Adjusting.

First off, I am so sorry for being the worst blogger ever. I promise to be better moving forward. I feel like time is just being sucked away from me these days. Either I'm not managing my time well, or there just isn't enough of it. Probably a mix of both. Anyway, please expect better from me starting now.

So. I was under the impression that sending my oldest child to school for 7 hours a day would somehow make my life much easier, and I would feel so relaxed, work on projects, keep my house neat as a pin, etc. So far, that is completely not the case. I am frazzled, feeling a little nutty (even more than usual), and utterly exhausted. I'm sure the fact that I get up around 5:30 most days to exercise only increases my exhaustion. But that's my time, and I wouldn't give it up.

I think things will get more normal. I've just had a bunch of little things going on that have kind of prevented me from getting into a real routine. I think I spend more time in my car right now than in my house. First, there's driving to school. That's easy enough - just drop off in carpool line. Then we scoot 5 minutes down the road for Davis' preschool dropoff. No carpool line there (grrr), so we have to get out and walk him into his class. He's doing regular preschool two days a week, and Mother's Morning Out one day. Starting next week, preschool will be from 9-12. Last week and this week, however, it's 9-11. Not long enough to get much of anything done. Luckily for me, Mother's Morning Out is 9-1 from the start, so at least I have that one day.

Once everyone is dropped off, there are errands to be run. Or, if Davis isn't in school, I try to do something to entertain him. Then we get home, have lunch, get him down for a nap, and I try to make my house look like a tornado didn't come through it. After that, I usually have to wake D up to go sit in carpool line at Ava's school. That takes up at least 30 minutes. Thank God for the DVD player in the Odyssey.

Right now, Ava also has soccer and dance. There's generally enough time to scoot home, change clothes, grab a snack, and head back out to one of those activities. I didn't time anything very well, because it seems like most days we're not getting out of her activities until 6 or 6:15. And you know what that means - dinner.

I won't lie to you. My kids have had more ChickFila and McDonald's in the last 2 weeks than I'm comfortable admitting. But in addition to their activities, I've got some of my own. Come on, you can't expect me to give up my tennis lessons now that I'm on my way to becoming the next US Open champion, can you? (More on that later in the week, by the way). The point is that a homemade meal is not always an option.

I used have mixed emotions about weekends. (The following may offend some of you who can't stand to be away from your kids, but I like to keep things real here.) I was always excited that the husband was going to be around to help with Ava and Davis, but I also kind of cringed at the thought of keeping everyone entertained and happy all weekend. Now, though, I really do like the weekends. I feel like I hardly see Ava during the week, so I'm finding that I look forward to some one-on-one time with her.

The other nice thing is that since Ava and Davis aren't together 24/7, they are getting along really well (as far as siblings go). The end of the summer brought endless bickering, but some separation seems to have rekindled their love. Sure, there's still fighting, some inappropriate name-calling ("poopie head" comes to mind), and even some hitting, but more than that, there's a lot of affection. And that makes me happy.

So, bear with me. I'm still adjusting to this new, hectic schedule. I'm sure in a few weeks it will feel routine and not so crazy. At least, I sure do hope so.