Ok, so I did it again. I overbooked and overstretched myself. But this time I think I went beyond my limits. I'm still here, so that's good news; but my children have suffered - poor guys :(
Lathan eating calamari at a Mongolian BBQ place in Ann ArborMonday was typical in that I taught my normal swim lessons at our gym then continued along as normal (to put things in a little more perspective, Monday tends to be my "busy" day because of teaching). I totally spaced when it came to my JC Penney portrait appt for J's 6 mo. birthday, which was supposed to be at 6pm.
Boys hanging out at the Cider Mill last weekendTuesday I realized I forgot the appt. and called in to reschedule. I was lucky because someone cancelled and a 7pm was open. Now Tuesdays is normally our night as a family to swim because Dave is normally moonlighting. It sort of worked out in my favor because I wanted J to have his portraits taken BEFORE his shots on Wed, but I promised swimming to the boys on Tuesday. Tuesday morning was the time the new garage was to be installed. I called the sketchy salesman and he didn't seem to be aware of that. He said he could get it in on Wed or Thurs afternoon, but I had plans and couldn't swing it. So it was delayed until Saturday. Tuesday afternoon Kaelan didn't make it to the toilet, which then gave me permission to say that swimming was out and pictures in. In the morning, after dropping off Lathan at school, we went to a ward member's house to pick apples from her apple tree for my Stake Activity on Saturday. The plan was to make a whole lot of caramel apples as the party favor. 200 or so apples later, we left to pick Lathan back up. The boys were spent after our day.
The boys sharing J's "manta" (blankie)Wednesday we went for Kaelan's 2 1/2-year appt and J's 6 mo. appt. J is huge according to the scale. His weight is a pound less than Lathan's at the same age, but J's height is greater. J is 21.75 lbs. and 30.5 inches long. Head circumference is 18 in. (I think she said that, but she didn't give me a stats sheet this time). He is WAY off the charts for height (I'm SO PROUD, being vertically challenged myself). To think that he came through me! Kaelan is 28 lbs, I think and I can't remember his height. He, on the other hand, gets his size after me. They both received shots and J surprisingly didn't cry for one of them (he received two, Kaelan only received one). I had my YW's activity to attend that night and then I called it a day. The poor kids have been with only one parent for the past few weeks it seems.
Thursday a new outdoor mall opened next to our house and they had a lot of activities going on, including a free breakfast for the 1st 2000 people, starting at 8:30am. I figured that since I drop off Lathan at 8:30, I would swing by for the fun. Fun it was not. It was raining significantly, and apparently people were waiting overnight for the opening (these people need to refocus their lives) so there was nothing for breakfast. The kids were in a double stroller, so as hard as I tried, my huge golfing umbrella couldn't consistently reach baby J in his seat. He was pretty wet by the time we returned to the car. I ran many errands after that for Saturday's activity since I was out already. I spent nap time finding cheap prizes online for our carnival theme (with great success). That night was a leadership mtg from the Stake for YW. I was very late since Dave didn't get home until 7pm.
David posing with his pink pride. Apparently the hospital staff was finding great humor in his display. Props to Dave
Friday was Dave's bday and I didn't have anything special planned except for some friends from up north were coming down to eat sushi with us at home. I didn't even have a cake (everyone has been neglected by me this month). I realized, or remembered rather, that we had a court appt with small claims at 1pm for money we were owed by a car dealership. We settled out of court about a month ago, but I forgot to drop off the written explanation that we were cancelling our suit until that morning (I wanted to be sure the check cleared and I never was in that part of town - 40 minutes away - to do the cancellation), so time just slipped away. I freaked out and had Dave come out of the hospital to give me a note. I dropped it off, then went to pick up the toys after I got Lathan. My YW secretary came with me, so she helped me with the kids a ton. We went to Costco to pick up the remainder of the refreshments, then headed home at about 3pm. The kids had a late lunch, then I remembered we had gymnastics and had to leave in 15 min. I considered not going and making it up next week, but I didn't want to add to my confusion. Poor J and K... they were in their carseats for 6 hours already before heading out to gymnastics 30 min away. On our way into the gymnasium, Lathan took a good spill on the cement and was having a breakdown over it and didn't want to do gymnastics. I understood and tried to calm him down, but in my heart I was thinking that we made such an effort to get there with miserably tired babies only to cancel? No, this was not an option anymore. I sat there and said that if he couldn't pull it together, he would not celebrate Dad's bday with us and his favorite friends from out of town - he would just go straight to bed (I know, I'm awful - he was so tired, though). He was so big. He pulled it together after getting a bandage and really had a good time in class. There was only one other student there that day. Dave's bday was so mellow, but really nice to have friends we love celebrate the occasion to make it that much more special. I went and bought a cookies n' cream cake on the way back from picking up the sushi. They all seemed to enjoy it. I hopefully will get another chance to do something special next weekend, when Dave's not working.
Saturday and today Dave is working. So we are apart most of the time lately. Yesterday was my big activity day. I had the morning to make 80 caramel apples. One of my counselors was there to help. It actually went rather fast once the caramel was ready. The caramel took its sweet time to cook, though. The children took that opportunity to get into everything and become very distracting throughout the whole process. A few bumps and hurt feelings, but thankfully no blood. They were completely neglected the entire 1st half of the day. They were on their own for bathroom, food, entertainment - everything. The house was so chaotic. We all survived, drove the boys to another counselor's house, so her husband could watch the older two, and then continued on to the Stake Ctr 35 min away. Once setup was finished, things went smoothly, although I have this one Young Woman's advisor that is like a tornado. She goes through things with such passion and intensity that by the time you're done with her you hardly know what hit you. And that's my take. I generally am a tornado of my own. Anyway, she totally took over (I'm not ever offended by such things) and things unfolded in sort of a different direction than I was anticipating. Nothing huge, I was just bugged a little bit. The kids had fun and so did we, so we were happy. We had a huge turnout and none of the youth left (I was told that is a BIG deal for our stake), so we rocked in other words. Great success, now I can collapse.
Today is not much easier since Dave is working. So I really wanted to stay home from church. I didn't, of course. I just wanted to. Now we are all home and chaos still feels present because now the remains of my tornado are evident in every part of the house. Laundry, although clean is in total disarray. Dishes are everywhere. Family on the fritz. Babies overtired. Exhaustion overbearing. Life is good.
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