Weekends are busy around our house. Both KJ and Sweet Pea take gymnastic classes and KJ attends some sort of hockey lesson most Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Split between two parents, this should be a do-able schedule. But the classes aren't really splitable - Sweet Pea's gymnastics class is a parent-tot class, and each and every one of KJ's hockey lessons has some parental component. And since Husband can't skate, that means I have to be at and participate in each and every one of these lessons. Normally, this isn't a problem. I like spending time with the kids and I consider the parent-tot classes an opportunity to have some special one-on-one time with each kid. Soon enough they won't want anything to do with me, so I try to treasure these times. But it makes my weekend busy. I pretty much rush from place to place, squeezing in grocery shopping and laundry between classes.
This last weekend was particularly difficult. On top of all of the regular classes and errands that fill up our weekends, I also needed to work. I tried to do as much work as possible while the kids were sleeping, but that meant I worked until the wee hours of both Friday and Saturday mornings. By the time the kids woke up on Saturday morning, I had only a couple hours of sleep over the course of a few days. I muscled through, going to the kids' gymnastics lessons and buying a week's worth of groceries "on the way" home. We then rushed around, Husband helping the kids eat lunch while I put away the groceries and collected KJ's hockey gear, all while constantly reminding KJ to focus on eating because we were leaving in ten minutes whether he was ready or not. And then, in the midst of all this madness, the phone rings. It was my dad.
Initially, I was irritated. My dad knew that KJ had hockey in 10 minutes, and he knew that we were always rushed for time between gymnastics and hockey. We usually have just over an hour between the two classes. When you try to squeeze errands and lunch for two toddlers into an hour, there isn't much time for anything else. But I'm so glad I answered the phone. My dad was calling to see if he could take KJ to hockey.
My dad's offer was exactly what I needed on Saturday. He didn't know anything about the week I had or how much I had been working. He didn't know that I was feeling overwhelmed with everything I had to do that day. My dad just knew that he had a free hour and if he took KJ to hockey, then he could have some special one-on-one time with his grandson. But for me, my dad's offer meant an hour break. One whole hour I could have to myself. So, I took him up on it.
I won't lie and say that I didn't feel guilty as my dad and KJ walked to the van to go to their lesson. I felt like I should have been the one going with KJ, that I was somehow letting him down. But as they walked to the van, I heard KJ say, "Papa, I missed you yesterday." And with that I knew that everything was fine. I wasn't being selfish by taking a nap instead of going to hockey, I was allowing for a special bonding moment between grandfather and grandson. It was one of those rare opportunities where what everyone wanted/needed lined up. KJ and Papa got their special time together and I got a nap. There's no reason to feel guilty about that.
Karen
Showing posts with label tired. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tired. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
I'm Tired
I wanted to come up with something witty or interesting to talk about in today’s blog….but I don’t have the energy.
So all I can tell you today is…I’m tired.
Since the beginning of the year I have been on a mission to improve my billable hours. I’m trying to “fit in” amongst my partners, partners who while I leave at 4:30 every day to pick up my kids, are working until 6 or 7. I want to show them that yes, I have chosen to always put my family first no matter what cost, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to hold my own in our firm.
But the problem is, just as determined as I am to prove myself at work, I am even more determined to be an excellent mother and wife. Because of this I have had to work nearly every night since the beginning of the year. After I put my kids to bed I sit down and work until midnight or 1:00 a.m. and then head off to sleep for a few hours.
Working hard is nothing new to me, so yes I have been tired before, but my circumstances now make being tired much harder. I remember the days in law school before finals. Sure I would have to pull all- nighters to study for my tests, but after I turned in my test I’d head for my apartment, climb under my blanket, and sleep till Tuesday. I laugh now thinking that getting up early on the weekends meant getting up at 10. Now Saturday mornings start with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at 7:00 a.m., and by 10 we’ve already been to the Children’s Museum for two hours and are heading to do something else fun.
As a Mom, we are not given the luxury of being tired. When I come home from work, I am drained from a hard day and the drama that goes along with a law firm. But when I come in instead of meeting my pillow, I meet 2 kids at the door jumping up and down and one baby squealing, ready to see me. Three kids who expect me to share the same excitement they have that now I am home and we can play.
So I shelve my tiredness and play with my kids. Honestly, I love it so much that I really don’t notice how tired I am until after they go to bed. Then as I yawn, I pull out my work and start working.
And as most Moms know who have very young children, the problem with staying up late is that by the time we do go to bed, one of the kids is bound to get up. Luckily I am blessed that L sleeps through the night consistently, but I have had plenty of occasions of hitting the pillow only to get up a minute later with a bad dream or potty break.
Surprisingly Mondays are the day I am the most tired. This may seem backward, but my weekends are anything but relaxing. I spend my weekend doing all the things I did not have time to accomplish during the week. I think I actually run more during the weekend than I do during the week.
