A Glimpse into the Future

The Marsh Ladies have been super-busy again, and I am getting a taste of life in Memphis when Peter is out-of-town for work and the girls need to be chauffered to various events while I have to work. This is going to be quite a juggling act--that whole "Memphis support network" is already being tested! Thank goodness I am only working 2 days a week.

I started orientation at the hospital in Jackson this week, meeting with the midwives and staff at the clinic in addition to the oh-so-exciting OSHA-required trainings about not picking up broken glass and chemicals with your bare hands, wearing gloves, smiling at patients and being part of the "family" at the huge-gigantic-behemoth hospital.

Keep in mind that Jackson is over an hour from my parents' house, so I am out of the house at 6:30, leaving the girls with their grandparents for getting ready for the day. The night before, I lay out their clothes for them to wear to their respective day camps as well as packing lunches and writing notes of instruction for the dropper-offers. Sunscreen and mosquito repellent are set out for morning application. Molly goes to Day Camp at the YMCA, where she swims and plays outside all day, as well as apparently playing with basketballs, watching a movie "where aliens suck the energy out of the people," having water Olympics, enjoying craft time. Rebecca is attending "Nuts About Nature" camp at the same montessori school where she will be in preschool starting August 13. She also plays outside and does crafts, sings and dances, and on Fridays will have movie day also.

So they have to be in two different places, one at 8:15 and the other by 9. Then they have to be picked up, one at 2:45, the other by 5 (or earlier). Mom and Dad have been running carpool duty for both girls, both ways, since I am gone before I can possibly take them and do not return to Memphis for a full 12 hours and since Peter has returned to Iowa. After these long days, they go to VBS at Mom and Dad's church for dinner at 6 (I catch up with them there by 6:30), followed by the program until 8:30. By the time we all get home, everyone is exhausted, the kids have to go straight to bed, even though they really need a bath, and we start all over again.
This has been a two-day routine and I am already pooped out. But the girls are both enjoying their days, even though I never see them, and I am off tomorrow and Friday so I will actually get to take my own children to camp and Granna and Papa can focus on just going to work as usual and not which lunch bag belongs to which child!

Ahhh-I though summer was supposed to be easier!