Welcome to A Lively Recap where I share my family life in a little more detail. I already share quite a bit on Instagram and Facebook, but I don’t get into the nitty-gritty quite like I plan to do here.
Here, I talk about the big happenings, the stress, the wonderful, and maybe offer a little encouragement to those experiencing similar things.
Single Parent Life
Single parent life is difficult, but not in the way I expected.
For the sake of transparency, I’m only a faux single parent.
With Grant being on the fire department and in the Navy Reserve, I am used to a fair amount of solo parenting. I mean, I am home with the kids by myself quite a bit. I knew I could manage home life, work life, etc.
Grocery shopping? No problem. Keep the kids alive an fed? You got it! Have a little fun? Heck yes!
What I didn’t anticipate was the mental exhaustion and how that effects…everything!
First of all, just knowing that Grant will be gone for the next 14 months is ovewhelming. Sometimes I forget, then all of a sudden – BAM – it hits me all over again.
On top of all that, I am constantly thinking about how to make sure he is still a part of our everyday lives. I want the kids to feel the least amount of disruption as possible. He is already missing SO MUCH that I don’t want him to miss anything extra he doesn’t have to.
I also don’t want things to change too much while he is gone. Naturally, our lives will need to adjust a bit as we grow and change. We will need to establish new routines and new norms, but I want to make sure Grant is constantly in the loop. When he comes back I don’t want him to feel like he is walking into a new life.
It’s a lot to take on (Thank you, Lord, for FaceTime)!
Puzzles
Other than being exhausted, things have been going great. I’m juggling working from home and regular home life pretty well (if I do say so myself)!
I’m trying to make sure I carve out time to have fun with the kids. When Grant is home, we can tag team this whole parenting thing. We can make sure one of us is giving the kids our full attention while the other takes care of his/her own business. However, since it’s just me I want to make sure the kids don’t just see me with my face buried in my phone or always cooking and cleaning.
On a friends recommendation I bought one of the Family Puzzles on Amazon. It was the perfect activity for us this week.
Here is the link for the puzzle we bought: (affiliate link) Family Puzzle
The cool thing about these types of puzzles is that they have different size pieces for different skill levels. My kids focused on the bigger pieces on the right side of the puzzle, while I focused on the small pices on the left side.
First Day Of School
My son is starting Kindergarten aaaaaaand I don’t know how I feel about it. I am so excited/nervous/happy for him. I wish Grant was here to experience this with us, buuuuut we are doing our best to keep him involved from afar.
Last week we met his teacher. It was a little overwhelming for him at first, but he left super excited to start school. Then we went on a special “Wyatt & Mommy shopping trip” to finish our back-to-school shopping. Picked up a lunch bos, a new backpack, a few snacks for his lunchbox. I swear, he could have asked for a car and I would have bought it for him. I will do just about anything to make sure he is excited about school.
The worry is because he wasn’t a huge fan of preschool last Spring… and then school got cut short (Thanks, Covid)…so, I’m really not sure how this is going to go. (fingers crossed)
Pretzel Rods
You may already know this about me, but I love baking and making cute treats.
I was asked by my friend/hopefully-one-day-sister-in-law to help her make treats for a baby shower she was helping with. The baby shower was “safari” themed, so we made zebra, tiger, giraffe, and alligator caramel and chocolate dipped pretzel rods. They are just as delicious as they are cute!
I’ve also made Halloween Pretzels you should check out too =)
For Next Week...
I am challenging myself to accomplish things every week. Projects, a particular mindset, a reaction to a certain situation, cleaning, etc. Creating a goal for the week helps me stay focused and productive.
This next week I want to be prepared! Prepared for everything! Work, my blog, and this new school routine.
Also, as an Ennegram 3 I have to remind myself that trying my best doesn’t always result in perfect. I just need to be proud of how hard I am trying.
Julie
