UGH. Well, I could have predicted this… that after a busy/full weekend right up until the very end, with zero prep for the week done, my 1st day back might be kind of a crummy day. Nothing BAD bad. Just kind of a yuck day.
Might as well get it off my chest, so here goes. Buckle up.
- Screwed up my morning routine by waking up and proceeding to lay in bed and scroll on my phone looking at Facebook instead of getting up on time. (Why? Why did I do that?)
- During said FB scroll time, I looked at some pics a girl I went to nursing school with posted (not really real friends- the FB acquaintance type of friend, you know the type). She shared pics from her 4th baby’s 1st birthday party- which was GORGEOUS. Like, too gorgeous. As in it looked like straight out of a magazine. All 4 of her kids did, actually, as well as she and her husband (they are a ridiculously good looking family and maybe have a personal stylist or something I do not have?? lol). Not to mention their (new? I think?) house in the country looks like a sprawling estate, legit with horses and ginormous windows and the most incredible kitchen. Which then all left me wondering if my kids’ (comparatively very cheap, I’m sure) 1st birthday party decorations from Party City with little zoo animals on them were totally tacky in comparison?? And also, did we totally miss the boat on, um, life? Cuz our house looks like a cracker box house compared to that one. Of course, these thoughts are completely ridiculous, because I have an absolutely amazing life (and gorgeous children), too. But, there you have it folks! The wonders of modern social media at work. 🙃
- So after that fun little morning digression, I got up (late) and didn’t end up having time for my walk. Took the boys to the bus at 7:38 sharp for their 7:42 pickup time….to see the bus pulling away from the stop. 😑 What the hey, bus driver?! Drove them to school (no big deal, it’s not that far, but just another pebble in the shoe…).
- Proceeded to have a day full of meetings, which I am not really used to (my job is traditionally low on meetings, but lately has been off the charts in the meeting territory, which is also driving me insane….).
- Had a packed full evening, too, during which I basically functioned as an actual taxi (or Uber driver, I guess, these days).
It went like this: Pick up E from bus at 3:30, to piano by 3:45. Went home in between to finish some work. Back to pick up E at 4:30. Drop E off at home. Drive to school, pick up A and neighbor from CC practice at 5:00. Drop her off. Home. Quick feed boys snacks/light dinner/ quiz E on flashcards for a test today. A ready for 1st swim practice of new season, sent him off with carpool by 5:45 while E and I left at same time for soccer carpool (my turn to drive!). Pick up 3 boys, drive out to other town ~15-20 minutes away for 6:30 practice (arrived by 6:15). Had time to kill….Bright spot in the day= treated myself to some Culver’s french fries, because, why not (spoiler- already failed at my challenge…restarting today….). Home from soccer by 8:15 or so…reviewed A’s math HW while Ivan was busy with the cousins/ brother (packing to leave today). House felt chaotic and in some disarray. Argument with E over weekday screen time policy.
- ALSO was crabby all afternoon because the swim practice schedule unexpectedly changed last minute yesterday for Wednesdays, which screws up my carefully crafted fall schedule, in which everything was going to fit in perfectly. ARGH. Super annoyed. So we now have a piano/swim conflict that I was not planning on, yet I can do nothing about it at this point.
So, yeah! It just was a day. Nothing bad bad. We are all healthy, blessed, etc etc….yeah yeah. 😉
I also knew in advance that on days when I have to drive carpool + the kids are double booked (i.e. TUESDAYS), it might not be pretty. Fortunately, Tuesday is not everyday, and I think our schedule is much more reasonable all the other days. (And, I don’t even drive carpool every Tuesday.)
Coming off the long weekend + house guests though just really didn’t do me any favors, either.
THANKS FOR LISTENING!!!! 😄😄😄
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for Google Calendar. I’m typically an “on paper” planner, but use Google Cal too- and it has been especially amazing for keeping track of different carpools (yay color coding).
GRATEFUL KAE 
Oh honey. Re: Social media, have I told you about Amy Pohler saying in her memoir “Good for you, but not for me?” It was in regards to Maya Rudolph having 5 kids naturally and AP having trouble breastfeeding one, and finally she said, “Good for you but not for me.” My version is “Different house, different rules.” Once you get to that point, you can appreciate the highlight reel of people’s highs. They have to pay for someone to clean that house, etc.
