Summer

We are nearing the end of week two of summer and I am so happy.  I swear I am a different person.  I have more energy, I'm not exhausted all the time,  I feel less stressed.

That's not to say I sit on my butt and relax all day.  Oh hell no!  My day on Monday:

Woke up and fed myself and both kids breakfast, got us all dressed and out the door by 9:45.  Unbuckled both kids from their carseats and took lugged Coen along to drop Sierra off for her first day of summer enrichment.  It's a program at her school with fun things for kids to do a few weeks during summer.  I decided to sign her up since it's offered at the school she will go to.  Plus I thought it would get her used to being there for 2 hours, which is almost as long as Kindergarten will be. So then I loaded Coen back up, drove to an appointment at the consignment store to get rid of some baby toys and gear (my Boppy pillow included :( I wanted to cry).  This of course involved taking him out and back in his carseat two more times!  He fell asleep on the way to pick Sierra up, where I had to unload him again just to walk in and get her!  We went home, ate lunch, and ran to get dog food then another store to grocery shop.  I came home and luckily Coen did not fall asleep in the car, but I had to rush and unload the cold stuff.  I finally got him to nap around 4.  Then I rushed out to mow the grass while he slept and Sierra played in her water table outside.  Then I cooled off, woke him up, did dishes while I made dinner.  After dinner we went back outside, took the dog for a walk, and came in to give the kids baths.  Then I ran on the elliptical for 30 minutes and showered and sat down around 10 for the first time all day.

Exhausting, but productive.  All days are exhausting with kids, but most are not so productive!  I must have buckled and unbuckled Coen 15 times!  It felt SO good to get stuff done though.

I will say for me the big difference between working and not working is night time.  I am just as busy and sometimes stressed during the day trying to get stuff done while watching 2 kids and keeping them occupied.  In a perfect world I could just focus on them and not try to get stuff done at the same time, but unfortunately I push a lot of things till summer that I just can't get to when I am working full time (seriously, what do women who work year round do?  I think they are my heroes!).  So all day I am busy busy busy.  In fact I am busy until the kids go to bed, and they go to bed later in the summer.  Coen hasn't been going until almost 9 and Sierra almost 10 every night.

But, once the kids are in bed I am relaxed.  I don't have to pack my lunch or decide what I am wearing or iron it.  I don't have to worry about getting to bed because I know I have to get up at 5:45.  I don't have to worry about getting the kids up early too.  I don't have to worry about work stuff on top of mother stuff.

It's so, SO nice.  I LOVE it.  I am happier in the summer.  I actually feel like doing things or going out.  I'm like a different person.  I swear I have two personalities - summer Lisa and working Lisa.  No joke.  I like summer Lisa much better!

I often wish I never had to go back to work.  But, I do think having "only" 2.5 months off makes me appreciate that time so much more than women who stay at home year round.  For me, it's a change from the usual, so spending so much time with my kids doesn't get as frustrating as it does for someone who always does it.  If that makes sense.

My favorite part of summer is getting to keep my whole paycheck!  We often get the comments about "oh it must be nice to have two incomes."  What people with one income don't realize is their one income is probably not much less then our two, especially when you factor in that 40% of my pay goes right back out to the baby-sitter.  She earns her money for sure and she is worth it, but I wish I didn't have to pay someone else to do what I wish I could do.  So, in summer, I still get a paycheck and don't have to work.  It doesn't get much better than that!