It’s Cindy’s last week of summer break before going back for her 8th year of teaching!

She had so many plans lined up and was so excited for one last hurrah. Unfortunately, Baby R had different plans. For one, she decided it was time to drop from 2 naps to 1. Anyone who is a parent knows nap transitions are literal hell. just kidding. But they do throw a wrench in plans. What were once predictable days suddenly become extremely unpredictable. On top of that, Baby R seems to be cutting her first molar! And she also got a cold. All that made for one hellish week. also just kidding. But it was a very very rough week for all of us. Cranky babies who don’t sleep create cranky parents. And cranky parents are no fun.

Instead of having plans almost every day, Cindy ended up going nowhere and staying home all week. Not how Cindy wanted to spend her last week of summer vacation, but it is what it is. The silver lining is that she got lots and lots of quality time with Baby R. She loved staying home all summer with Baby R but she’s also a little excited to go back to work. The whole stay-at-home mom vs. working-mom decision is a double-edged sword. It seems no matter what you choose, you just can’t win (at least for some women…like Cindy). Another silver lining is we started the nap transition before Cindy went back to work. Transitioning back to work is already stressful enough. We don’t need it to be more stressful with the beginnings of a nap transition.

Fortunately, we were able to make up for a bad last week with a great last day of break! Jake took Monday off and spent the day hanging out with Cindy and Baby R. In the morning, we took Baby R to a nearby play gym class. It was so fun to watch Baby R play and interact with other babies! And in the afternoon, we went to the beach. The three of us went in the water, made sand castles, rolled around in the sand, and had a picnic dinner. It was the perfect way to end summer vacation.

All in all, we had a nice and restful summer break. Jake still has another month and a half-ish of summer off. But Cindy’s going back to work kicks off our next season of busyness. Jake is gearing up to go on the job market.