Spring Break

When I was a teacher I couldn’t wait for Spring Break to start.  As a new mom of 3 I couldn’t wait for Spring Break to be over!  Whew what an exhausting week it was.  I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through Monday, let alone a whole week.  But somehow I did.  Amidst all the whirlwind of moving the kids in, shopping for supplies for their rooms and school, numerous trips to the grocery store and Costco, getting them new shoes, Daniel developing some weird rash all over his upper body, getting a new pediatrician, finding a new daycare, piles of paperwork, piles of laundry, cooking, cooking, and cooking, we somehow managed to have some fun excursions.  It was a bit overwhelming but I enjoyed spending the week with the kids.

Since we have been spending time with the kids for the last 3 months I felt I knew them pretty well and was ready for them to move in.  Boy was I in lala land.  Ha!  Living with them is a bit different than visiting with them every weekend.  The most incredible thing I have discovered is sibling rivalry.  Oh how I’ve come to hate sibling rivalry!  “He’s touching me.”  “She’s looking at me.”  “He’s walking in front of me.”  “She is standing by the door.”  Good god.  I think it basically comes down to the fact that they each exist.  They both hate that about each other.  In all honestly I have come to truly appreciate Jackson’s lack of ability to speak.  His little noises are music to my ears.  I even resorted to the “no talking for 5 minutes” game.  It didn’t work.  Daniel found a way to still make noise with his fake sneezes and fake coughs.  Which then lead to Sylvia proclaiming “He’s sneezing!” “He’s coughing!”  “No fair!”  Which then lead Daniel to proclaim he had to cough/sneeze, it was all innocent of course.  Which then lead me to realize my mistake in not planning some kind of discipline tactics.  I’m discovering all new joys (or should I say distress) of parenting.  The mind boggling thing is that one day we have non-stop sibling rivalry, then the next day we have two really great kids who play quietly and nicely together. I guess that is nature’s way of preventing parents from institutionalizing themselves. 

In all fairness the kids are actually pretty great.  They are funny, sweet, caring, energetic and just plain fun.  We are really enjoying having them in our home, making new memories and becoming a family.  Our lives are definitely different, no more quiet house, no more free time to just hang out and watch TV or check Facebook, no more, no more, no more.  But the truth is I like it this way.  Oh I do miss the free time and quiet time for sure, but our house is more lively and fun now.  Even Jackson seems to like the new craziness in the house.  It’s been an adjustment for all of us, but adjusting we are.  The kids seem happy, relaxed and secure.  Daniel’s teacher told me this week that you wouldn’t have known he went through a big transition, he hasn’t shown any signs of it in class.  Great news!  I want the kids to trust us and have a sense of security that we are there for them.  So far I think they know that and that is important progress for them after all they have been through over the last few years.  I think it will be a continual work of progress for the near future.

It’s funny to think that just a few short months ago it was just me and my 2 boys with no idea what was in store for us.  Within 3 months we fell in love with 2 kids, built 2 bedrooms in our house, moved them in, and are now a family of 5.  As Douglas Adams said “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I ended up where I needed to be.”