What a year

2012 is close to being over and all I can say is ... what a year. It's been probably one of the hardest years of my life - not because of anything BAD, just because it was so full of hard stuff. And hard stuff is not necessarily bad!

Crabby baby + bored 3 year old + homeschooling for the first time + kid at preschool + lifting + all the usual household Mom stuff. None of these things are bad or especially difficult. I just happened to have to deal with all of them at the same time.

For example:

Baby is hanging on my leg and crying. 3 year old is lying on the couch upside down and moaning that he wants to watch TV.  I am supposed to be gently encouraging Miss J to write a story but all she can do is cry and say, "But I don't know what to WRITE!" In the back of my mind  I'm thinking that I should really take something out of the freezer for supper, that there's wet washing in the machine and that if I put the miserable baby to bed now he will only get a short nap before I have to pick up Mr R and it then he won't nap again and will scream all evening until bedtime. And there is ridiculous MESS everywhere.

Baby is getting older now and is generally more happy. Mr A is a little easier to entertain these days. (Just a little.) I've chilled a bit about getting school done since noticing how much she learns without my doing much at all. (and it still pretty much gets done.) And there are 6 more days of preschool before Mr R becomes a proper homeschool kid. I will have a helper four days a week most weeks next year. We have almost finished turning the garage into a schoolroom/playroom.

Things are looking up! Four kids at home is going to be mad and crazy but I hope it won't be as rough as this year has been. I have not emerged from the flames stronger. I am tired and looking forward to a few more calm moments during the day.

I love teaching my kids. I loved looking back on Miss J's old work today and seeing some of the fun stuff we did. So did she. I am hoping that 2013 will have more fun learning and less crabby frustrated mommy!