At 7:30 this morning I realized we were in trouble. I was showered, dressed and ready to go, but both of my kids were completely out. Still asleep after almost 12 hours, and neither one was showing signs of rousing anytime soon. After several minutes of poking, pulling, prodding and promises, I was finally able to roll them out of bed and into the car.

Dressed and packed, yes. Fed…. No. That’s why man created the drive thru window at the donut store. Powder donuts and warm water from a bottle that was in the car all weekend …. the breakfast of champions.

Driving into work after dropping off the kids, I started thinking about the upcoming week. I had planned to take a couple of days off this week and next, but with the amount of work and other projects that were piling up on my desk and in my head, I wondered if I really needed to take so many days. Then it struck me.

My kids need the vacation.

I must admit that I often consider vacations in terms of what Steve and I need – assuming, usually correctly, that our kids needs will be satisfied by whatever plans are made. But I rarely think about it in terms of the kids needing time off.

I should have seen the signs this weekend – I was getting really crabby about being stuck inside on a beautiful Sunday, but there was housework and laundry to do. And, as much as I might like it to be otherwise, I’m the only one who will do either. I wanted to spend time just hanging out with the kids, but felt I couldn’t because of all the other “stuff” that had to be done. After the kids had gone to bed I felt guilty about the things we didn’t do – I didn’t make Anders a star for being good on Saturday, we didn’t make strawberry shortcake even though he asked three times and I promised we would, and we didn’t get to do anything that really took advantage of the beautiful weather.

And then there is the sleeping. My kids are good, no great, sleepers. But to have both of them sack out for so many hours, is a sure sign that something needs to give. Summer has just started and we have several weeks of high level playing ahead of us with very little time for rest. And our “big” vacation isn’t coming until the end of August which is lifetime for little ones.

So this morning I’m setting aside my doubts about taking some time off. I’m going to disconnect from work, and if I can, from Manic Mommies for a couple of days. Not because I need the days (which I do), but because my kids do.

Have a happy 4th!