The problem is there really is no cure for my exhaustion. I usually try and sleep in on the weekends, but even if my husband agrees to let me sleep in, my children will find their way up to me by 7:30 a.m. I hear the sound of size 8 toddler feet running across my wood floor and hear H (my usual alarm clock) yell… “Mommy, its wake up time…look the sun is up (as he pulls up my blinds)!”. See I’m the activity planner for my children on the weekends and so they expect me to wake up with a fabulous adventure cooked up. Sleeping in apparently is not part of that adventure. My husband tells me to ignore my “alarm clocks” but how can you ignore a cute little boy saying: “Come on Mom, don’t-cha wanna eat Lucky Charms with me!”
For the most part I think I handle my crazy schedule quite well. I am a night person by nature so late nights don’t really bother me. And I’m pretty good at hiding my tiredness from the world. But every now and then I just get tired. Then, much to my dismay, I have to hang up my SuperMom cape and just accept that I am human. I hate this feeling because it’s yet another reminder that no matter how hard I try, I can’t do it all.
So, for all you tired Mommies out there…hang in there, learn to like the taste of energy drinks, and pray that our kids will quickly learn that there is nothing fun to do until about 9:00 a.m.! For me, I guess I only have 18 more years before the kids are out of the house and I can finally get some sleep. But I guess by then I’ll miss them so much I probably won’t want to sleep!
Mandi
So all I can tell you today is…I’m tired.
Since the beginning of the year I have been on a mission to improve my billable hours. I’m trying to “fit in” amongst my partners, partners who while I leave at 4:30 every day to pick up my kids, are working until 6 or 7. I want to show them that yes, I have chosen to always put my family first no matter what cost, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to hold my own in our firm.
But the problem is, just as determined as I am to prove myself at work, I am even more determined to be an excellent mother and wife. Because of this I have had to work nearly every night since the beginning of the year. After I put my kids to bed I sit down and work until midnight or 1:00 a.m. and then head off to sleep for a few hours.
Working hard is nothing new to me, so yes I have been tired before, but my circumstances now make being tired much harder. I remember the days in law school before finals. Sure I would have to pull all- nighters to study for my tests, but after I turned in my test I’d head for my apartment, climb under my blanket, and sleep till Tuesday. I laugh now thinking that getting up early on the weekends meant getting up at 10. Now Saturday mornings start with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at 7:00 a.m., and by 10 we’ve already been to the Children’s Museum for two hours and are heading to do something else fun.
As a Mom, we are not given the luxury of being tired. When I come home from work, I am drained from a hard day and the drama that goes along with a law firm. But when I come in instead of meeting my pillow, I meet 2 kids at the door jumping up and down and one baby squealing, ready to see me. Three kids who expect me to share the same excitement they have that now I am home and we can play.
So I shelve my tiredness and play with my kids. Honestly, I love it so much that I really don’t notice how tired I am until after they go to bed. Then as I yawn, I pull out my work and start working.
And as most Moms know who have very young children, the problem with staying up late is that by the time we do go to bed, one of the kids is bound to get up. Luckily I am blessed that L sleeps through the night consistently, but I have had plenty of occasions of hitting the pillow only to get up a minute later with a bad dream or potty break.
Surprisingly Mondays are the day I am the most tired. This may seem backward, but my weekends are anything but relaxing. I spend my weekend doing all the things I did not have time to accomplish during the week. I think I actually run more during the weekend than I do during the week.
The problem is there really is no cure for my exhaustion. I usually try and sleep in on the weekends, but even if my husband agrees to let me sleep in, my children will find their way up to me by 7:30 a.m. I hear the sound of size 8 toddler feet running across my wood floor and hear H (my usual alarm clock) yell… “Mommy, its wake up time…look the sun is up (as he pulls up my blinds)!”. See I’m the activity planner for my children on the weekends and so they expect me to wake up with a fabulous adventure cooked up. Sleeping in apparently is not part of that adventure. My husband tells me to ignore my “alarm clocks” but how can you ignore a cute little boy saying: “Come on Mom, don’t-cha wanna eat Lucky Charms with me!”
For the most part I think I handle my crazy schedule quite well. I am a night person by nature so late nights don’t really bother me. And I’m pretty good at hiding my tiredness from the world. But every now and then I just get tired. Then, much to my dismay, I have to hang up my SuperMom cape and just accept that I am human. I hate this feeling because it’s yet another reminder that no matter how hard I try, I can’t do it all.
So, for all you tired Mommies out there…hang in there, learn to like the taste of energy drinks, and pray that our kids will quickly learn that there is nothing fun to do until about 9:00 a.m.! For me, I guess I only have 18 more years before the kids are out of the house and I can finally get some sleep. But I guess by then I’ll miss them so much I probably won’t want to sleep!
