“Oh YEAH!” or “Oh NO!”
We are entering into the few weeks of the year when I have very strong, but opposing emotions about the upcoming summer break. The largest percent of me is singing “Hell, yes! Summer is coming!” And I’m daydreaming of calm mornings spent in pj’s, morning outings to whatever playground strikes our fancy, a fun annual child-free friend dinner I just booked, lunch and play dates with friends and cousins, afternoons at the pool, two 1-week summer day camps, family adventures and the beach.
The slightly less large percent of me is staring at my calendar as the remaining school days tick by (16 left for us, by the way…) and whispering, “Oh shit. Summer is coming.” And I’m mentally trying to stockpile my zen as I prepare for endless sunscreen applications, sand in hair/shoes/clothes/my car/the house, the “morning work” we will need to complete 5 days a week to keep reading/writing/math fresh, the bug bites, the long/hot/humid days when I just want to lay in the hammock and read but I can’t because the kids are rough-housing, showering the sweaty/sunscreen covered bodies every.single.day.
I doubt I’m alone in this emotional juxtaposition, but I’m feeling it majorly as we speed mercilessly towards the final school day just before Memorial Day weekend. And we generally do fine hanging out together as a mom & sons threesome until about mid-August. That seems to be when the boys grow tired of me, tired of each other, tired of the pool, etc. But by then there are only two weeks until school ramps up again and we have a beach trip and my littlest one’s birthday & party to look forward to along with the search for new sneakers and a fresh sock supply. This summer we are anticipating traveling elsewhere in the southeast on the day before school begins to view the total solar eclipse, so that’s a bonus side trip not in our usual routine (or timeframe).
So, whichever mindset you have, we shall do what we always do. Drink coffee and be awesome! We’ll make it through together.
Daylight Savings Smackdown
Oh my heavens, y’all. The twice yearly time shift has never been much of an issue for me or for our kiddos in their brief history on the planet. But something about this year perhaps – the spring shift forward and loss of an hour has us all kinds of jacked up but in opposite times of day. We never make a big deal about the shift, we keep the kids’ same bedtime & wakeup routine, and tough they might yawn a lot that first morning we carry on as normal.
But Sunday evening…ohhhhh Sunday evening was a battle. We had dinner at our regular 6:00 time frame and happened to finish quickly, which gave us plenty of wind down playroom minutes before bedtime (that routine starts at 7:00 and we wrap up stories at 8:00). Our free time was up and we began to usher the boys towards their bathrooms for toothbrushing, but they both seemed shocked and insisted it was too early for bed. The sun is still out, it’s too early, we aren’t tired yet. As their daddy and I attempted to explain “Daylight Savings” they argued about the concept and then changed to “whyyyy did you make us eat dinner so early?”
Oh.My.Lord.
We resorted to kid friendly YouTube videos to help us out and try to show them that we aren’t lying and making it all up as a scam to get them in bed earlier than normal. And after 20 minutes of various videos we had eaten up a large chunk of story time and it was getting dark as we left their rooms and there was no further struggle. But geeeeeeez.
On the flip side, I am normally able to pop out of bed at my first 5:00am alarm and get my booty down on the treadmill for my daily date. It’s not fun, I don’t enjoy it but it’s not difficult to do. I have been dragging so bad the last few mornings. My sis-in-law calls it a “life hangover”. I have hit SNOOZE 36 times and gotten up in time to get the kids up and get everyone out the door on time and found my stride around 9:00am in the middle of my barre class. And yes, I have made up my missing mileage later in the morning but then it takes time from my “get sh*t done while the kids are at school” time. So I need to quit griping tomorrow and just GET UP. I’m a grown woman and I can doooooo eeeeet!
Has anyone else been smacked in the face with this time change more than usual?What are some things you do to get back on track quickly?
