It's nap time and all of the littles that I watch are fast asleep. After a busy morning outside they were exhausted and fell asleep quickly. I ate my lunch and am currently enjoying a cup of coffee fresh from the Keurig. It's smooth and still hot. I realize that this is one of the last days (for awhile) that I'll be enjoying hot coffee. I'll likely be drinking it cold in a matter of days....and not like iced coffee. No, warm coffee that has gone cold from sitting too long and warmed up in the microwave multiple times before it's gone.
I sit in the silence happily while the tapping of the keyboard fills the room. I have music playing in the background in multiple rooms of the house. Despite relishing in the quietness of my days, I still need some noise happening around me. It helps me focus and I find it oddly calming. Silence still bothers me, but I've come to appreciate the calmness of our days.
It's nearing the end of the school year and the summer crowd will slowly trickle in throughout the next couple of weeks. Three years ago I was on the opposite end of this. My life went from chaos to quiet (read about that here) when my middle started school full time, numerous kiddos went off to preschool, and I started a new "batch" of daycare kids. I was worried how I would fare with the quiet when I was so used to chaos. In those three years my house has been full, but not insanely full (as summer will bring). Still moments of chaos, but not complete chaos.
These last three years have been full of change. Babies being born, babies turning into toddlers, and now preschoolers. All three of my minis in school full time. I've become accustomed to this new quiet. The kind of quiet that signals my own children aren't home and rummaging, creating messes wherever they go. The kind of quiet that guarantees me some kind of break throughout the day. These days are fairly predictable: breakfast, playtime, snack, playtime, lunch, reading, naps, playtime, snack, playtime. The days are busy, but have an overall calmness that I've come to appreciate.
I find myself hoping that the big kids will want to watch a movie or a show in the afternoons this summer so I can at least sit down for a few minutes each day. Don't get me wrong, I still thrive in chaos, but I've learned to thrive in a little bit of calmness too. I'm taking full advantage of these last few quiet(er) days before the days are full of kids running in and out of the house from sun up to sun down, stomping feet sounding through the house, and these little things that I've come to enjoy will be distant memories.