Mandi
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Weary Working Blogger Moms and Midterm Elections
In the last week, I’ve read two separate articles speculating on who will be the “Soccer Moms” of the 2010 midterm elections. According to the Wall Street Journal (blogging about an NPR blog), the key voter group impacting the outcome will be the “weary working women” – women so tired from working and raising their families in these tough economic times that they won’t go out and vote. http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2010/10/04/the-rise-of-the-weary-working-women/
According to the Huffington Post, however, blogger mommies “hold the reins of destiny and control the future of our nation.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-wilson-keppler/mommy-bloggers-delighted-_b_740965.html
The truth is, however, (and as the Huffington Post blog suggests) that these are not two separate groups. The women who will influence the November 2010 midterm elections are the exhausted working moms who leave work early, pick up their kids at day care, bring the squirming, hungry toddlers to vote moments before the polls close and then go home and blog about it. Or, in other words, us.
There is no doubt that I am a weary working woman. I like my job and I like working, but I am SO tired. From the moment I wake up at 5:30 (ok, 5:45) I am on the go. I’m either getting myself or my kids ready to get out the door and on the way to school. And there is no room for error in our morning schedule. I take public transportation so we have to leave on time. Then, I work a day that requires me to account for my time in six-minute increments. With the pressure to bill a full eight-hour day in six-minute increments, we working moms don’t have time to peruse the internet or ponder who wore it best. I work as fast as I can as hard as I can with as few interruptions as possible. And then I go home, where I manage dinner and homework and baths and bedtime. And then, once the kids are finally in bed, I do the dishes, prepare for the next day and collapse.
But I’m also a blogger mom. I read (and now write) about working mom issues, and am at least somewhat in-tune with what’s going on in the world. And I’d like to see the government doing something – anything – to make things just a little bit easier for the working mom. Things like improving the economy. Implementing a health care plan that is better and affordable. Maybe addressing the skyrocketing cost of college.
It is precisely because I am both a weary working mom and a blogger mom that I should go out and vote. Weary working blogger moms are more than tired, stretched-too thin products of the feminist movement. We are intelligent, practical women who will be directly impacted by the results of the election and the subsequent legislation. We understand the issues and take time to consider all of the implications before adopting a position. We are the people whose voices should be heard.
And while exercising our right to vote doesn’t necessarily result in success for our particular candidate, we moms know that “we simultaneously control everything and nothing.” We may not control the state of the economy or the outcome of a particular election, but we can – and should - have a voice. We have an opportunity to demand change, and we should embrace it. We certainly can’t be too tired to ask for some help.
Karen
According to the Huffington Post, however, blogger mommies “hold the reins of destiny and control the future of our nation.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-wilson-keppler/mommy-bloggers-delighted-_b_740965.html
The truth is, however, (and as the Huffington Post blog suggests) that these are not two separate groups. The women who will influence the November 2010 midterm elections are the exhausted working moms who leave work early, pick up their kids at day care, bring the squirming, hungry toddlers to vote moments before the polls close and then go home and blog about it. Or, in other words, us.
There is no doubt that I am a weary working woman. I like my job and I like working, but I am SO tired. From the moment I wake up at 5:30 (ok, 5:45) I am on the go. I’m either getting myself or my kids ready to get out the door and on the way to school. And there is no room for error in our morning schedule. I take public transportation so we have to leave on time. Then, I work a day that requires me to account for my time in six-minute increments. With the pressure to bill a full eight-hour day in six-minute increments, we working moms don’t have time to peruse the internet or ponder who wore it best. I work as fast as I can as hard as I can with as few interruptions as possible. And then I go home, where I manage dinner and homework and baths and bedtime. And then, once the kids are finally in bed, I do the dishes, prepare for the next day and collapse.
But I’m also a blogger mom. I read (and now write) about working mom issues, and am at least somewhat in-tune with what’s going on in the world. And I’d like to see the government doing something – anything – to make things just a little bit easier for the working mom. Things like improving the economy. Implementing a health care plan that is better and affordable. Maybe addressing the skyrocketing cost of college.
It is precisely because I am both a weary working mom and a blogger mom that I should go out and vote. Weary working blogger moms are more than tired, stretched-too thin products of the feminist movement. We are intelligent, practical women who will be directly impacted by the results of the election and the subsequent legislation. We understand the issues and take time to consider all of the implications before adopting a position. We are the people whose voices should be heard.
And while exercising our right to vote doesn’t necessarily result in success for our particular candidate, we moms know that “we simultaneously control everything and nothing.” We may not control the state of the economy or the outcome of a particular election, but we can – and should - have a voice. We have an opportunity to demand change, and we should embrace it. We certainly can’t be too tired to ask for some help.
Karen
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