Change

Wow! It's been so long that I couldn't even remember my sign in or password for this blog! Well, I am back at the stage of child rearing where I am finally sleeping through the night again after 14 long months and my brain waves are returning to their pre-baby level, which really isn't saying much! Maren is so much happier now. She stayed home with Mike a few weekends ago so I could go to Girl Scout camp with Jenna. I guess she didn't miss me much. She is weaned, sleeping better and walking and so life goes on.

This week Grant, our oldest, went to Bible camp. My friend and I dropped him and her son off on Sunday afternoon. We thought we would help them get settled, comfort them and so on, but they were anxious for us to leave. And now it's been four days and I haven't heard a word from him. Of course I have emailed him every day and they give it to him, but he can't email back. I thought about sending some envelopes and stamps with him so he could write, but Mike quickly scoffed at that informing me that boys don't write letters from camp.

Yesterday, I thought maybe Mike should drive up there and hide in the trees just to see how he was doing. I guess you can probably figure how well that went over. So I am left wondering how my little boy is doing away from home! It's an odd feeling after having so much daily control and interaction all his life. He was excited and ready, but I'm not sure I was.

Jenna is in Chicago this week with my parents and her cousin. She was actually nervous about going and came out of bed crying before she left. But things are going fine and she is having a great time. That's what my mom said anyway, she was really too busy to talk to me today!

So what's a mother to do? It's just the beginning of them having more and more of their own life. More and more of their time revolving around friends, activities and less time at home base. As much as I hate to admit it, there are things that they need to do and learn apart from me. And I know that I'm going to lose my place at the center of their life, which is the whole point of growing up right? I just didn't think it would start so soon or be so weird. When all the kids were little I thought I'd be relieved when they were able to do things away from me. Don't get me wrong, I am happy for them to have these experiences.

And this had made me really look forward to and appreciate our family trip this summer! All of us together in the van, okay maybe not that part, but away from baseball and friends and stuff. It's just a reminder that we have them for such a short time.