I am not one of those adventuresome people that loves change. I love my routine & my comfort zone. I am afraid this year is going to be the “year of change”. I feel uneasy, but somewhat excited. We have had the same routine & schedule for so long. I have worked at Lenscrafters for 6 years & have been a part time employee for the last 4 years (since Jordyn was born). This means I work nights & weekends. Blair & I decided to have this schedule because we wanted to keep Jordyn & then Chloe out of daycare. I wanted to be home with them, plus daycare can be so expensive. Of course, this has not allowed us to have much family time all together. The girls are in bed when I get home from work & I usually see Blair for an hour to hour & a half before he goes to sleep. I get time with the girls myself, he gets daddy time with the girls one on one, but there is no time all together.

This year there are many changes on the horizon that will allow us some time together, but will also add to the busyness as well. Change #1: Blair will be starting work on his Master’s Degree this summer. This took alot of prayer & consideration. Blair has said for so long that he didn’t want to be in the classroom forever, but he is continually drawn back there. In order to ever make any more money in his field, he will have to further his education. I am proud of him for making this decision. It will require some hard work & dedication, but it will benefit so much in the long run. Change #2: Jordyn will be starting Kindergarten this fall. I am so excited for her. I just cannot believe she will be 5 this summer. They truly do grow so fast! She is definitely read to start. She is so inquisitive & loves to do art! Since Jordyn will be starting school this fall, it has led to Change # 3 & 4. I will be starting back to work full time! I am excited in some ways, but will be sad not to be able to spend as much time with the girls. I am hoping to get a schedule at Lenscrafters that will allow me most nights & every other weekend off. This would enable Blair to take classes at night & give us some family nights, study time for him & some weekends together. Part of the work thing makes me nervous. I really enjoy where I work & have been there for over 6 years. Unfortunately it is retail hours & I don’t know if they will be able to work this out with me or not. I really do hope so because I love the people I work with in the lab & consider them part of my “dysfunctional” family. We will just have to see what happens as time gets closer. So me working full time was Change #3. This led to Change #4. Chloe will be starting daycare when school starts. Chloe is my baby & I have felt some guilt over this decision. I was able to stay home with Jordyn until she was five, but will start Chloe in daycare at age 3. In order to be able to spend any time with Jordyn after school starts, I knew my schedule would have to change sometime. The way things stand right now, I would only see her on the way to school & Sat. night & Sunday nights. I cannot sacrifice being able to spend any time with her just to stay home with Chloe during the day. Putting Chloe in daycare & changing my schedule to evenings off seemed to be a good compromise of sorts. Chloe is so wild, friendly & hyper that I know she will love daycare. She is already running around & shouting, “I going to daycare!”

Most of these changes will not even start until the Summer & then Fall, but I am already uneasy. I am a worry wart deep down & stress over things. I know these are all the best decisions overall for the family, but I am still sad that my girls are growing up. We have decided that we will not have any more babies, so seeing the little monkeys grow up makes me sad. These are the last few months home with my little girls. Even though the days are long & sometimes so difficult, I know I will miss them in a few months.

I love my family. Even through the changes, we are together & we are family.

17. Yell and whine so that I sound like I’m the same age as my kids. (Hey, it doesn’t happen every day, but it happens.)

16. Respond to questions of “Why?” with “BECAUSE I SAID SO.”

15. Make a separate dinner of plain macaroni for my 2 year old while the rest of the family eats something else (she WILL outgrow this phase, right?!).

14. Go out of the house without makeup and unshowered. I’ve done it MANY times since becoming a Mom.

13. T.V. I was not going to be one of “those” moms. We were going to do art & go to the park & on walks. After baby # 2: You want to watch Maggie & the Ferocious Beast for the 3^rd straight hour. Sure!

12. Watch my daughter dump raisins on the not so clean floor & gobble every one of them up.

11. Let my daughter use a pacifier. (A pacifier for 3 years!)

10. Wear the same shirt two days in a row. And even sleep in it one night. (But, hey, I didn’t leave the house that day.)

9. Let my daughter wear the same outfit two days in a row. (The laundry didn’t do itself that week.)

8. Allow my daughter to wear her Disney Princess Dress as a shirt after she slept in it. (She wouldn’t let me take it off her and put a new shirt on. I have to pick my battles.)

7. Let my daughter eat cookies for breakfast. (Well, at least she ate eggs first.)

6. Open food in the grocery store and let my daughter eat while we shop. (Well it keeps her seated in the shopping cart and I get to finish all my grocery shopping.)

5. Allow my daughter to eat dinner standing at the living room ottoman while she watched “Dora the Explorer.” (At least she ate her lunch.)

4. Let my hair go for a week without washing it. (I think my record is actually a week and two days, but it’s hard to get motivated to wash and dry it at 10:30 p.m.)

3. Allow my daughter to eat chicken fingers & fries for lunch three days in a row. (OK, one week it was four, but she also eats oranges, bananas, grapes and pineapple, raisins three or four times a week.)

2. Use baby wipes to remove make-up and wash my face. (Whenever I’ve run out of St. Ives face cleanser and haven’t made it to the drug store. At least it has Aloe.)

1. Wash only enough dishes to eat dinner on that evening and serve Pop-tarts for breakfast on paper towels the next morning. (The dishes didn’t load themselves into the dishwasher again.)