It’s back-to-school time for the kiddos, and that means it’s time for all of us to get back to reality and back on track, too.
Not that we aren’t smacked in the face with reality and responsibility every day of the year—we’re parents, after all. For most of us, summer looks a helluva lot like the rest of the year…only sunnier and warmer and with inexplicable sand all over the house.
But there’s something about those long, hot, gorgeous days that makes us all want to ditch some of the more boring responsibilities while still getting our kids dressed and fed, don’t you think? Maybe it makes us feel young and carefree again—reminding us of when we didn’t have a care in the world and we could stay up late and sleep in even later.
That’s where my brain was this summer, and that’s why I’ve been somewhat MIA from Momsanity for the past two months. I’ve still been in the mix on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, but this site got a bit neglected.
So, what was going on? Well, we moved! Um, holy crap, you guys. If anyone tells you that a move isn’t a big deal and that it will all be fine, don’t listen to them. I mean, it will be fine, but it is a HUGE undertaking in every way, possibly most of all mentally. Aside from the usual stress of moving, we moved out of my beloved New York City and to the ’burbs. I’m not going to lie: I cried a lot for the first three weeks, but I’m happy to report that I’m finally settling in and kind of loving it. More on that later.
But because of the move and because we could get away with it a little more since it was summertime, our schedules were thrown out the window, down the highway and into the Hudson River, where they promptly drowned. We were starting from scratch with everything, I wanted to make things as normal and as fun as possible for the kids, and I was also kind of clinging to them for dear life so I didn’t completely lose my mind.
And it was exhausting. All of it and in every way possible. For starters, there was the packing, unpacking (which, of course, is still going on) and spending hours outside with the kids. By the time I got them to bed, which is when I usually do the bulk of my writing and other work, my eyes were crossing. I. Could. Not. Focus. It was driving me crazy, but there wasn’t much I could do.
Plus, the toddler started sleeping through the night…for the first time in EVER. Yes, you read that right: I finally started getting decent sleep for the first time in 6 and a half years, and you know what? My body apparently really likes sleep! It started fighting me when I pushed it past an early bedtime.
Add to that family who visiting from out of town, finding a new babysitter, doing a few cool writing and spokesperson jobs (click here to check out one of them!), unpacking, celebrating a slew of birthdays, cleaning this house from top to bottom, and, yeah, it’s somehow September.
My brain needed a reboot. It needed to stop—I needed to stop—even though my thoughts on all things parenting never did. I still had so much to say about, well, everything, but I was having trouble putting words in an actual coherent order.
Thankfully, this whole back-to-school thing seems to be getting my brain back on track, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I’ve got a ton of posts planned, an interesting project geared toward new moms in the works and a sequel of sorts to my book, 107 Things I Wish I Had Known with My First Baby, ready to be written once I find a few extra hours in my week.
So, thanks for bearing with me and sticking with me through my own personal bout of momsanity this summer. I can’t wait to get back to the business of talking about parenting and commiserating and sharing and learning with you all this fall. Stay tuned!
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