Reentry

I should probably cut myself as much slack during the week following a vacation as I do the week preparing for one. Although I get rather anxious packing and planning before traveling, I'm finding that the week after can be just as challenging. Transitions are always hard, especially with three little ones in tow.

I'm realizing I approach coming home with conflicting agendas. Part of me wants to just chill and ease back into our normal routine. The other part of me feels compelled to get started on all those things I was putting off until after vacation. After a week of planning and cooking only one single meal, I was suddenly on call every single night again. I tried to ease into this by picking up pizza our first night home and then planning pancakes for the next night. I had some vegetable soup in the freezer, so that along with grilled cheese sandwiches became the third night's meal. So I put off any more extensive grocery shopping and meal planning until Tuesday. By contrast, I decided to get a jump start on trying to take more regular walks with the kids by taking Evan and Lauren on a fairly rushed walk Monday in the 45 minutes I had between the end of her morning nap and picking Tobin up from school. And when I did cook my first real meal Wednesday night, it was a fairly labor-intensive pasta primavera, which involves chopping and roasting a bajillion vegetables. (Resolved: eat more vegetables!) I made Italian bread to boot.

Meanwhile, Evan woke up snotty Monday morning. By Wednesday, Tobin and Lauren were sniffly too. Thursday morning, Tobin threw up a couple times and stayed home from school. I took him into the doctor and discovered he had strep. He's rebounded quickly but I'm bracing for the other two to come down with it too. Thankfully, we've made it through the weekend with not much more than snotty noses.

In most respects this week has not really seen a return to our normal routine. But we have enjoyed some small intentional changes too. Almost every night this week, we were able to take a post-supper family walk. The weather is beautiful and it's so nice to let the boys run and laugh, burning off a good deal of energy before winding down for the day. Saturday morning, we got a preview of how the next several Saturdays will go as we rushed to have our usual pancake breakfast and get to the T-ball field by 9am. Although a bit of whirlwind, the game was so much fun.

And I guess that's kind of what's important about everything we do. Whether according to our routines or whether thrown off by travel, illness and fun additions to our schedule, we are thankful to be doing what we do together.