August 31st, 2009

Tales of Grade Two

It is the last day of August. August does NOT seem like the time for school to start, even if it is the very last day of said month. August is still summer, or always has been here in Alberta, to the best of my recollection. But this year, August 31 was in fact the first day of school for my Big Boy. Admire his latest big boy haircut if you please:

Can I say how old grade two sounds without seeming crazy? I mean it’s nothing compared to my nieces who are in their last year of high school, or even my lovely niece who is just starting high school. But for me, it feels old. He is starting to pull away from me. In kindergarten and grade one he still needed a kiss goodbye most days. He wasn’t embarrassed to hug me in front of his friends. Today, on the first day of school, I already felt him hesitating when I went to hug him goodbye. It made me so much sadder than I expected it to. I know he’s going to grow up on me. I know it will be fast. I though it wouldn’t be too hard until he graduated to middle school in a couple of years. I though elementary school would be a breeze, but it’s not.

He’s my very first baby – my beloved helper at home, my tall, sensitive and sweet boy. And now he is only partly mine I think. He belongs to his friends and his teachers and mostly, to himself. He is starting to feel his place in the world already – he knows he doesn’t always need me to take those steps in the world. I’m hesitant to even think about the end of this year – how much more mature and aware will he be? And how many pairs of shoes will he go through this year (had to lighten the mood a little, lol!)

It was a nice day though, and super-hot, so I feel like we started the school year right. And now I must prepare myself for tomorrow – another first. A BIG first. The very first day of school for my next baby. I won’t cry, will I?

August 27th, 2009

Five Years

My middle baby, Little Boy, turned five today. That means five years ago yesterday I first went into labour and felt so excited about my newest baby’s pending arrival. Then he took his sweet time actually descending and being born of course, arriving a full 19 hours later. Still, it wasn’t a bad labour other than the whole panic at the end thinking I wasn’t going to be able to push properly and that whole icky episiotomy, vacuum, tearing bit. But hey, let’s not go there tonight! But if you ever for some strange reason read this Dr. S – yes I am still glad I did not have a repeat c-section. A VBAC was in fact worth it.

So anyway, today was a very quiet but nice day with my new 5 year old (and of course his brothers). We had the official party on Sunday while Daddy was around. Little Boy was most in love with his new Ben 10 watch I think, which we bought him knowing how much he loved (aka – kept stealing) the one his older brother got for his birthday last winter.

I made a real effort to be organized this am and got all my work done by the time the baby was up from his nap so we could spend some quality time together the rest of the afternoon/evening. We went for a longish walk to the park, well I walked and the older two rode their bikes. 5yo is not so fast/skilled at the bike riding thing, so I can unfortunately more easily help him while pushing a stroller than I would riding my bike with my cool Wee Ride seat for Baby Boy. We taught oldest to ride without training wheels when he was 6, so hopefully next summer we can do the same for middle and I’ll actually get more use out of my bike!

Then I took them all to MickeyD’s for supper, not exactly healthy but Little Boy got to choose since it was his birthday. Then we came home and watched Big Brother together. Quality family time or what? I know, I spent the whole summer not watching tv and still managed to be addicted to silly old Big Brother. That’s what YouTube is for right? And now DH has turned the cable back on, so I can turn back into a tv person for the fall. That’s another post though I think.

Happy Birthday Little Boy – love you more than you can imagine, even if I don’t let you spend every waking hour playing Lego Wii.

Love,
Mommy

August 26th, 2009

The Semi-Single Shift

My coffee mug is gently steaming beside me. My eyes are still gritty with sleep. Suddenly I’m wondering why I couldn’t just record Big Brother last night and get an extra hour of sleep, I knew what today would hold after all. I could pretend I was being empathetic to my darling husband, who stayed up trying to reset his body a little in preparation for tonight’s first night shift.

In a couple of hours I’ll be back onto the “single mom” rotation, two weeks of solo fun while DH works 12 hour shifts far from our home. And in about 7 hours hopefully I’ll be napping to make up for this very early morning!

I actually am a little hesitant to admit it, but I enjoy a lot of my time on my own. It’s easier in some ways having only the kids to cook for, no one to disagree with over what we should do for the day or did I spend too much money at the grocery store. Of course there also is no one to get up with my early bird children except me, no one to do the dishes or throw in yet another load of laundry. Neither rotation is easy since both are at extremes – him here all the time or not at all, but the job does pay for our bills and he likes what he does. That is a great thing to have. And two weeks away is far easier on our family than six month rotations like Maree’s husband does. Especially since we can talk almost every day on the phone.

Now here we are, on the precipice once again. I am going to miss him terribly, although this shift is in a particularly busy period so I may feel less lonely than I often do when he leaves. School starts next week, I’m (finally!) looking into a little bit of childcare for my youngest, I have a new client and quite a bit of work to get done.  And then the two weeks will be over and we’ll be at the airport yet again.

Laurie