This summer has been nothing short of amazing. With my girls getting a little older, 7 and 9 years old, I have been able to let my guard down a bit on a few things that typically put some restraints on our summers being completely free. Which, in turn, has been both completely wonderful at times and completely chaotic.
For example, as mom of the year over here, I don’t think my children have slept in their beds one night this summer. Scratch that, they have slept on their mattresses a few nights that we have drug them from their room to the living room floor. But they haven’t actually slept in their room in months. Every single night has been falling asleep in the living room at whatever time they fell out.
Not only that, but I have done something else that I have never before allowed: I have let them have friends spend the night during the week if I work at home the next day or it’s a neighborhood friend that could walk home in the morning. In the past, that would never happen. In fact, even in the summers, because the girls still have to get up early to go to the sitter, I still had them on a strict (but later than the school year) bedtime schedule.
And — other than my living room in a constant look of bedding and disaster — it has been so nice to have a couple of extra hours in the evening of my girls just hanging around and being present versus in bed asleep by 8:30-9:00. I have thoroughly enjoyed some of our late night chats and cuddles way later than we ever have done it.
But guys, with school just around the corner, I will say I am actually kind of excited to get back to some schedules. These relaxed rules the last couple of months have been fun, but they have also come with, well, some extra stress.
You see, I thrive on structure and everything having its time and place. Sundays – I need my house put back together, lunches packed and clothes laid out for the week. Every night, I need my Keurig ready with a cup underneath for the morning.
And as the bedtime eased up a little, so did some of these other things. Not only that, but if I being honest, while I have loved my extra evening hours with my girls, I lost some of my “me time.” And I don’t know about some of you other Mamas, but sometimes I need that just to breathe and catch up from the daily stress.
So as the school year creeps up on us, I decided to give my girls this last week of freedom with a heads up that, come next week, we are back to the bedroom and a bedtime schedule. And honestly, I think they are ready too.
In fact, had Reagan been up for it, I think Maylie would have started this week. She worked hard on cleaning her room and putting things in their place and wanted to sleep in it, but Reagan was not ready to give up the freedom of the living room just yet, and Maylie wasn’t ready to sleep alone in her room. I mean, neither girl likes to sleep alone since their Mama has made them share the room on the main level their entire lives versus putting them upstairs on a different level than my bedroom.
So, while we have lived it up entirely this summer — and stayed up way later than any other summer that we have had in the past — I am excited for these next few weeks of transitioning (although it may be a little rough on all of us at first). It is so funny to me how ready I am for the next change coming up. I was all for the lazy schedule of the summer until it ran its course. And now, I am so ready for some of the chaos to slide back into routine.
Sure, I am going to miss my extra time with my babies, especially some of the late night snuggles on the couch. But I am ready — we are all ready — to get back to some normalcy.
So bring on the structure, preparation, bedtimes and schedules. We had a great break, but also, bring on my mommy decompressing time. Oh, I am sure I will be wishing I never said that about a month or two into school when I need a break from the steady, but until then, let’s get this house back in order.
After all, we have next summer, when they will be even older, where we can break all the rules again.
Sarah (Pitson) Shrader was born and raised in Lima. She is a Lima Central Catholic and Tiffin University graduate. Sarah is a full-time working mama who enjoys writing about her somewhat crazy, always adventurous life as a mother. She lives in Bath Township with her daughters and writing inspirations, Maylie and Reagan.
