Timetobeme's Blog

A new but old stage of life, what in the world does that mean ? What I mean is, I am in a new stage of life,  but it is one I have lived through before , having kids in my life on a daily basis.

I am currently babysitting our grandkids while thier parents work and right now they live with us so it makes it both easier, and harder. Easier because they are right here and I do not have to go get them, or worry about what they will need for the day, but harder because the line is very blurred between when I have them and don’t, although thier parents do work hard to make sure I have my time when I am not s itting but I am not going to forbid the kids to come in my room to talk to me, so that is what I mean, they are always around so it not like when I have sat for grandkids and they went home each night. I am so lucky that they are very good kids and easy, thier parents have done a great job with t hem and it is easy taking care of them.

It is strange though at almost 51, I will be 51 in two weeks, that I am driving kids to school again when I really thought four years ago that stage of my life was done when our younges  son , we have two girls and two boys, got his license half way through his junior year in high school, Free, free at last , or so I thought !! 

With perimenapause has come late nights where sometimes I am not sleepy until three in the morning, which was not a problem when I did not have to be up at a certain time. It would occasionaly annoy my husband on his days off when he was up at six and I was not up until nine or ten !!  Now,  however, I have to be up as early as six in the morning so it is a huge adjustment to make my body change what it wants to do. I have been having to take benedryl at night to make me sleepy but still end up in bed at midnight or later.

I am not really sure how long this will be my life. The kids are working hard to get on t hier feet. After a year and a half our son in law was able to find a good job and is finally back to work after an exhausting search. He has always been  a hard worker so being home was very hard on him.  Now he is back to work and my babysitting duties have started. They hope to be out on thier own in the next year , they want to get savings put aside and pay off t hier few bills so they can buy a house and do things right. They  moved here from Southern Calif so getting a new start in Texas will take them a while. They have stuff in storage in Calif and have to get that out here so there is a lot to do to get out on thier own.

So, we went from almost being empty nesters to a very full nest again, but having them here instead of in Calif, that is worth all the sacrifice and changes in life style. I had missed them all terribly for all the eight years we were here, and they were there and had missed most of our older grandaughters life and half of our small grandsons life. He has been here going on two years, Aug will be two years and he will be four next month, so we are thrilled we have gotten this time with him and with our grand daughter to forge the relationships that were almost impossible to have long distance with kids.

Yesterday I was up at six and took our Grand daughter to school and then our grandson and I ran errands and then came home for a couple of hours and then back to pick her up, she has early dismissal as it is the last of the school year. We came home and had lunch and t hen I ran all my errands with both kids. Post office, where we had a fascinating conversation with an older gentle man who had noticed our grandsons Cars shoes and I never would have met him and learned some interesting t hings if the kids had not been with me !! We than ran to Walmart and another grocery store for the special things we cannot get at Walmart and then to the local  dairy to get milk and got the kids ice cream. We came home and then our daughter got home from work and our son in law got up , he has worked nights all week and then ran out to do errands and I got a couple of precious hours to myself and t hen at five th irty we went to our granddaughters first soft ball practice. We had to drive about a half hour and had to find it, it started late and the coach did not let them go until just before eight pm. there was no seating so I was standing for almost two hours, I was beat by the time we got home last night !!  I got to spend an hour and a half watching tv with my hubby and then headed to bed, he gets up at four t hirty for work, yikes !! I headed to bed around midnight and was up again at six, but luckily only to school and to pick her up today, no more errands, I am done for the week !!

So, that is what I meant by new but old stage of life. I am having to do things I thought I was done with and take kids with me on errands again, which I actually really enjoyed. Ten year olds and four year olds are quite fascinating little people and good company , especially when they are so well behaved !!!

So, the imediate future is unsure, when they will move out, how long I will be sitting. Will the other grandparents move out here like they have said they might and how will that inpact everything. So many variables involved here !!

Well, off  to see where today takes me. It is gloomy and cloudy outside so I think we are in the house, rain is in the forecast. With two kids though, I am sure the day will be interesting !!!