Seven For Seven

Okay, m’peeps.

Let’s have a little life chat tonight, shall we???

We shall.

So...heeeeere’s the deal:

We just got back from ten days away, visiting grandparents, and making pit stops through DFW on the way there and the way back home. And I’m not gonna lie—it’s been a bit of a rough reimmersion today. Oye.

First:

Apparently, while I was away, I developed short-term memory loss and blocked out the fact that I now live in San Antonio.

Some recalibration has been needed since reaffirming, yet again, that I no longer live in Dallas, ha. (Side note: thank goodness I did not book the spur-of-the-moment-Fall-break airfare that had us flying out of DFW, as—again—I no longer live there.)

Second:

My kiddos had a blast blast with their grandparents, whom they lurv, and logged so much play time and chill time—which was the whole point. So, yay. :)

And although ten days of sleeping as a trio in the same bed or the same room was super fun for them, it was perhaps not the most restful.

Chica, in particular, reported a few difficult nights of sleep while we were away (her siblings wake her), and I knew it would catch up to her, as she’s my most sleep-impacted kiddo.

And this evening, the bomb officially detonated.

She had, hands down, the most terrible meltdown of her life. And I don’t type that lightly, or with exaggeration. 

It was an emotionally and physically draining-beyond-comprehension meltdown that had my heart hurting for my girl—and for myself, if I’m honest. And though I could absolutely write a whole post about it, I’m not going to. Because the cause and the details and the resolution aren’t even important. Only one word is: exhaustion.

So now, it’s my absolute priority to get my girl back in her steady sleep rhythm over the next few weeks.

Which leads me to my last in the trio of our-household-was-in-a-funk today items...

School starts exactly two weeks from today.

Oye.

I am so not ready for this, for many reasons.

First: the earlier elementary start time here versus Dallas just really kicks my heiny. I am not ready for the sleep deprivation for our entire household!

Second: my beautiful, beloved, baby girl seconborn starts kindergarten and mentally gearing up for this milestone is turning out to be just as hard on me as when I sent Chica two years ago.

Worse yet, my Chicklet has been by my side constantly since our move, since she didn’t start in a new preschool here with just two months left of the year, so I’m feeling the impending separation greatly.

And third: my baby boy, my youngest of my beloved trio, is starting preschool this year.

Which brings brings me full circle to the point of this whole blubbering post.

School is starting, and for the first time in SEVEN YEARS, I will be without kiddos underfoot.

Now. Hold up. Let’s not get too crazy here. 

Realistically, my alone time will be so nil.

Since Little Man is starting with just two days a week at preschool, just like his sisters did, once you factor in drop off and pickup time, I’ll have a little less than 3.5 hours, twice a week.

So we’re talking about SEVEN hours on my own, after SEVEN years deep in the weeds of kiddos.

Some days, that sounds like a lifetime.

And others, I imagine it will go by in a blink.

I know, know, know that there will be far more positives to come out of these milestones than negatives, but the whole point is that it’s CHANGE.

In a year when we’ve had nothing but CHANGE—and CHALLENGES.

I mean, 2019 is truly going to be one for the books for this family.

Especially this Mama.

And if I’m truly honest, there’s a bit of apprehension heading into a new, full school hear here, since it makes the move so official official, compared to flying in post Spring-break and just powering through the final few weeks of last school year, while we were trying to reassemble this house and our lives.

I mean, we’ve never been here for a back-to-school night, or a first day of school, or an August (or a September, October, November...you get the idea).

So...I’m going to forgive myself if I’m feeling a bit fragile now that our grandparent trip is over and we have no major events left, and I must face the fact that our summer bubble is coming to a close.

Change is hard, no matter the circumstances—even when you know it’s coming and it will pass and you’ll be in the swing of the school year and nee activites in no time.

But I’m going to try to soak in these last two weeks as much as possible before things go all topsy-turvy...before our new normal emerges. :)

Now...if you made it through all of that rambling, you deserve a few pics. So I’ll give you these older ones that google emailed to me, just to get me even more emotional, ha.