Normal day,
let me be aware of the treasure you are.
Let me learn from you,
love you,
bless you before you depart.
Let me not pass you by
in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.
Let me hold you while I may,
for it may not always be so.
One day I shall dig my nails into the earth,
or bury my face in the pillow,
or stretch myself taut,
or raise my hands to the sky and want,
more than all the world, your return.
~Mary Jean Iron
{Please kindly ignore the fact that this photo is overexposed – so much so that part of baby’s face is missing ALL detail!}
Sedona, July 25, 2010
I first read this quote here several months ago. I read it again here this morning. And so today I think of just what a normal day around here is. Get up – generally after Huntler bounds in and wakes me from my slumber. Fix breakfast – and when I say fix breakfast, I mean pour a bowl of cereal for Huntler and a bowl of Goldfish for Gentry {she is not so much into the typical breakfast foods, obviously}. Give the kids a bath or a shower. Throw their clothes in a pile on the floor so they can dress themselves while I put in my contacts and brush my teeth. Put away the remnants of breakfast. Brush teeth. Fix hair. Pack lunch. Tie shoes. Load up. Drop Huntler off. Tuesdays and Thursdays drop Gentry off right after that. Sit in the wretched heat waiting for 8:30 to roll around so that Gentry can go in her classroom. Rush home. Feed baby. Work out. Or not. Shower. Make the bed. Do laundry. Unload the dishwasher. Fly around like a crazy lady because the three hours of preschool has gone by all too quickly and it is time to go get Gentry already. Feed baby again. Fix lunch. Pick up a little bit. Run the sweeper. Take out the trash. Leave 30+ minutes before school even gets out to go sit in the car pick up line to get Huntler because we learned after one day of waiting in the actual line that it is FAR too hot and mommy gets FAR too grouchy waiting in the heat. Feed baby while updating Facebook numerous times while waiting in the comforts of our air conditioned car. Load Huntler into the van and drive home. Unpack his backpack and sort through all the papers. Unload his lunchbox and see what exactly he ate. Fix snacks. Chat about the day. Play Transformers. Play trains. Play dolls. Work on alphabet with Gentry. Piddle around while we wait for Daddy to get home. Listen as the kids run at top speed to the exercise room to hide from Chris when they hear the garage door go up – every single day! Greet Daddy. Feed baby. Rummage around for something for dinner. Stand around holding baby while Daddy fixes dinner {I don’t cook – simple as that}. Eat. Clean up. Brush and floss little teeth. Lay out clothes for the next day. Read a chapter in a book. Hugs and kisses. Lights out. Feed baby. Attempt to make it through General Hospital on DVR and fall asleep myself!
While every day isn’t EXACTLY like this, this is fairly typical of life around here! Certainly nothing extraordinary or fancy, but it’s ours. It’s our normal. And although at times I grow weary from all the laundry and the cleaning that two minutes later gets undone, I can’t imagine my life any other way. For so long I have dreamt of that “rare and perfect tomorrow” instead of being grateful for today. I am working hard, so hard, to learn to live in the moment more. It’s a constant battle that wages within me.
Because I haven’t shared any photos lately, here are just a few from last night. We took the kids to the splash park.
This little guy is LOVING school! It’s hard to believe he is a kindergartner now. I won’t lie, the first day was rough. It was. But since then? Well, let me just say that we’ve found a groove and the six and a half hours he is gone just fly by! He is learning so much already. He has told me all about how “adding an ‘s’ makes more of something” and how we have “those plate-thingies in our blood.” Yeah, learning about blood cells and platelets in health already! With the good inevitably comes the bad. You know, those naughty kids that you have to sit with at a table who teach you all kinds of things that your mother would rather you not know? Yep, all of that. But such is life! We just have to be confident that we have taught him right from wrong and that he’ll make the right choices. Right? So far my biggest concern is that the disruptive chatter boxes will have him talking out of turn or when he shouldn’t!! So far, so good!! He seems to know the rules and hasn’t had an issue yet!! We are so proud of how well he is doing!! He is so independent and responsible anymore!
And this one? Well, after her second day of school I had to have a 30 minute “meeting” with her teacher. Turns out she was placed in the wrong class. Are ya kidding me? I even called a couple of weeks before school started and talked to the office staff who assured me that her class was for 3 1/2 AND 4 year olds. Wrong. She is the only four year old in there. Her class is geared toward those kids who will have another year of preschool. Crap. My very first thought was that she needed to be moved to a different class. But then I took a breath and realized that was not the way to go. I know she doesn’t act shy and from the way I write about her you would never guess she was timid, but she is. And although at the time of this “meeting” she had only spent six hours with her teacher and classmates, she was connecting. She was talking. She was playing. She was making friends. As her mom, I made the executive decision right then and there that even though she wasn’t going to be working on everything she needed to be to prepare her for kindergarten next year {yes, they are only one school year apart because of their birthdays}, it was in her best interest to stay put. At least until Christmas. Her teacher has agreed to work with her on writing her letters and sent some stuff home with me so I can work with her. When she goes back after Christmas break I may move her up to the older class if there is a spot available, but for now, more than anything she needs the confidence of learning to make friends on her own. She is spreading her little wings and we are so, so proud of her!
And this one? Well, she is eight weeks old today. Already. And filling out quite nicely, as you can see. She doesn’t miss a feeding, I can assure you! Brighton continues to be such a good, easy baby! She smiles CONSTANTLY and has really started cooing and talking to us! She wants to laugh so badly but just can’t quite figure it out yet!! She prefers to sleep on one of us – and does for the most part.
And that, my friends, is the low down on what is happening around here!! Full, busy days that leave this mama flat worn out at bedtime! I would rather snuggle into bed with the remote and my hubby than sit at the computer editing images and updating my blog! Living in the moment, you see?
