This was Kevin and I’s first week with just the twins in nearly a month, and… wow.
Let me just start off by saying that we love our three older kids immensely, and we miss them the second we get home from dropping them off with their other parents. The invisible weight of only seeing your kids half of the time never quite goes away. But… but… that being said, my husband and I are very used to our week-on, week-off schedule. Our weeks without the older kids give us more alone time, both individually and as a couple. Those weeks allow for more one-on-one time with our twins. Those weeks more time to catch up on cleaning and chores, and more time to study or relax.
We are so used to this rhythm, in fact, that I didn’t realize how much of a toll it was taking on me to miss an off-week until Sunday night. The past three weeks had been fun, but I hadn’t had more than a single moment to breathe or catch my breath. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it feels like once school starts in a few weeks, it will be full steam ahead until I sit for the bar in February, so having a down week to reset and relax was much needed.
These next few months will bring so much change. We will have kids starting third grade, first grade, and kindergarten, the twins will start eating solids and crawling, I’ll finish law school, and more. There is a lot to look forward to, but this past week reminded that there’s also so much good happening in the present to be thankful for.
This Week In Review
On Sunday, Kevin and I were looking forward to taking all five kids to church for the first time in several weeks. Due to custody schedules and summer travel plans, it had been awhile since we had been able to attend church as a family of seven. So naturally, we got a message thirty minutes before we were supposed to leave that church had been cancelled.
Yes, cancelled.
Apparently, there was a concern that there were bedbugs in the building, so out of an abundance of caution, they cancelled meetings. Our church usually meets at 1pm, while my parents’ church and my friends’ churches all meet sometime between 9am and 11am. By time we found out that our church was cancelled at 12:30pm, it was too late to pivot and just go to a different meeting. I had been running around all morning to get all five kids ready, so this was a huge bummer.
I was pretty proud of myself for managing to get the whole family ready on time, though, so naturally, I had to document the occasion! The kids love getting dressed up, so they didn’t mind me snapping a few photos before we changed out of our church clothes, mere minutes after getting them on.
Due to Kevin and I’s work schedules, it feels like we rarely leave the house these days, so we decided to take advantage of the extra time and drive to a local playground. This turned out to be the best choice, because there was nobody there! The kids were thrilled to have the whole playground to themselves, and the twins were giggling and smiling just from watching their older siblings run around.
Before we headed home, I took the older three kids and Emersyn on a walk and Kevin stayed behind to get in some reading while holding Evelyn. On our walk, the kids found one of those mini Jesus figurines, and were absolutely delighted. I tried to make a lesson out of it by saying, “See! Even though we didn’t go to church, we still found Jesus today! How awesome is that?” to which my five-year-old daughter responded, “Yeah, why is He here, is He lost? He shouldn’t be at the park!” I tried to carry on the discussion, but they found a butterfly and lost interest. Thus is parenting young children.
Sunday night, the older three kids were dropped off to their others parents, and it was just me, Kevin, and the babies for the rest of the week. I would go to work every day from 9am to 3pm while Kevin hung back with the girls, and then I would come home while he would go to work from 4pm to 11pm. This meant I was alone for a lot of the week, which at first, I worried was going to be, well, lonely. But I quickly adjusted, and enjoyed using the extra time to write, clean (which yes, is enjoyable for me), study, cook, and snuggle babies. Anytime one baby was asleep and the other was awake, I especially made sure I enjoyed the one-on-one time!
Speaking of the twins, the girls are teething hard right now. We joke that when holding either baby, especially Evelyn, you have entered the “splash zone,” because they are drooling soooo much! I have yet to see any actual teeth yet, so stay tuned. It’s hard to believe that in just a few weeks, we can start solids! I have had to highchairs set up for weeks now, so it’s safe to say that I’m excited. I did baby-led weaning with Eloisa, and it was so much fun, so I can’t wait to do the same with the twins.
Later in the week, Sara came over, along with her dog, Willie. On Tuesday, she had found out that she had passed the NPTE, which means she is OFFICIALLY Sara Oakman, PT, DPT!!!! So it was time to celebrate!! With school and studying finally behind her (until we go to nursing school together, right Sara?), she was free to hang out as late as we wanted. So when Kevin got home from work at 11:30pm, Sara and I were still giggling on the couch. He just rolled his eyes and went upstairs to get ready for bed, which of course made Sara and I laugh harder.
It’s hard — and if I’m being honest, sad — to think that in just a few weeks, Sara will move around three hours away. We will still see each other plenty, and I know she’ll crush it at her new job, but we’ve gotten so used to last-minute hang outs every week, that not being able to do that will be a tough adjustment. We have already planned when my first two visits will be, though, and I can’t wait!
As the week came to a close, it was time to plan for the week ahead. Eloisa starts first grade on Monday, I take the MPRE (again. ugh.) on Tuesday, and we leave for our first trip as a family of seven on Friday. Although I enjoyed having a clean and quiet house for the first time in weeks, I am looking forward to having it trashed by Wednesday, and making lots of memories as a family! I can’t believe summer is almost over!
Though I live in North Carolina, so let’s be real… it will be in the eighties well into October. Sigh.
Last night, as I was thinking ahead to what I wanted to share as my Sunday thought this week, my mind was drawing a blank.
This morning, I logged onto WordPress to write my daily article. WordPress has daily writing prompts, and I decided a few days ago to respond to them every day, while still relating the prompt to motherhood, blended family life, or pregnancy/postpartum. It has been a good exercise that has kept the creative juices flowing, plus I’m gaslighting myself into believing that sitting down every morning to crank out a 1,000+ word essay on demand is bar prep.
Anyways, the prompt today was to write about a moment that reminded us of the good in humanity, and this memory immediately came to mind:
I have reflected on this memory often over the years, and I think it serves as a perfect reminder of the lengths God will go to in order to make sure we feel loved.
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