It’s been exactly a month and a day since we went back to school and work, so this is our Where Are They Now.

Our days are so different post-summer. Instead of sleeping in until 8 and leisurely playing with Magna-Tiles until we go on an adventure, there’s a lot more yelling to get dressed, come upstairs/downstairs, brush your teeth, put your shoes on, and the Magna-Tile playing is a lot less leisurely. The nights are pretty different too. We’re no longer a unit of three, filling in Matty on all our adventures. Instead, Matty and I are trying to find better ways to ask the kids about how their day was that elicit more than a one word response. Our relaxed summer bedtimes have been replaced by the Benny Hill song playing while we do all of this.

The biggest change has been spending my days at work, instead of hanging with my two favorite littles. Don’t get me wrong, my work is awesome. The people are ridiculously nice, the work is intellectually challenging, and I get the pleasure of reading a book a week on my commute. [Side note: please read The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly – it is so good.]

But there’s much less giggling, tickling, ice cream eating, and watching two little people finding out who they are.

I miss going on adventures with them and watching the awkward and adorable way they run. I miss George asking me things like, “Are we real people, Mama?” and trying to give an answer that makes sense. I miss watching Hazy beam with pride every time she swam underwater.

There’s been some other big changes. For one, we had to give up our beloved dog, Beatz.

Her separation anxiety had gotten out of control and she was just too unhappy for us to keep her. Now, she’s with people all day and being showered with love, just not by us (at least, not in person).

Secondly, Hazy started first grade. Oh god, this is beginning to sound like one of those family Christmas letters. But I assure you, no one has “really started blossoming into a lovely young lady” or “totally surprised us with his musical skills”.

Also, Hazy turned into a teenager overnight.

And George turns 4 on Sunday!

Fortunately, some things have stayed the same. We enjoyed our Thursdays at Oma & Opa’s so much that we now do Sunday dinner with them every week. We alternate whose house we go to, which means, we get spoiled with fancy restaurant-style food every other Sunday, and Oma & Opa are gonna get very well acquainted with my Pinterest “I’ll Make For Dinner” board.

We’re going through some Grammy (and Auntie Dita, Uncle Matt, RyRy & Sean-O) withdrawals, but we still see them more than we used to. Grammy babysat for the kids just the other week while Matty and I went to a fashion show, because that’s the kind of fancy stuff we do now.

We still eat a lot of ice cream.

It wouldn’t be right to end the blog without giving a huge thank you to my sponsors.

Thank you, PJA, for taking a chance on this writer with little to no B2B experience who could’ve been a serial killer or Nickelback fan for all you know and then letting me take the summer off. Your faith in me is duly noted and returned tenfold.

When I was wrapping up my blog this summer, Matty joked, “I better get at least 500 words in the last post.” So here goes, Matty.

Thank you for hesitating for exactly zero seconds when I proposed taking the summer off. Thank you for single handedly supporting our family financially while I traipsed around all summer with the kids. Thank you for handling so many flossing and brushing and bath sessions solo because I was ready for some me-time after a day with the kids. Thank you for never complaining when we ditched you on Thursday nights, talked up our beach days that you missed out on, and dirtied up the car with sand, granola bar bits, and iced tea remnants. Thank you for being the absolute best husband and dad in the whole world. You are so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so awesome and I love you.