So we’re two weeks into our new lifestyle and we’re starting to find our footing. Honestly, it’s not as bad as I feared it might be. I worried that I would do nothing but sit around waiting on Olof all day, counting the minutes until he came home. I do miss him, and it is very different, but so far I’m managing well enough. And as I anticipated, I am getting quite a bit more accomplished on the days he’s at work than I did when he was home all day.

The worst part, by far, is the morning rush — it’s just about as much fun as you’d imagine to get five kids up and ready and out the door. Before it was just two or three, depending on whether it was a school day for Petra, but now that Olof’s not here to take Petra, Brynja and Yrsa have to follow along for the drop-off. An unexpected advantage, though, is that Yrsa usually falls asleep in the stroller and takes a long nap when we come home, giving me time to drink coffee and shower and sometimes even get a head start on dinner, all with only Brynja to wrangle.

Speaking of Brynja, we found out last week that she finally got a spot at the daycare/pre-school that Petra attends now and that Tage attended when he was that age. We’ve been offered spots at other places, but we’re so entrenched — and quite happily so — at the current place that we’d decided to hold out as long as it took for her to start there. I’d been hoping that she’d be able to take over Petra’s spot in the fall, when Petra starts kindergarten, and it ended up working out just like that.

I’m so relieved and happy, because I think it will be so good for all of us. It will be nice to have some alone time with Yrsa, and I think it will be invaluable for Brynja to have an outside engagement for a number of hours every week. She’s a very busy little thing who if she doesn’t have something to do will find something, and trust me, it’s rarely a pretty sight. I’m sure she’ll love the chance for some fresh blood new playmates and new activities. When I told Olof about her starting at the pre-school, he joked wryly that he hoped they would still want Yrsa after contending with Brynja for a few years. She’s not a bad kid, of course, she’s just very … well, arbetsam is the word Olof’s mom has used. It means “industrious”, but also “energetic” and “diligent”, and maybe even a little “persistent”. It fits.