I haven’t been blogging much of late. No real reason, sometimes I just drift away from blogging and then wander my way back.
Marc is doing well at his new job. It isn’t new anymore now, he’s been at it since January. It’s starting to feel normal. He’s not home much at all during the week, but the weekends are sacred. He gets home Friday night and doesn’t have to work again until Monday morning. Because his job changed, I changed my job as well. Before, with Marc working five minutes from home, at a super flexible position, it made sense for me to be able to work three mornings a week. But once he started commuting to Canton, working for me because almost impossible. I hated it – so much. But I have the world’s best boss, and was able to adjust my hours so that now I just work Wednesdays and Saturday mornings. My mother comes out and stays with Sam on Wednesdays, and Jessie is home on Saturday mornings, while Marc takes Julie to the synagogue.
Jessie is wrapping up her eighth grade year. Last year was HARD for my girl, not academically, but emotionally, socially. Last year was hard on everyone, and it’s still surprising to realize the ramifications. So this year is easier. She’s happier, laughing more, working hard, more focused and more in control. She’s so tall, and so gorgeous, and so much more confident and relaxed in who she is and what she wants. Her career aspirations have shifted too – and I’m glad. For most of last year, she wanted to be a child life specialist, and work with kids in the hospital when they’re scared. While there’s no doubt she’d be wonderful at that – because she truly is gifted with children, she’s so much more engaged and interested in her Model UN stuff. Now she’s talking about studying international law, or political science.
Sam is doing well too. Homeschooling is definitely a work in progress – we’re learning about what works best for him. He loves all four main subjects, but it’s a matter of figuring out the best way to present the information so that he’s learning it, retaining it, and still happy to be doing it! Because last year was so horrific for him, I’ve gone slowly, slowly, about adding new tasks. We’re doing really well with history (that’s my favorite of all of his subjects) and math. Science, we’ve had to switch a few times before we found a curriculum that works well for him, but the one I started last week seems to click. English is mostly audio books and reports, we’ve done a bunch of mad libs, parts of speech. It’s working – I still feel alternately completely overwhelmed and totally in control, depending on the day. The food thing is getting better too – he’s graduated from a full blown eating disorder to just incredibly picky. The anxiety.. we’re working on it. It’s slow, slow progress, but progress nonetheless.
Miss Julianna Ruth is finishing up first grade. Kicking ass academically – she’s an incredibly proficient reader, and doing really well in math as well. She’s got a really nice group of friends, and seems so happy and well-adjusted. She’s still recovering from the accident as well – mainly in terms of understanding that she’s special and important and worthy of attention. The reality is that for a long time, Sam was the one who monopolized everything, and on a fundamental level, that really impacted how she looks at the world and her place in it. Julie fell into a pattern of trying to fix everything, to be the kid I don’t worry about, to be the perfect daughter, and it’s been a process to encourage her to be able to stand up for herself, or to allow her wants/needs to be a priority. We’re working on it, and I think things are getting better. She seems happier.
This is the time I wanted. When things were at their worst last year, there was a part of me that kept wondering it would ever get back here. With no major problems, just life. Kids all growing, all healthy, all moving towards adulthood. With Marc and I able to relax and breathe, knowing that we’re doing what we want to do, raising our family and living our lives. We’re back there again – and while I don’t think I took it for granted before, I know that I appreciate every minute of it now.
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