i’m finding it both tough and a pleasure to be getting back into routine.

i loved being off for more than a week and spending quality time with the family. i loved not having to think about work and not spending the entire day at my desk. i loved watching Isabella and her cousin Lauren interacting. i loved being able to take my kids for a walk around the neighborhood (even if it was colder than we’d thought and we froze a little bit). i loved having my dad make a starbucks run every morning and sitting around in pajamas with my family drinking our respective drinks.

but, there’s something just so incredibly exhausting about being “on” with the kids all day, every day. i’m actually happy to be sitting at my desk right now and not having three kids in the background screaming, “Mama! Mama!”

(funny side story. my kids call me mama. all three of them. not mommy. or mom. just mama. and i love it. i find it so endearing. especially because all three of them do it. BUT, my niece calls my stepmom “maw-maw” and my dad “paw-paw” which, truth be told, is freakin’ adorable. but, my kids started following suit and calling them maw-maw and paw-paw too. you see where i’m headed with this, yes? mama vs. mawmaw? i never knew who any of them were talking to!)

not having to deal with the kids fighting, chasing Isabella up and down the steps. grabbing everything out of her hands all day long since my parents house is anything but child-proofed. It’s nice not being around all the food. the cookies. the cakes. the cheesecake. the homemade reese cups. the pumpkin pie. the half-baked ben and jerrys. and that’s just the dessert.

i’m enjoying the silence.

but i already miss the kids. and i sure could use some pumpkin pie and a latte.