Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Crazy weekend.  Just got back from my in-laws' house; we spent most of the day there and dropped off Thing Two and Petunia, who will be staying with them for a week.  (Thing One gets his time there solo later in the month.)  When we left, I commented to Himself that this week is the closest thing I'll get to a vacation this summer, with only one kid at home and him at golf camp four of the mornings.

We did take a short family trip last week, and we have another one planned for the end of the month, but the problem with being a SAHM is that by definition, mothering is my job.  And that's a 24/7 kind of job that knows no holidays.  I have to worry about small people eating and sleeping and having appropriate clean clothing whether we are at home or not!  When we took beach trips back when the kids were very small, I used to joke with Himself that all of my normal responsibilities were just being transplanted to a place where it was harder to get them accomplished.

Now that all of the kids are in school full time, I have more down time during the day, except inasmuch as all the practicalities (laundry, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc) have to be taken care of while they are at school, since after-school hours are a blur of kid activity every day of the week.  But during the summer?  Forget it.  Constant mess and craziness and bickering and eating and driving.  Ye gods.  For a SAHM, the summer is the equivalent of the run-up to April 15th for an accountant!  When everyone else is off, we are on and racking up some serious overtime.  Saw an e-card the other day that said, "Cleaning with kids in your house is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos."  Ain't that the truth.

In the final push to September now.  I love my kids, really I do.  They are getting bigger before my eyes, and I don't want to wish away the relatively short time I have with them.  I gave up a good, lucrative career voluntarily to be home with them, as a matter of fact.  I know that childhood is short and adulthood long and I didn't want somebody else raising my kids.  But Mama is tired, and she needs a break. And she is beyond grateful to her wonderful in-laws for giving her one, while also doing so much fun stuff with the grandkids that they look forward to this week all year!  Win-win.