Back to School and Work

I haven't had this much quiet in two months.  While it unnerved and saddened me at first--I felt terribly lonely this week in the house without the boys (or Lexi!)--I am slowly starting to come to terms with being back to work.  I will admit the quiet and ability to think is sort of nice.

I dropped the boys off at daycare on Monday and felt like someone had yanked my heart out of my chest.  It was nowhere near as hard as when I left them at First Step daycare in Watertown for the first time.  I am not sure why...I just didn't want our summer to be over, I guess.  I went to the office...no one was around.  I waited until 10am and then texted a colleague.  Turns out I don't have to physically go to the office all this week unless I have a parent or student meeting set up.  So, I got out of there and came home to write letters.

When I picked up the boys, they were fine and had had a great day.  Miss Tina said it was like they had never left, although they kept saying "Mama?" and lifting their heads up at nap time.  (During the summer I got them right after lunch, right before nap time.  They knew the routine and understood something was different!)  We took a walk when we got home--to wind down.  They are noticeably more keyed up and emotional (and cranky!) after a day at daycare than day at home with me.  As we were walking, this is what happened.  Oh, BE STILL MY HEART.  I love those boys.

Tuesday I went down the Cape to Yarmouthport to my boss's house for an office retreat.  We ate like kings and queens, and it was nice to see everyone again.  I do have a good time with my colleagues!

Yesterday and today I'm home writing letters.  I'm taking a break right now for lunch and to clear the cobwebs!  I already wrote three letters this morning!  :-)  Super proud of myself!  It's so much easier to get the words on the paper this year, my second year.

Tomorrow I have a parent meeting so I have to go to the office, and I have an appointment to potentially sell our old snowblower to a colleague.  I hope they buy it!!  Will be nice to have some cash in hand and more space in our garage!

Speaking of cash, we are on a strict financial diet starting NOW.  No more cafeteria-bought lunches for Carlos at Meditech.  No more iced coffees or other treats.  Only the rare breakfast out on Saturday mornings.  We have to get in good shape for the nanny expenses.  And lately it seems everything in the house is costing us money.  We did a furnace tune up--the following week it started to leak.  Supposedly unrelated to the clean out.  So we had to pay a huge chunk of money for that.  We had a chimney cap installed to keep animals out of the house.  Ouch.  My car needed a $hitload of work.  Then there was the background check for Natalie, the nanny.  And her worker's comp insurance.  And the registration fee with the payroll company...I could keep going but it's depressing me.

So, financial diet.  It's like an all-juice cleansing experience.  From now on we can only drink juice until the boys are in school and it's free!!!!!!

On a happier note, isn't this adorable?  They did this "family tree" at school...