This post is sponsored by SLEEP NUMBER® as part of an ongoing partnership to discuss Family & Rest in our home…helping our family be the best they can be.

Upon returning home from our 6-week summer trip to Michigan which sometimes rendered me sardine’d with two kids in twin beds, double beds, queen beds, hotel beds, cabin beds and basically any bed but my own bed, I have a whole new respect for my space. That first night home, we rolled in late, left suitcases in the car, tucked well-traveled kids into their beds, and when it was finally my turn to retreat, I was giddy to return to this little haven and slide into a kind of comfort I had missed–my own bed. After a long time of keeping our room the catch-all room and sacrificing our comfort to focus on other areas of the house, I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a space we love, a bed I adore and comforts that make me think every single day when I walk in there, “This makes me so happy.” The after effects of these comforts just keep on delivering, one most notable: this room stays clean! Easily! Which has never been something I could say before about my bedroom.

We had very little time to transition from vacation life and sleep habits to real life routines and bed times, but I knew it was important, especially considering Nella would be going from a half-day preschool schedule to a full-day kindergarten one this year, and every mama knows those first school days just wipe those kiddos out. Sleep drives one’s overall health and well being, and I want our family to be our best, most productive selves this season. Knowing our family, where we are challenged and what makes us perform best, we’re focusing on a few areas to ensure consistent rest routines as we transition from slow summer days to a more demanding season. Our goal? Maintain that peaceful foundation of slow summer days, even if our schedule says otherwise. How?

ELIMINATE SCRAMBLING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
Scrambling to get homework done before bed, scrambling to make lunches in the morning–the scramble makes us all crazy and raises the energy in our home, definitely affecting our rest. There were too many times last year when we were finishing math pages right before bed because I had let Lainey put it off, or I was jumping right from REM to a full-on kitchen frenzy to get lunches packed and make it out the door on time. This year, we’re planning our time more appropriately to protect those precious moments before bed and the first quiet ones in the morning. It’s homework right after school–no ifs, ands or buts. And while homework is being finished, I make the next day’s lunch and get them into the refrigerator. Already, it’s paying off. “Doesn’t this feel amazing to have our whole evening wide and free?” I reminded Lainey, “and to wake up with no pressure to do anything but enjoy the morning before school starts?” Less frantic means less stress which automatically improves our rest.

NIGHTLY READING
Chapter books, picture books, mom books, kid books–there are books on all of our nightstands, and whether we read three pages or three chapters, it’s the perfect preface to sleep and a peaceful bridge for our minds to go from thinking all day to turning off for the night.

I’ve been reading some books that are funny enough to read parts aloud to Brett lately, and I love the nightly ritual.

And while I love reading aloud to my kids and think the snuggle time huddled together in bed over a book is such a great pre-bed tradition, it doesn’t always work out to do that every single night. While we shoot for that, sometimes our kids enjoy quietly looking at books on their own a bit now too. And having a big sister that can read to the littler ones? Best ever.

START BEDTIME ROUTINES EARLIER
Routines take a little longer for an independent toddler who wants to do everything himself, so we’re starting bedtime routines earlier. I asked Dash to brush his teeth when it was still plenty light out the other day and Brett said, “But it’s too early.” What he forgot is that it’s never too early to put a toddler to bed–and also that Dash can kill 40 minutes brushing his teeth because WATER = FUN.

Sometimes getting three kids in bed can feel overwhelming at night when I still have a lot to do, but the earlier we start, the easier the process is.

LITTLE COMFORT PLEASURES
My favorite area to focus on. The rest ritual is a ceremony, perhaps the most important one of our day, and so I love to invest in things to make this ceremony as beautiful as it can be. Happy, inviting spaces that make us feel good; delicate linens that make us want to stay in bed all day; the perfect pillow, a nightstand candle in a relaxing scent; the comfiest blanket for our littlest sleepers.

We’ve been so happy not only with our SLEEP NUMBER® bed, but with their bedding as well. We have their PUR-DOWN comforter and Smart Classics Duvet set, and it’s absolute heaven–so much that while my neighbor and I were talking bedding the other day, I dragged her to my room and made her get in my bed–“Like lay down between the covers, you have to see how amazing this feels.” And then we both laid there like weird people, sighing loudly with our eyes closed because HEAVEN.

They also have a whole line of Sleep Number^® Kids’ bedding that’s soft and comfy yet still colorful, sweet and simple. I get so happy seeing my kids cuddled up in sweet linens, thinking about how comfy they must feel.