I am in a huge 13 year old “give me some freedom” phase of letting go. OOO it stung my pride. For now Isaac and the dog provide solice.
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Yep, that’s a good one!! And though she’s not a really close friend at all, she seems like a real sweetheart, so I really am happy for her and her nice life! I just can’t afford a house like that 🙂 Would I really even want that?? Who knows, maybe not. As you say, it’s hard enough to clean mine! And I certainly wouldn’t want that size mortgage, or probably her taxes. But hers sure is pretty, so sometimes there’s just a little part of me that wishes I could find out. hahaha!
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Over-the-top kid birthday parties honestly kind of make me roll my eyes. Because it’s really not about the kid, it’s about the parents, IMO. The child will not remember that 1st birthday or the 2nd or probably even the 3rd. So I have put very little effort into our kids’ parties. Paul really has only had 1 and that was his first birthday party and it was so low key. And? He was miserable from shots and hated all the attention so we won’t be doing much for Will’s in December. But I understand how it can be easy to play the comparison game. Just think of all the house that couple has to clean or has to pay someone to clean. That’s my first thought when I see huge houses! As the previous commenter said, ‘good for you, not for me.’
But all in all that was a very bad and very hectic day. Today is sort of like your yesterday. Paul was up crying for me 4 times last night and we can’t let him cry because he will wake the baby, even with them both having sound machines. And then Will was up for the day at 5:30. I had to wake Paul up at 6;20 and it took until around 7 to get him downstairs because he had a tantrum mid-way through getting dressed. I eventually gave up and had Phil take over so I could shower since I had a meeting at 8:30. But he was still crying/screaming in his crib when I got out of the shower so Phil had no luck getting him to calm down. So we didn’t leave the house until 7:30, whereas normally we leave right around 7. We are taking a course on emotional regulation/tantrums but the hardest part is how unpredictable they are. Yesterday morning was great. Today? Total disaster. And then they started to resurface the street in our neighborhood. I thought it would start after we left for school but nope. They started about 15 minutes before we left. So I had to drive in reverse half way down our block (and driving in reverse is NOT my forte) because they had started the resurfacing process on the street I turn on to get to school.
So yah. Horrible morning. The day is better, sort of, but it’s hard to rebound from such an awful morning. I did just squeeze in a quick morning meltdown workout at 1:30pm. I considered just taking the day off from working out but knew I’d feel better after working out. And I do. It was a good lower body workout. I’m liking the MM program!
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Oh man, sorry you had a craptastic day too! haha! Good luck with Paul… I bet that class will be super interesting! That can really be a tough age for some kids, and he seems like a sensitive one, so maybe that’s part of it. I’m glad you like MM! Way to go on fitting the workout in. Are you doing the Revibe/ stretching workouts too? I really enjoyed those. I am not big on yoga or any of that, but the MM revibe and flow workouts are short and just felt good I thought. I liked being “forced”, kind of, to incorporate those into my schedule, since I’m not the best at doing stretching otherwise.
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I am doing the MM revibe workouts! I have only done 1 so far but I really liked it. It worked out perfectly last week as the revibe workout was the workout for Friday, which is the day before my long run. I’m going to end up doing a revibe workout tomorrow again, even though the next workout is an MMA workout. It will be nice when I am done training for the 10 mile race and can focus a bit more on the MM program! I am enjoying running, but I’m ready to switch things up and focus more on strength!
You are right about Paul being more sensitive so I think the tantrums/behaviors are more volatile than they would be otherwise. I am sure adjusting to the big brother role is part of the issue, too, as he has made a lot of references to being a baby lately like, “mommy you are the mommy giraffe and I am the baby giraffe” when we read a book that has giraffes in it. So I think he is really wanting to have baby status right now since he probably senses that Will gets a lot of attention from us.
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it sounds like one of those days that accumulate bad staff one after the other, none super bad but the accumulation of them could send us to bad mood.
you are still in good attitude though.. 🙂
and the social media on the work… you made me laugh.
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Ahh, the social media comparison trap! I feel you! My daughter is 7.5 months and many of my friends have children around the same age. At time I can’t help but think, why is her kid crawling and my daughter is not? Baby led weaning vs. traditional puree baby foods. Just never ending! I often remind myself that social media is a highlight reel!!!
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Thanks for this post. I giggled while reading bc I have these same thoughts and/or days. 😀😀😀
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