Oh September

It's Friday night and yet another week has drawn to a close. The kids are asleep (or close enough) and I need some myself. This combination of back to school busyness and high pollen counts has had me down and out this week. My swollen itchy eyes (and throat and skin and nose) are constant reminders that my body is off kilter.

A good solid freeze. Oh that would do wonders for my body right now. Sorry, Texas readers, but I just don't know how you do it...

For all my talk of simplicity and my purposeful avoidance of any unnecessary commitments I find my family is still incredibly booked up. Anna has two commitments this semester and so does Abe in the mornings while she is at school. I thought that was a pretty good ratio of planned activities to free time.  But there's all that other stuff I wasn't accounting for. Wednesdays we have church choir (so that's now three weekly activities) and family dinner (no way I'm giving up that). And there's monthly Daisies (it's the younger version of Brownies). And there's Indian Princesses (this is like a camping thing for girls and dads that happens a handful of times a year, very neat and Mike has really been looking forward to this). Plus Abe has speech therapy (another "activity" for his calendar).

And then I've got my own commitments (book club, UMW, church missions team, yoga (this is more like the thing I'd like to add but haven't gotten back into the swing of yet)).

It's a lot. And the funny thing is, we don't do nearly as much as some people I know. And I only have two kids, think about the families with more.

I know that part of my overload just stems from the fact that it's September. The first weeks of a new school year are totally stuffed with organizational meetings, back to school events, and the reboot of whatever projects we shelved in May. But still...

There have been a few things I was looking forward to starting and focusing on this year. This blog, for instance, I wanted to devote more time to it. Not just because my family wants pictures, though they do, but also because I do actually enjoy writing and I feel like it's a source of happiness to me when I can actually take the time to think and write. And now that I feel less underwater, I can think more clearly and maybe even write more clearly.

Also, I want to really focus on helping Abe with his letters and numbers. Everyone says boys learn differently than girls and their progress happens later. Um, yeah. Amen to that. My goodness, what a different learning style. But I feel like if I can help him learn letters while also being in the backyard then maybe we will see more progress. He's not behind by any means, but helping boys to become strong readers can take a bit more effort and Abe deserves this attention. I have noticed that with Anna gone all day, Abe's desire to read has picked up more. When she is close, he just wants to play with her. When she's absent, he starts in with the "read this, read this." I think reading will be a source of joy to him also one day.

With these two focus areas (Abe reading and my writing) serving as my personal goals, and then all the other stuff that fills our time, it's feeling like a very busy year already. I picked up Simplicity Parenting and started re-reading it. It's a good boost of inspiration. That book is wonderful, and I feel like I've done quite a few of the things he recommends. But my confidence dissipates when I look at the calendar. We do a lot. And it's all good worthy stuff. But it's a lot. I know my goal should be to protect my kids free time and, in doing so, their mental health. It's a balancing act I haven't quite figured out yet.