Lastly, for me, I’m watching what I eat and drink a lot more this season. After a summer of celebrating and many social gatherings, it feels really good to cut back on alcohol and late evening snacks. I sleep so much better and feel 100% more rested and energized in the morning when I choose ice water with lemon in a chilled glass or chamomile in my favorite cup rather than a beer or glass of wine in the evening. Moderation is powerful. Rest is fueling.

Thank you, SLEEP NUMBER® for creating great opportunities to talk about the importance of good rest. As always, SLEEP NUMBER® delivers unparalleled sleep experiences by offering high-quality, innovative sleep products and services. We love ours!

There’s a “Welcome to Kindergarten” newsletter on my desk right now–saved even though I read it and already know everything it says. Scan over the wadded tissue next to it, the tape dispenser, the grocery list I’ll never remember to take with me, the pencil with the broken lead and the three bobby pins I pulled from my hair and left there last week, and you’ll find a small frame with a picture of Nella when she was born. Then and Now, connected by a string of little messes that somehow hold us together.

I’d like you to know, for no particular reason, that before I started to type this, I played three songs that I drowned myself in the week she was born because, what the hell, she started kindergarten–let’s let ourselves get emotional.

A lot has changed over the past several years, and I’m happy to report I sent my second kid off to kindergarten in a far less helicopter mode than my first–like, I don’t know, maybe more one of those tourist helicopters that casually circles the Grand Canyon and shows the view rather than the Black Hawk that lands and storms the scene with IS SHE OKAY? IS SHE OKAY? IS SHE OKAY? I cried less. I had more to keep me busy. And I’ve been preparing for this one, proactively and purposefully, for a very long time. But this little milestone? Still huge. Still ever bit as emotional and consuming because how the hell else is it supposed to feel when you look at a teacher you only kinda know and pass off your beloved child–the one with a few more challenges than most–with a, “Oh hey, here’s a cooler with my heart on ice. Keep it beating for the next seven hours and then seven hours again tomorrow and then maybe another 180 days after that.”

In some way, I feel like I’ve been getting ready for this day since the day she was born–the release into the wild. It’s what I dreaded in the beginning–sending my baby who has a disability into the great big world of public education where kids who don’t know any better might shove her off because she doesn’t fit into the tiny world of what they know or, worse, make fun of her. Where teachers might not keep trying, where people’s ignorance about Down syndrome (hey, I had it too!) might create a condescending attitude that’s not going to help my child reach her potential, where label makers might put the wrong label on her, where the few boxes designated by policy makers as “Kinds of Students There Are” might not be appropriate for the kind of student she is–which is capable and funny and insightful and caring and full of so much possibility but might need more time and space and tools to show it. Dread isn’t really the word for this new start anymore because I’ve learned so much since she was born, and what we know we are now able to dream for our girl, no matter if she gets there or not, is so beautiful and paved by so much heart and soul from advocating families who’ve been doing this far longer than we have–it replaces dread with excitement and momentum and a deep passion for all that is possible.

Community helps. I call my friend Liz in Austin who’s sending her Ruby to kindergarten too. We compare first day notes, jitters and hopes. We volley ideas back and forth for when’s a good time to introduce conversations about differences to the class because we want them talked about appropriately rather than ignored and allowed to be otherwise interpreted; we want little kids’ natural curiosity and questions kindly welcomed; we want any “different” barriers that might make our kids feel even the teeniest bit alone addressed early; we want to create the community we desire.

Colette calls from San Diego this morning and tells me about her Dexter’s kindergarten plan, and we laugh and find solace in the fact that we’re both nervous–that we sense in each other that underneath all this game time focus, we’re brimming with emotions because we’re so desperately in love with these kids who surprised us, and we want anyone who meets them to learn what we have these past six years. “We’re the kindergarten club,” Colette says, and I want to hug her through the phone and not let go because I’m so glad I’m not alone.

I can tell you about all the scenarios I’ve thought up. I can tell you about the IEP meetings I’ve created in my head and the pretend speeches I’ve delivered to my friends when they offer to stand in as school district staff for practice–how those pretend speeches become so real, I stand up and deliver them preacher style, one hand on heart, one held to the heavens. I can tell you I worry about needs being met, resources available, living up to be what she needs me to be and one of my deepest fears which is probably one of your deepest fears for your kids too–and Dear God, let’s get this off our chests and let it go. I fear that there will be times when Nella feels swallowed by what makes her different–that there will be moments when every student around her “gets it” and she doesn’t, that she’ll retreat to the tiny cave of Alone we all run to from time to time when we feel overwhelmed by not fitting in–a “less than” cave–and that I won’t be there to see it in her eyes, to show up like I’m programmed to do to cheer her on, push her forward and remind her that her brain, her soul, her voice, her speed, her face, her talents, her art–it’s all so damn beautiful, just the way it is. And that all those things belong out in the open, to be celebrated in her classroom, in her school, in her community.

