Routine

Alyssa asked me this morning how many days we've lived in our new house.

I had to stop and think. (Math is not my strong suit. It just isn't.)

I figured it out to be about 78 days.

She said with surprise, "I've had 78 days of school already?"

I said, "Well, I was counting the weekends, so, no, you haven't had that many days of second grade."

She was incredulous. "You counted weekends?"

I resisted rolling my eyes at her, she is only seven, after all. "We do actually live here on the weekends too."

She laughed at herself and went back to watching Arthur and eating her toast.

Our mornings are coming together. We're building a routine. The girls know the order of our mornings and things go fairly smoothly. This is not to say there is never any frustration on any of our parts, or that I manage to get through any morning without a raised voice or a sigh of annoyance.

But it's working out.

Our evenings are getting there too.

But when Tom comes home for a 'visit' things get shot to hell.

See, it's a novelty for the girls when he's there. Because he's not there all the time.

Which is frustrating all the way around.

He came home from the old house last night because I needed him here this morning to care for Olivia while my mom took my step-dad for an appointment.

It's all so convoluted and ridiculous. I have to schedule times when my husband can step in and parent.

I told him recently that I can't wait for him to be up here fulltime. He claimed the same desire.

My boss asked me recently if I'd be able to stay later in the day to get some jobs done each day.

I told him that when Tom is up here all the time, yes, I'll be able to do that. But right now? I can't ask my mom to watch my kids ten plus hours a day.

My boss laughed and said, "Your husband's life is going to change a lot when he's here fulltime, isn't it?"

I shrugged.

But yes, it is. He isn't going to know what hit him. He's been so used to doing what he wants, when he wants to do it. One could forget that the man has been a father for almost 25 years.

But enough bitching from me.

I'm glad our routine is settling. And I know that things will be shaken up when the house sells and Tom comes home. But I'm ready for that too. We'll all settle into a new, better routine when that happens. And I'm ready for new and better.

More than ready.