Whenever I go a week without posting, I feel the need to come back to my writing and explain why I haven’t been writing. Why? Why do that? I suppose I do it for those who are so kind in following along with the blog, so they know I am still here and still kicking, but also for myself and my family because, really, this blog is for us. I love to share our experiences with others, to hear connections and responses people have to our stories and my writing, but beyond that, I write on this blog to preserve our family memories, so my future self can remember what life was like in “the tunnel” (and so my kids can, too).

This means that when I go a handful of days or more without posting, my “why did that happen” post is a memory jogger to myself months or years from now. I know the gaps between posts are never due to lack of activity (does that concept even exist in life with Littles?!), so when I check in as I’m doing tonight, it’s to record what the flip diddle was going on that kept me away from the computer or away from the writing during that time.

This latest hole is easily summed up in two words: Summer School. Teaching a full semester’s worth of content in a three-week time period is never easy breezy, but I’m beginning to wonder if it is one of those things (like staying up past midnight) that gets harder to get through as you get older. Now don’t laugh; I’m not calling myself old or rapidly aging myself out of the teaching profession here. I’m just saying, Jeepers! I am worn out! (OK, maybe I am 85) and being a little whiney because I’m really freaking tired. However, this is a pretty regular June occurrence as my memory has now been jogged by looking back at last year and seeing just how much I didn’t write then, either. Instead, I took pics of myself that looked like this (which is pretty much exactly what I look like right now, from the shoulders up, anyway):

I suppose the whole being-on-the-cusp-of-the-third-trimester thing has something to do with my current state of tired, too. Gone are the energy-filled bursts of activity and hubbub of weeks 14-26, and returned are the “I think I need to lay down on the couch”es of the first and now last thirds of Baby No.4’s development. This is just a tiring time. When you tack on three other active peanuts who still need my time and attention (and food prep, laundry, and clean-up skills) even though I’m attending to students on campus all morning and yoga students many evenings, and yeah. Tired makes sense – so do gaps in blog time.

The other instigator in fewer posts here is that in the last month I have been so incredibly blessed to be writing on a different site, so some of my spare brainpower has been going into posts for Her View From Home instead of here. I’ve been sharing the links on Facebook and in email, but if you haven’t seen (or liked or shared) them yet, here’s another chance:

This one is about finding people to reflect back to us the people we truly wish to be, while this one is about how we sustain the confidence expressed by our wee ones.

It is amazing and so, so cool to share my writing with this new audience and I hope you know how much I mean it when I say thank you to those who have been reading and sharing and responding to these posts (or any post for that matter!). It really does make an impact in terms of my being able to continue to write for them, which is pretty much a dream come true for me.

As for the extreme case of the busies and the tireds currently underway? Well, I’ve got one more week of SS to go and then I plan to enjoy as much of the summer break (and air conditioning) as I can while we wait patiently (ha) for the end of summer and this latest Babmino’s arrival. I see lots of naps, books, watching the kids play in the backyard, and hopefully more blog posts (here and there) coming my way after next week. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?!