it STINKS!
in addition to me having a hard time ever letting go of any of my kids...the schedule of all of it is INSANE!
i am a "schedule" person.
ever since i clued in to the whole "motherhood" thing when rebekah was 6 months old...i've had a pretty good schedule going...with naps and all.
for YEARS we had nap time from 1-4 pm!
3 GLORIOUS HOURS.
i worked out, cleaned, crafted, cooked, read, napped, had complete thoughts and STILL had time left!
{at the bus stop this morning...because posts are better with pictures}
as the kids have gotten older, the older 2 have stopped napping.
but we've still had "quiet time" from 1-3 pm. {in the summer for rebekah}
still 2 semi-glorious hours.
couldn't get quite as much done.
never EVERYTHING i wanted.
but a lot.
{the bus stop is on the corner across from our house. that's our house across the street.}
well, this year the schedule is about to do me IN!
can i just describe to you my day?
i'm sure this will be boring but i'm going to do it anyway because it's making me CRAZY!
i don't know HOW i'm EVER going to get ANYTHING done!
{i'm yelling, can you tell??}
5:15 am: up, read, run, make lunches
7:00 am: get kids up, dressed, hair "done" {that's new this year...}, eat breakfast
7:30 am: Pat and Rebekah leave {he drops her off at school on his way out of the neighborhood}
7:30-9 am: do some sort of cross-training {my 100 push-up challenge, or sit-ups or whatever}, do chores, laundry, etc...all the while sawyer is following me screaming. he just wants to be held. or for me to sit on the floor and roll a ball to him. which i end up doing. or having a tea party with bailey. or playing a game with joshua.
9-10 am: sawyer takes a nap. i take a shower. then check email. and try to do something with bailey and joshua that i can't do while sawyer is awake.
10-11 am: ?? i don't know. but i'm running around like a crazy person. this is when i'll have to run errands sometimes.
11 am: feed joshua (and bailey and sawyer) lunch because...
11:28 am: joshua gets on bus!
11:30 am-1 pm: i can't figure out this lunch thing. 11 am is early to eat lunch. but every day the other 2 have wanted it once i start making joshua's. so i've given them lunch then. but i don't eat because it's so early! and then i have a headache by 2 pm {can i just not eat lunch AND eat ice cream at night. does that even out??}
1 pm: bailey and sawyer take a nap. i lay down for 15 minutes (i set my alarm. and i fall ASLEEP. HARD. in NO time! i've become AMAZING at taking naps!) then i blog and email and clean and answer phone calls and fold laundry and make menus and grocery lists...
2:20 pm: i leave to pick up joshua {gets out at 2:30} and rebekah {gets out at 2:40}
2:50 pm: home, go through backpacks, help with homework, get everyone a snack
4 pm: sawyer up from his nap
4-5 pm: play outside
5 pm: start cleaning up, make dinner {sawyer screaming the whole time...another one of these phases with him...good timing, huh??}
6 pm: dinner
6:30 pm: clean up dinner, take baths, get clothes out for tomorrow
7:30 pm: do the candle
8 pm: kids in BED!
i mean, REALLY.
WHEN i am supposed to do ANYTHING??
i knew this was going to be tricky.
but this week is definitely throwing me for a LOOP!
{i keep saying to myself..it WILL get better, it WILL get better...but i'm having a hard time believing it}
{and that's my son driving away from me on a huge school bus.}
high-five! if you made it through that.
just needed to vent, i guess.
and i actually feel a bit better.
any tips on this kindergarten schedule/lunch thing/screaming 13 month old combo??
i'm all ears!
11 comments:
i am so with you on the thing about asking if i am glad to have a kid in school. it is nuts. i am glad that you wrote your schedule because it made me feel a bit better that someone else thinks that this is nuts. our schedule is crazy too but not as crazy as yours is (mine will be more like yours next year). but i can't seem to get our schedule down either and i feel as if i am barely keeping my head above water. i wish that i could help you out with something (but i wouldn't even know what to offer). do you feel like you are trying to juggle all of these balls and you are about to drop one? that is how i feel. some moments, i hoenstly have to remind myself to breathe in and and out because i think that i forget to take deep breaths. crazy huh?? anyway...all of this to say that i am praying for you my dear friend and i pray for God's peace to wash over you today and for you to feel a sense of calmness. thank goodness it is friday today!
kim
ps...just one question...how do you leave to go and get rebekah and joshua while the other ones are still sleeping? just curious :)
That schedule sucks! I wouldnt be able to stand it if I had to do pick up right during nap time!
kim- umm...i leave them at my house (sleeping) and go pick up the other 2. i'm an awful mom, right?? BUT there is a crossing guard RIGHT in front of my house (which i guess could go either way...either he could arrest me for leaving OR he could keep my house safe with his presence!)
