The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

The mood in our house right now reminds me of my all-time favorite Staples TV commercial. The spot goes back about 20 years and features the festive Christmas song,"It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

The commercial features an ecstatic father shopping for school supplies with his children. The children are slowly following behind, looking as if they are headed for death row.

The voice-over in the commercial says, "They're going back!"

Tuesday is the first day of school in our little corner of the world. The first bus will arrive around 7:15, and off Lizzy will go to third grade. The second bus shows up at 7:35 to take my baby Peter away to first grade.

Less than an hour later, I'll take my oldest, Tom, to middle school for seventh grade.

Oh Happy Day!

Or is it?

Now I realize that if you happen to be reading this while nursing one baby and holding another little one out of harm's way with your leg the idea of six hours without children sounds heavenly.

I'm not going to lie. It ain't bad.

But it wasn't what I thought it would be either.

I would talk to my friends whose children were at school full time and be envious. They would talk about being busier than they ever thought they would be, and I would smile and nod. Deep down I would think they really had the life. No children home, the ability to shop and do errands without anybody crying, melting down, or asking for Oreos.

I would usually have to cut short the phone call or visit. I either had to pick someone up from preschool or rescue someone from the top bunk bed because it seemed like a good idea to climb up but not so much fun climbing down.

Last year Peter started full-time kindergarten. I had visions of long lunches, long workouts at the gym, cleaning rooms that haven't been cleaned since I had him in 2005.

Turns out, my friends were right. Those six hours go fast!

With the start of school comes all that homework. I'm not talking about the children's homework. I fully accept my role as homework cop. I'm grateful that I'm the one who gets to torture them and go over their weekly spelling lists.

I'm talking about the mommy homework.

There's an endless series of forms to fill out and notices to keep track of for three kids, in three different schools. Then I have to get prescriptions for all three kids for occupational and physical therapy. After that I have to trek back to the doctors office because the original dates on the prescriptions were wrong.

Perhaps the biggest assignment is delivering the EpiPen, Benadryl, and inhaler to the nurse at Tom's school to treat emergency flare-ups of Tom's allergies and asthma.

Did I mention the notes from therapists and teachers? What about the endless teacher conferences? Or the stream of checks for PTA dues, class dues, gifts for teachers, class trips, subscriptions for various class magazines, and a million other things.

I'm tired just thinking of what's in store.

Next come the phone calls I dread.

I have to say I really enjoy the summer break from the panic I feel each time the phone rings. Once school starts all that changes. Now when the phone rings, I have a pretty decent chance of finding out that someone bumped their head, fell asleep in the middle of class, or is having an allergic reaction.

The one I dread most is the yo-yo syndrome. This is when you send your little darling to school and the nurse calls to tell you that the child who looked perfectly healthy two hours earlier while he was torturing his brother is now sick as a dog.

Sometimes I get to enjoy a little pocket of time. I was able to start my blog once all three kids were in school, and I love being a full-fledged mommy blogger. I even have had the occasional long lunch or coffee date with a friend. It's times like this that I feel extremely blessed and grateful for the life I have.

I like the crazy runaround pace of being an at home mom. Part of me is just wired for chaos. My house is cleaner when I have 10 minutes to clean it rather than when I have three hours.

The one real downside is that I'm going to miss my kids.

Please don't tell them that. It will spoil my image. But I had a wonderful summer with them, especially my oldest, Tom.

For the first time in six years, Tom didn't go to the full-day summer camp the school district has for children who need year-round academic support. His dyslexia always made him eligible to attend, and he always enjoyed it. He would spend the morning in the typical day camp and the afternoon working on his academic issues.

Tom did so well in sixth grade he was no longer eligible. While Lizzy and Peter were off to camp having a ball, I had Tom all to myself. For the first time since he was a baby I had some real one-on-one time with him. I loved it.

We would spend the morning walking with my dad, and then he would swim with friends or just hang out with them. Some days we would go for sushi or to the movies. I saw The Planet of Apes, Captain America, and The Zookeeper. All were movies I would never have attended had I not had a 12-year-old boy. I had a blast.

Now it's all over. There are school supplies to separate and put in backpacks, pencils to sharpen, notes to write to teachers, and chaos to deal with.

As much as I love to complain, I am eternally grateful for my beautiful family.

