Hooray for nursery school!

Hooray! Claire meets the minimum age requirement for Elliot's preschool -- which is this great little church basement program with sweet ladies who adore the kids. So for three hours, twice a week for the next few months, I have some free time (which unfortunately, so far I have used up doing laundry and cleaning house). At first, I felt horribly guilty about taking both of them to school -- it was the first time I've paid anyone to take my kids for my own respite. However, upon further reflection, I realized how much I missed the environment in which we used to live where I could exchange my kids with friends. They just don't seem to do that in my new neighborhood. But as you can see from Claire's facial expression, she loves it! And Elliot loves having her to take care of -- the ladies at the church say they've never seen such a doting older brother. I think that the idea of a couple mornings of puzzle making, drawing, singing, and storybook reading by someone other than me is a good one for all three of us. And when I come pick them up, they're happy to see me, and I'm happy to see them, and things are better.

I've realized I can do without enough to be able to afford this new found freedom, and hopefully it will recharge me enough for when I have a newborn AND these three amazing, energetic creatures. I think I'm telling you all this, so that if there's a friend of mine out there that has 'dropped her basket,' is feeling awful that she's reached a new level of impatience with her child(ren), feels like there's a time of day when her compassion tank runs empty, is feeling a bit hopeless at the thought of staying home for another week, and has been casually perusing the want ads to find a job that would actually utilize her skills, education, and talents, I want you to know that I have been there. You are not alone. I have found this terrific outlet in this (amazingly inexpensive) nursery school -- that will work for now. What have some of the rest of you done? Share! And if any of you have a tiny baby to add to the mix, I'd like to hear some solutions for my June calendar.