AND my neighbor RIGHT across the street AND RIGHT next door are both home (usually).
bailey knows if she wakes up she's not allowed to get out of her bed til she hears us (she almost always is still asleep...and i think we wake her up by coming home)
and sawyer NEVER wakes up.
rebekah is allowed to walk home by herself this year (which i'll maybe let her start doing next week) and then i'll just be gone for about 12 minutes (this week it's closer to 25!)
the first week of school in this neighborhood i woke the kids up from their naps and it was AWFUL. so much crying. and i really enjoy the quiet with the older kids before the younger ones are back up and need so much attention.
anyways...there's your answer :-)
Find someone to do a playdate once a week with for Joshua. Every other week at your house. This will give you a day every other week to get out earlier in the morning to run a few errands. You won't have to get back to get him on the bus. He will be having a blast at his friends house and eating lunch there. It sounds small but it really does help with the crazy kindergarten schedule. Hope this helps.
Wow. You are amazing...
Yeah, I don't know HOW you do it...its truly amazing!! But I really love hearing what's really going on in your life!!!
And thank you SOOOO much for all your sweet words and encouragement!! I wish we could be sitting next to each other, but this is the next best thing, huh??
MISS you sweet girl...hang in there!!
You're doing a great job!
xoxoxoxo
I don't know how you do it. Actually Sarah is just Bailey's age, so I don't have much wisdom here. I was wondering if you could convince Bailey and Sawyer to have a snack while Joshua is eating lunch so that you all could have lunch together at a more reasonable time.
that is awesome that you leave them home sleeping! i love it!! i am super jealous that your school is that close to your house. :) our neighborhood school isn't that close to our house for us to be able to walk to it next year and we would have to cross a four lane road with no cross walk. yuck! i have been known to take our dog for a walk around our neighborhood while mine are having quiet time at home. :)
Ha - the first two lines of your post crack me up. They think it makes things easier, but i know it makes a lot of things harder. As for lunch. Because we ALL have to leave to pick up Josiah from school at 2:15 pm (i don't have the option of leaving sleeping kids here...), I have to get them in bed by noon for them to get any kind of a nap. Which means we now have to eat lunch at 11 am. And we ALL eat - because i'm not doing lunch twice. We're all hungry by then because we eat breakfast at 6:30, but it also means we're STARVING for dinner...but can't really eat that until 6 pm when David gets home. So we have to have a good snack in the afternoon. As for Bailey & sawyer adjusting, they will. but it is an adjustment! Think of how happy they'll be this weekend to be together again!
yeah. i've been so tired i haven't been able to even sit to write my "kindergarten is making me really tired and messy" blog. seriously. and i only have 2 kids.
and right now, i'm supposed to be working. i have 40 minutes til pick up . and then anti-drowning lessons (really,t hat's what they are for 5K dollars). and then dinner. and then more working. i mean, taking time to know my child's day. and read and snuggle. and then working on a friday night. turning in a project tomorrow. and hubby has to work in the morning because we've had a tragedy at our church.
it's exhausting. scream-worthy. exhausting.
peace be with you. i've GOT to get my photos edited...coffee...where are you?
no advice, that just sounds awful!
YIKES. I hated the schedule too, you can't get anything done, it's very hard. Try snacks for the little kids, something small and then once you get Joshua on the bus come back and make lunch for all of you. You HAVE to give up your old schedule and try to adapt to something new. You may not find you are able to do things during the week the way you did in the past, doing it on a weekend, while eating into family time (I hate that too) maybe your best option for now. The half day kindergarten is killer, we did, half day kindergarten (PM like Joshua) and morning pre-school, it killed nap time for all. Hang in there DO NOT beat yourself up, it will get better. Just wait until Sawyer starts giving up morning naps, that will be a new adjustment as well, but remembering they are only little once and once they all go to school all day, you will have plenty of time to catch up, enjoy the season and don't dwell on what you can't do, only what you can.
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