop offs most of the time so that I can just roll out of bed into my carpool (have I mentioned that yet? I LOVE my carpool) and onto work. I know that it means he gets only two mornings where he can just get out of the house early without responsibilities but he takes it on great.

I am mostly in charge of making sure he only has to pick up the right backpacks and lunch sacks for each child and doesn't have to think about what is in them, just trusting that I have packed adequate lunches and snacks for them. I am the one who makes sure that the library book is packed on Mondays for library day, that sneakers are laid out for Thursdays for gym day. That the correct color is put on for the theme color day of the week and that the clothes laid out for each of the girls will be warm or cool enough for the weather of the day. It isn't an easy step by step process that we go through each night preparing for the next day but it is certainly necessary so that everyone is on time and where they need to be.

And the carpool. Love the carpool. A friend of mine at work who lives a town over from me suggested that we try to coordinate rides into and out of the office on the days I am in the office all day. So on Mondays and Thursdays we share a ride in and I am loving it. I love being able to use the carpool lane and zip past the latest accident or incident on the roadways. I love being able to converse with someone so easily and share funny anecdotes and advices on being a working mother. I love that I am not shelling out as much in gas money too.

So it has been a fun fall so far. Jammed packed with dancing lessons, swimming lessons, after school camps, girl scouts, etc. etc. but everyone seems happy and well adjusted. But if you had asked me 6 weeks ago how this would all work out I would have shrugged my shoulders and given a big "I dunno" but like anything else I have learned as a parent, you just roll with it and somehow it all comes together.