But as Peter is now asking for popcorn for the 20th time in five minutes, the thought that I may be able to finish a thought come Tuesday has me agreeing with the Staples commercial: It is the most wonderful time of the year! 

My Dishwasher and I

My youngest child, Peter, got off the bus Friday for the very last time as a kindergartner. With that last jump off the bus went a little more of my heart. My children are growing so quickly, I can barely catch my breath. 

I know the calender says the year starts in January and ends in December, but for moms, the year really starts in September and ends in June. Summer is just a holding pattern to get us ready for a new year of adventures.

This school year was a biggie for us. Our eldest,Tom, started middle school, Peter started kindergarten, and I started this blog. Lizzy being in second grade, though exciting for her, paled in comparison to the big changes and excitement of kindergarten, middle school, and our dishwasher getting its own website.

Tom looks much more like a teenager now. Very different from the nervous boy that started the sixth grade in September. I am thrilled that this year he actually got to see the good grades that have eluded him in the past even though he has always worked so hard.

He is getting an attitude that is so reminiscent of my own at that age that I have a new found respect for my parents. Whatever issues I may have had with their parenting, it now pales to the pure gratitude and complete awe that they managed to not eat me when I was a teenager.

I miss the little boy who would ask me to dry his tears before I left him at preschool or who would say I was the prettiest mommy in the whole world. I have been replaced by not one, but by several girls who have won his heart.

I am in awe of his confidence and his ease with people. He walks in a room and just owns it. And even though there are times when I wonder if we will make it past 12, never mind the official teen years, he has one of the kindest hearts I have ever met. I truly look forward to the man he is becoming. I simply adore him.

Peter will forever be my baby. Of my three children, Peter is the one who never hesitated to leave me. When he was two and going to nursery school, he only cried when I picked him up to take him home.

For the last few months, the child who could not get away fast enough for an adventure has started to want more kisses and cuddles from mommy. It's as if he knows the big world is out there, ready for him, and he wants to stay my baby for just a bit longer.

I am secretly thrilled.

Lizzy started the school year with the declaration that her teachers "loved her very much" and she returned that love by having one of her best years ever. Lizzy is becoming such a little lady, and I am constantly being reminded that my beautiful daughter with special needs is really writing her own wonderful happy ending each day.

This year, because Peter was in school for the whole day, I found I had a minute to breathe. This was the year I both was looking forward to and dreaded. Who was I if not a mom to little kids?

Turns out I'm a mommy blogger.

My plans of becoming the perfect homemaker, complete with a beautifully kept house, home-baked bread, and a house filled with crafts that I finally had the time to learn didn't turn out the way I planned.

I blame the kids' schools for this.Now that they are paperless I had to finally break down and get my own email address.

It started out so innocently. One day I stumbled on a parenting site and replied to a post. I got a "like" response and I was hooked.

With my husband and my friend Maria to encourage me, I started to do something I had always wanted to do, write. Suddenly all the stories that have been inside me these last few years started to come out and take form on the computer screen.

For years doctors, teachers, and other parents have suggested that I share my experiences of raising children with a range of different issues. I took their suggestions seriously, but actually writing it down and hitting publish was different. Would anyone really want to read about us?

My blog was coming alive at the same exact time the brand new dishwasher we had just bought started to light up like a Christmas tree. 

Our silly machine would make a range of noises at all hours of the day and night for no apparent reason. After the very nice repairman had already made his first of four visits to our house I found myself on the phone with the repair center yet again. They wanted to know what was wrong with our brand spanking (and not inexpensive) dishwasher. I said, "It's possessed."

I woke Joe up one night listening to the incessant beeping of the machine that by now was identified by several choice words. "What if I call my blog 'My dishwasher's possessed?'"

He laughed and said, "That works."

From the first essay I wrote in November on Momster.com to starting the site here in January, I have been welcomed by the blogging community. The support and encouragement has been amazing. I have found a piece of myself that I didn't even know existed.

The kids have grown and changed this year. But so have I. My blog has opened up a wonderful chapter that I feel is only starting to reveal itself to me. I have no idea where it will bring me, but I happily sign on for the adventure.

My kids' childhood seems to be going as fast as my own did. All I do is blink and another year is gone. Gratefully, I now have my possessed dishwasher to document all our crazy, happy, and trying times together.