Lazy Summer Days

The past month, I have thoroughly enjoyed being home and spending each day with Audrey since she finished the school-year.  We haven't done a lot, other than running errands and doing chores around the house.  But we have gotten to spend time together just chilling around the house together and being lazy.  This morning, we laid in the floor with Fletcher and tried to get him to roll toward us.  A couple of days ago, we played Spot It.  We haven't done anything major, but it's sometimes those small moments that are the most fun.  Because I have been home and have had time to get chores done around the house during the day, I am less stressed and more relaxed when I am around my kids.  I am able to savor their smiles and gigles.  I am also able to create more of those moments, like when we have visitors during the day when I would normally be at work.  Recently, my grandparents stopped by after my grandma's doctor appointment in Chesterfield.  When I am working, it is really hard to make those things happen.

I still have my moments of frustration, especially when one of the older kids does something they shouldn't and it wakes up Fletcher.  This is usually in the form of Barrett playing with the baby swing while Fletcher is asleep in it, despite the fact that I have told him a hundred times not to touch the swing when Fletcher is sleeping in it. However, it is easier for me to not overreact in those moments.

It also helps that I am able to nap during the day when I don't get a lot of sleep at night.  It is even better that I am usually taking those naps reclined on the couch as Fletcher lays asleep on my chest.  I know that at some point I will miss those snuggles, so I am going to get them while I can. 

In two weeks, I return to work.  I have been reflecting a lot on what that means and what I can do now to try to make it easier on all of us when we go back.  This includes random things like washing every ounce of bedding in this house and blogging a lot :) 

With Audrey, I couldn't wait to get back to work.  After almost 3 months of being home by myself with an infant and having very little other human interaction, I was dying to feel like I was contributing to the greater good again.  With Barrett, I didn't want to go back so badly it hurt.  You can look back at my blog posts from that first year and see how the mommy guilt was eating away at me and adding to the stress that I already had from juggling a job, a newborn and a toddler.  With Fletcher, I am somewhere in between.  I have really enjoyed these past couple of months at home, but I am also looking forward to getting back to my team at work.  I really hope the additional perspective I have now helps me through those stressful moments that I know will come soon enough from trying to balance a full-time job with the rest of my life. 

So, for now, I will enjoy these last couple of weeks of my lazy summer days and pray that my transition back to work will go smoothly for me and the rest of the family.