A new chapter in Our Story

I quite often compose blog posts in my mind while doing mundane tasks, like walking to work. So I had the beginning of this post set up in my mind. I was going to tell you all how Rich is a morning person so he showers first on days we work. If he didn't, he runs the risk of me hitting the snooze button three (or four) times. He also likes to eat breakfast in the morning before we leave the house while I have to be awake for a few hours before I can stomach any food. He does that and hangs out with the girls while I get ready for work.

So I was going to write how one morning this week, I showered after Rich but instead of dressing in work appropriate clothing, I dressed in my $10 Gap Outlet clearance jeans with the bottoms cut off and a fleece pullover. I live in fleece pullovers during the winter, by the way. It wasn't a vacation day. It wasn't a sick day. It was my day off.

This is the big change for my family that I alluded to last month. My employer approved a four day work week schedule. (I've been working on this for a long time.) My hours (and salary) were reduced by 20%. I'm hopeful that this works out. I can't discuss my job or work on the internet but trust me when I say that it can be stressful. I hold a good deal of responsibility and I don't want this reduced schedule to make that even more stressful.

Ideally, my day at home will be Friday so that Grammy can leave Thursday night after Rich and I arrive home from work. (Rich usually drops the girls off at school on Monday mornings.) This week was different in that Rich and I had a meeting with Anna's teacher and therapists regarding her progress and transition to kindergarten so I moved my day off. It also happened to be the same day as the girls' gymnastics class so Rich and I were able to watch the last 40 minutes of that.

The girls are super excited. I'm not quite sure that they fully understand although they seem to. I don't know if they realize that it will be weekly, not just once. Allie keeps asking about the day that I will be bringing them to school as if it is a one time deal. And Anna told me that I wasn't allowed to go to work ever again!

I have pictures from my day at home that I was going to post with this. Unfortunately, I have a terrific headache tonight and need to cut this short. My eyes hurt and I couldn't read the computer screen or t.v. earlier.

The girls act weird when I'm home and Grammy's here. We can't figure it out. They obviously aren't perfect angels and have their moments but for the most part, they behave when I'm here alone with them and Grammy says the same. So the day started off a bit rough and Anna most definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Which also happened to be my bed. After gymnastics, Grammy left to run errands and shop and the girls finally calmed down a bit.

Here's the conversation I had with Em later that night during tubs:

Emily - "Today was the best day ever."

Me - "Why is that, Em?"

Emily - "Because you and Daddy came to gymnastics."

I know. I wanted to cry.

More later....

(I want to say thank you for all the votes!)