Starting Again

I'm starting all over again. Babysitting TWO grandsons this time instead of one.  I'm getting used to, again, the joys and pains of having TWO children to look after.  I think I'm better equipped this time.  I know that I won't get anything done, and I don't try to.  But I also know the little bit of time it takes to run down and put a load in the washer or dryer, to wash up a few dishes and to fold clothes while watching Zane play with a baby on my lap.  The problem I have is the meals part.  I need to make "certain sure" what I'm having for supper long before I need to cook it.  And then work in fits and starts all afternoon.  I like to make sure Zane has outside time, running time, and quiet time.  I knew all this "back in the day", but I was tireder, (more tired), how DO you say that, and cared less about getting work done.  Now I know that "keeping up" is easier on me, which is easier on everyone else in the long run.
Now that  Lorene has gone back to work here in Kearney and working long hours, I want this job, really, I want the chance to put some of my values and ideas in their little heads.  I want to love them, and teach them and read to them.  I want to do some things with them that I didn't do with my kids.  I think it is a little bit, "I would do this differently this time around."
Grandchildren are the second chance.  The chance to change, the chance to play,  the chance to watch again the growing of babies into people.  The chance to have some influence on another little life.  There is something grandparents have that parents will never have.  They know how precious that little life is, how much they want to put in it, how much they need to know.  They know how short the time is and how quickly it's gone.  Some of those things are lost in the hectic life of raising kids the first time around.
I know I'm going to be tired and frustrated after 10 to 12 hours of looking after a baby and a toddler.  I know I'm going to have more headaches and less time to do fun things.  But, I also know that I only have one chance with these kids, and people are more important that another scarf.