Thankful Thursdays {11.03.2016}

Thursday mornings feel like a race against the clock. My work day is a blip of time, occurring in the wee hours when the kids are still sleeping, from about 6:00am to 8:00am. And then that’s it. I’m off and running, waking up the kids, and getting ready to drive Isabella to her homeschool hub (Thursdays only, and yes, she loves it). Then it’s me and V all day, until we pick up Bella at 2:45pm in Kingston. Last Thursday was our first snowfall here, so that meant a mommy and baby snowball fight.

Tuesday mornings are a similar routine, except both kiddos attend the same mobile classroom in Hudson, NY. This past week I had my sitter drive the kids up there for me, so that meant a quiet house to work in for six.whole.hours. Tuesdays and Thursdays are polar opposites.

Some days I miss the routine that having them in a traditional school setting offers me. The ability to have dedicated time to work in a house free of children. Even with a sitter to keep them distracted, the introvert in me prefers to work in solitude. That’s a bit of the reason why I’m not on snapchat as consistently these days. No downtime, no quiet time.

But you know what? I still wouldn’t trade this time, this experience, for anything. Isabella and I are becoming closer every day. There’s a deep respect growing within each of us for each other. I figured homeschooling was going to tilt the scales one way or the other, and really, I just hoped it would be an even balance, but it’s been so much better. Yes, we have our moments. Our family is not without sibling rivalry, which may one day be the end of me. We ruffle each other’s feathers in a way only a mother can to her daughters, and only sisters can to each other. We also shore each other up, and are learning a lot about patience.

Halloween in Woodstock, 2016. Emma Swan & The Evil Queen from Once Upon a Time.

Yesterday Virginia woke up at 4:30am with an upset tummy. Thankfully she didn’t hurl, but she didn’t fall back to sleep until 7:00am, and only after I propped her up on the sofa. If I had an office job, or they attended a brick & mortar school, I would’ve been stressed. Instead, I just laid there, rubbing her belly, and caressing her eyebrow to help her relax, and work through whatever she was feeling, knowing that our day would be fine.

Isabella woke up, and got her school work done as normal. Incidentally, she’s working on an oral presentation for next week about when women got the right to vote. It felt very timely given the current election. She was shocked to learn we’ve only had the right for 96 years.

Then our sitter arrived, and I was able to turn my attention to work for a few hours. The house was busy with a buzz that only children can create. And I was happy, feeling content that all roads the last five years have led to that moment, one even I couldn’t have imagined.