But I know she’s going to find ways to do that for herself. To follow the paths to more independence that her classmates and friends follow too. All of this is going to take time; we know that.

For now, we take the first steps required of us.

Nella has begun kindergarten in a general ed classroom at the same school Lainey attends–the same teacher Lainey had, in fact, and we hope this inclusive classroom situation continues for many years to come. We feel very thankful for her learning situation as of now and for the commitment of all those who work with her. As she grows and I continue to write in this space, I know her educational journey will grow and change as well. I will occasionally share parts of our journey that may be helpful or insightful for readers, but I won’t be sharing every detail, change and window into our unique experience and/or answer every question you may ask regarding her education as, for one, I respect the complex and important relationship between our family and our district, school and her educators.

I will tell you my favorite story from her first day though. I wanted her to sense as much peaceful energy as possible–to share our excitement for a new school and friends and experiences and yet to tame my own energy enough to keep her calm. Don’t make too big a deal of it. So I played the radio on the way to school, like any other day, and sank in to the peaceful quiet in the car, my school-bound babies visible in the rear view mirror–a little bit excited, a little bit nervous. And then I watched as Nella stretched her hand across the seat into her sister’s lap. “Lainey,” she whispered, “Hand.” Lainey took her hand without a word, and the two of them clasped all their worries and excitement together into one sister grip that could contain it all.

And so I’ll do the same. I’m clasping all my worries and excitement for all our kids and their new beginnings right here into this space–into one sister grip that can contain it all. Put yours in too.

The verdict is: So far, Nella loves school. Smiles when I drop her off, smiles when I pick her up.

“I think she was far more ready than we gave her credit for,” I tell Brett.

As for Lainey, she’s chomping at the bit to pick out what Nella’s going to wear every day. “Can I be in charge of it all year?” she asks.
“Can Nella and I chime in too?” I answer.
“Deal.”

All these years, all these little messes we’ve made it through. There is nowhere more promising to move than forward, as long it takes, as hard as it may be.

Thank you for coming with us.

Yesterday was back to school for our county, and let me put it this way. Since I came home from vacation, I’ve cut out sweets and carbs and drinking because LORD, did I ever eat, drink and be merry for the past month and a half. And I came home strong, dedicated, knocking out my new goals like a boss. We were in control. We were egg whitin’ and kale’in our mornings, and it felt so good. But then yesterday came. And I broke open a bottle of wine at 5:30. And then my damn neighbor walked over with a CHOCOLATE CAKE, and now my kitchen counter holds the remnants of the Massacre of Healthy Ambition 2016.

You know what I love about life? Do overs. So we stumbled. 2 steps back and 15 steps forward. If Britney Spears recovered from 2007, I can move forward from yesterday’s surrender. And before I go forth with gusto into all the good things that August and September may hold for this place, let me pause just a little for the solitude and family time the last week of summer delivered.

We spent our last week together as a family with Brett’s parents in Jasper, Georgia at Big Canoe which is this unbelievably gorgeous mountain community that offers everything from hiking trails to a full inflatable playground on the lake.

We slowed down, did little but loved a lot–sipped coffee in morning huddles that didn’t break up for getting ready routines until we thought about what we were going to do for lunch, watched the Olympics together at night, cooked, read books on the back porch, took walks, swam, forgot about everything but the present. And it was wonderful.

And look. I found a fall prequel on a walk to the lake. Heck yeah, I tucked them away in the last chapter of the book I’m reading.

That there on the left is a water slide built into the rocks.

As always, more than views and lakes and entertainment, what I love most about these trips are my people. Watching my kids climb up on their grandpa’s lap, hearing him ask them questions and listening to their responses…makes me so happy.

Every good summer should have a corn shucking fest.

The pontoons Big Canoe rents are all electric, keeping the lake volume at its magical peaceful place.

Add red canoes to 14,000 Things to Be Happy About.

Add sassafras to 14,000 Things to Be Happy About.

…and any cabin named “The Shack.”

Flying kids…

…lunch with a view…

…and most definitely the possibility tomorrow holds.

I have a chocolate cake mess to clean up. Happy Tuesday!