August 1, 2024

Hello August!

August is basically "Summer" - which makes me feel oddly off kilter with my north american friends who are either finishing summer or part way through.  I am currently 1/3 through my first school summer, having finished almost two weeks.  Summer holidays are 22nd July to 4th September.  Also the sun suddenly came out in the last week of July so it really *feels* like the start of summer.  We ate ice cream! We got the paddling pool out! I switched from our 9 tog to our 4 tog duvet *yesterday*.  I have my fingers crossed that August will have a much nicer *summer* feel.

Fun things in August:

My dad is visiting! Hopefully we will go to a castle and take Isaac to the bank, which will check off one of my yearly goals.

Our nanny starts 2 days a week from August 20th.  I will actually have some days of full childcare for all the kids

Lilah's last day in Nursery.  Isaac started July 2019, and Lilah finishes August 2024. The twins are not going to nursery as we are getting a nanny.  It feels like a big deal to say goodbye to nursery after 5 years straight.

(as an aside - a few weeks ago Lilah painted the following set of pictures:

"she's pretty good at painting" Andy said.  "I should hope so - she has £30,000 of nursery tuition behind her" I said, and then reeled in shock at the expense of childcare. 

Things I am looking forward to in August:
Having childcare
Continuing Running
Getting my hair dyed (I'm going back to my natural color but using semi-perminant dye to do it... which I have definitely left too long between treatments)
Going out to lunch with Andy
Eating dinner outside
Visiting museums with the big kids - other adventures with the big kids
Meeting up with my far away good friend who is coming to visit
Eating ice cream in our garden
Continuing to read awesome books.
Take the kids to the library for their summer reading challenge

August Goals:
  • Run one 5K
  • Take the kids to the bank
  • Purchase a pair of flattering shorts
  • Continue to declutter things - re-open vinted shop
  • Eat more fruits and vegetables
  • Try not to stress about the following
    • Having no friends (because I have a lot of time to fill and because other people are on different life/summer schedules, and sometimes meeting up just doesn't happen for a while)
    • Organizing kid activities for all 4 kids.  It might just be too hard to enjoy all 4 by myself.
    • Going back to work, work politics, things changing in work.  All these things may have happened, worrying will not affect any of these things.
I have a feeling August will go by quickly.  I'm back in work in September, with a "soft start" from around the 10th, but officially back from the 17th. I have a lot of thoughts about returning to work, but that will be for another post.  In the meantime, I should try to enjoy some of my last few weeks of maternity leave.  It's my last maternity leave ever.  And this is my last summer on maternity leave.  Even if I don't super enjoy watching lots of kids, hopefully I can enjoy this transitional time for the liminal space it is.

What are you excited about in August? Is August mid summer, end of summer, or start of summer for you?

3 comments:

  1. Yay for family visitors!
    August is mid-summer for us. Schools let out the end of June (like, often the very last day of June), and start back just after Labour Day in September. So my kids are exactly half-way through their summer vacation. Which, to be honest, seems crazy because I feel like they have lived an entire summer worth of adventure already! My daughter has had 4 weeks of overnight camp (basically her favourite place on the planet), my son had three sports camps + overnight camp, and we spent an amazing week visiting my parents. We're going back to visit my parents on Sunday, so the adventures just keep coming!
    Summers when my kids were younger (frankly, until this year) have felt like a complete slog to me. I'm always exhausted by about the second week of summer vacation.

    All the best with the work transition, and a nanny sounds amazing. Nursery is great, but a lot of work to schlepp all the stuff and do pick-up/drop-off. Plus things like sick days where they're not well enough to go to Nursery but well enough to be fine home with a nanny will put a lot less stress on you to sort out last-minute childcare!

    Good work on all you've accomplished in July. I was a zombie for an entire year after having my kids and I ONLY HAD ONE AT A TIME.

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  2. Enjoy the summer! Just realised my little one is the same age as Issac, finishing that first year of school feels big. There might be some useful/ interesting stuff here on returning to work https://www.leadersplus.org/. Hope it all goes well.

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  3. Maybe it's because I don't have kids and don't live by the "school year", but August is definitely the height of summer for me here in CA (with the hottest temps to boot!).
    I am so happy to hear your dad is visiting and I hope you get to spend a wonderful summer time with him with lots of pool time and ice-cream :)

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