New Schedule

We've come to find some sort of routine for our family this past month. This change in our schedule and decrease in "family time" has been exhausting. This is what a typical week looks like: Sunday - church, Kalin naps, early dinner, Kasey heads to youth group making it home just in time to say goodnight to Kalin; Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - typical day schedule for Kalin and I while I attempt to clean house, do dishes, do laundry, make sure there's a dinner plan for my boys, run any errands that need running, take a daily walk and make sure Kalin and I have ample playtime together, I head out to work shortly after Kasey gets home; Tuesday - typical daytime schedule plus babysitting Luke Meyer for a couple hours in the afternoon, a rushed family dinner, then I'm off to Bible Study; Saturday - every once in awhile I work in the morning then the rest of the day is spent relaxing with family. Because I don't have evenings anymore to accomplish anything inside or outside the house I've had to start doing more during the day. Thankfully, Kalin has become really good at playing by himself which allows me this time to accomplish things. However, I've noticed that there are some days when I feel like I never actually spent time with Kalin - I fed him, changed him, got him down for naps, took him for a walk and read him a story before nap time - but the rest of the time he was playing by himself while I tried to keep things clean and running smoothly for the household. Those are the days that I have a really hard time leaving the house for work because I feel like I didn't actually have time for my kid.

Kasey and I have realized how good this time has been for Kalin and Kasey's relationship. They've grown closer together with me out of the picture for a few hours every night. Ideally we shouldn't have had to figure this out through such drastic measures - 5 nights a week is a little much in my opinion, I think maybe 1 or 2 would have been better, but it has helped us see that I can indeed have a life outside of the house. What a concept, huh? I still don't want to be working and I definitely don't want to be spending this much time away from my family but if I just need to get out of the house a couple evenings a week - whether it be for bible study, meeting with a friend, or just going out on my own - we now know that it is doable and beneficial. So after we feel comfortable enough in our financial situation where I can quit working, we will be taking steps towards me having an outside life.

Something else we've learned through this experience - Kasey and I need to communicate more regarding house rules and do's and don'ts. We've found ourselves in several situations where one parent is telling Kalin he can do something and the other one pipes in with "Oh, I don't let him do that" and vice-versa. In the past, I've pretty much been the one to make the rules and since I was always around to enforce them, Kasey learned what I normally allowed and didn't allow. Now rules and games are being made and played while I'm gone so I'm having to play catch-up the next day. For the most part it's small issues that we have to deal with - we're on the same page when it comes to major, common sense, safety rules.

So this whole new experience has been exhausting, educational, and yes even a little bit beneficial - but I can't wait for it to be over.