A New Life

Well, deep breath, here we go. Tomorrow morning, my life as I know it changes. I'll have no job, no money,different friends, a different title, will spend time in the kitchen (maybe), will clean my house (maybe), will see my husband less, be exhausted most of the time, and hopefully be deliriously happy in my new environment. Witness protection you ask? Ahhhh, no, nothing that exciting.

Tomorrow starts the school year, and for the first time in 30 years I will not be a part of going back to school. Am I retiring? No, I'm not that old yet! I'm simply taking a year away from my position to stay at home with my kids. The thirty years just refers to the fact that I have either been attending school or teaching school since I was five. Tomorrow I would be beginning my 14th year of teaching, that in and of itself sounds crazy. I really never imagined myself teaching for that long. Who knows what I thought I would do instead and now I can't imagine doing anything else. Except that is, what I'm doing now. And if I am to be totally truthful, I really never imagined myself being one of those "stay at home" moms. I always anticipated daycare and the title "working mom."

Instead, tomorrow, I'll be changing diapers, shopping at Wal-Mart, wiping faces, getting messy kisses, taming tantrums and working like a dog. My oldest, a boy, is 4 years and 2 months. My middle, a boy, is 2 years and 2 months. And my youngest, I thought was a boy turned out to be a girl (happiest day of my life, hands down) is 7 months 11 days and few hours. We hadn't planned on three in such short succession, but alas, things do not always go according to plan!

I honestly have no idea of how this is all going to work. Sure, I've been home with them for the past three months, just like most teachers who teach on a traditional schedule. But guess who else was home with me? Yep, I married a teacher. It really is the life, except for the lack of material wealth. How lucky my kids have been to be able to have two parents at home with them all summer! My hubby had to work two days last week, and I can already tell that the kids are going to go through a major bumpy transition. How do I know? Well, ever since those two days, my two year old cries when daddy's in another room and says, "Miss Daddy!" He doesn't believe that he's coming back. He's started playing "going to work" and my husband seems to have velcro on him because the boys are glued to him constantly!

I got a glimpse of my life as "single stay at home parent" not to be confused with single parent. That truly would be the toughest way to parent and I have no desire to find that out for myself. No, I say single stay at home parent because we've been dual stay at home parents all summer. Anyway, back to my glimpses.

FFL or for those of you not in the know, Fantasy Football League, dominates our Sundays and Mondays come regular season. No longer can I watch my home team, or if I can, then my husband is constantly flipping back and forth with our ancient (seriously ancient) remote. Plus, if he has someone playing against my MN Vikings, then he cheers, gasp, against the purple and gold! It's a roller coaster of emotions and they're not even my emotions! But, I digress, the reason I mention FFL is that the draft, or should I say, THE ALMIGHTY IMPORTANT, NOT TO BE MESSED WITH, RESEARCHED EXCESSIVELY DRAFT, was this weekend. And seeing as how 4, 2, and 7 mos. can be very distracting during THE DRAFT, I left, along with my sister-in-law and 9 month old niece (whose husband and daddy was also in THE DRAFT) to IKEA.

Ikea is an experience when you do it all by yourself, but now imagine with 3 kids in tow. I can't complain however, they really were quite good. They just have to touch everything. And anything. And did I mention everything? My oldest even laid down on the bed in the children's section and announced, "I think this fits me Mommy. Can we get it?" And, no we can't, we just ordered bunk beds. That is another post.

Before we even started shopping, my sister in law and I decided the kids probably needed fuel for the trip. So we stopped in Ikea's restaurant, which is much like a college cafeteria and got some food. Well, picture me pushing a double stroller and trying to fill up a tray with food, paying and then trying to find a table. Not an easy task. And my sister in law was a great help, but it is hard to help when you have a 9 month old yourself. I got the kids their usual favorite, mac and cheese and french fries (aren't fries a vegetable?) and milk and ordered a soda for myself. Ummmm, yeah, soda comes with a kid's meal, but you have to pay extra for milk. Does that make sense? Not to me! Nevertheless, we made it, not very gracefully, to a table, where my children proceeded NOT to eat their favorite. It was like homemade and not like Kraft, enough said? Creatures of habit my kids are! So, a few fries later, a little milk (Most of the 2 year old's milk ended up on the floor and his shorts. He's not real adept at using a carton and a straw yet), two glasses of diet caffeine for me and some nursing for the 7 month old and we were off. Two hours later my husband calls, says the draft is over, his team's a loser for sure, the Vikings just started and the kids don't have to eat, we saved them some pizza (taco pizza and banana pepper/pepperoni are not really part of my boys' desires yet). You can see how FFL has already taken over my husband's brain.

So that was glimpse number one of single stay at home parenthood. Glimpse number two was today when we stopped in Medford at the outlet mall. I'll have to save that for another day. Just let me say this, 15 minutes and $16 in the Gap outlet for me does not compare to 3 hours and $200 (thank God for gift cards!) in Cabela's for him!

So tomorrow I start my new life, wish me luck!