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" Rachel Balducci is a wife, mom, newspaper columnist, and member of Most Holy Trinity Parish in August, GA. She blogs at testosterhome.blogspot.com  8 a.m. For the first time in three months, I am spending the morning alone, cleaning, cooking, writing. Startled by a creak behind me, I realize I must get reacquainted with the sounds of an old house. During the summer, I don&amp;#039;t hear the moans and groans of old timber; they&amp;#039;re drowned out by the sound of dueling superheroes. But today, the boys are back at school. And I have a few hours on my own, to settle and think and regroup. I like the flow of the school year, the structure and goals. The boys love school, too. And that helps. But it is incredibly quiet now that Augie, my youngest, has started preschool. And I can&amp;#039;t decide how I feel about that. This year, the three big boys \u2014 Ethan, Elliott, and Charlie \u2014 will be at school until 3 p.m. Last year, Charlie, as a kindergartner, was home by 1 o&amp;#039;clock every day, which made for a quick morning. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s going to be a long day without me,&amp;quot; Charlie said yesterday as I kissed him goodbye. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re right,&amp;quot; I said, fighting the lump in my throat.  I can&amp;#039;t wait until 3.  And then I see a nutty advertisement on the Internet for a new child harness that hangs over a rest\u00ADroom stall \u2014 with the baby or toddler perched inside it! \u2014 while you answer nature&amp;#039;s call. I laugh my head off, and remember that it&amp;#039;s nice to have a few hours alone. To shop without having to worry about someone touching the floor of a public bathroom. Noon, later that week The older boys had a half day at school, so they had to come with me on an important errand \u2014 heading over to the Sonic Drive-In to get my giant Diet Coke. As we were leaving, and just as I was taking my first swig of that glorious goodness, Elliott looked at me. &amp;quot;Do you love Sonic more than you love Dad?&amp;quot; he asked. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t love anything more than I love your dad,&amp;quot; I replied. &amp;quot;Well, except God.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;You love God more than you love Dad?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Yes,&amp;quot; I said. &amp;quot;Not much more. But if I didn&amp;#039;t love God, then I couldn&amp;#039;t love Dad. At least, not the way I&amp;#039;m supposed to.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Am I supposed to love God more than I love you?&amp;quot; asked Elliott. &amp;quot;Yes,&amp;quot; I said. &amp;quot;At least just a little bit.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Well, I love you a little less,&amp;quot; he said tentatively. &amp;quot;But only about 6 percent less.&amp;quot; I&amp;#039;ve started the school year 106 percent happy. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a17404/bloggers-we-love-0907/>