Wednesday, April 27, 2011

After a long, sad good-bye to our dear Taylor ("Taya" as she will forever be known), we were headed to Knoxville for the long Easter weekend. Nate and I took the day off on Friday since Corporate America doesn't recognize anything related to Jesus, and gave ourselves a three-day weekend. We were looking forward to celebrating Buddy's birthday (27, wow!!) and some time with Pa-Mimi at their place rather than at ours. It was such a fun weekend full of fun, laughter, good food, and lots of fun memories.

We spent Friday at the mall, where Aiden was finally able to ride the much anticipated West Town Mall Train. He'd been talking about it since Christmas, where he feared for his life every second he was on it. No one really knew if he was going to ride it with a smile or with tears, but we were all hoping for the best. And the best it was, he LOVED the train, Teagan did too. It was fun. We got to say hi to the Easter bunny, from a distance of course, as we were not about to go anywhere close to him other than waving "hi!" Quite a funny boy, that Aiden. We went for a run in the park that afternoon and then played outside after naptime before Nate and I got to go on our date night.





Saturday, April 9, 2011

While I didn't get any jokes played on me the week of April Fool's, the week after I found myself asking, "It is still April Fool's Day?" I had the most awful week on every level last week - as a mom, as an employee, as a parent, and just as me!  I don't even know where to begin, I guess just in order... but I will say I'm glad it's over and I'm hoping for a bright spot in the week to come.

As a Mom, I had my first "Mama Bear" moment or whatever you want to call it. While I've experienced times of protection in the past, with Aiden in particular, I haven't really ever felt violated as a mother before. It was a challenging situation to deal with on multiple levels, but emotionally being the most pronounced. Guess a lesson learned on many counts, but most importantly, to not feel guilty for ever coming to your child's rescue regardless of who you might offend in the process. That said, I'm glad I had the moment and I'm also glad it's over!

Work was one extreme level after another. I had zero free time, I was working insane hours, and then trying to be a good mom after I got done was nearly impossible. Early morning conference calls, late afternoon emergencies, zero time for lunch, runs, or even just quick hugs from my kids. I hate weeks like that. Though we all have them, I just hate them.

To make matters worse, our nanny, Taylor told us she'd been offered an internship in the Metro schools to do ESL which is what she'll be going to Graduate school in the fall to pursue. We LOVE "Taya" as Aiden calls her and I'm not sure what I'll do without her, much less when I'll find time for a nanny search amidst the craziness that is now. She's been such a great person for the kids to have in their lives. She is clean, attentive, patient, loving, and personal, plus she runs and it gives us such a fun thing to talk about besides "work" that is kids and life. I know she will be great at her new job and while I hate to lose her, I am very happy for her new opportunity to pursue her career for her family. It is a hard thing as a parent to think about all the items that go into who will care for your children. The fact that I am home with them does make it better, but still, you invite someone into your home, you ask them to care for your kids, help you manage your house, and be a partner with you in raising the two of them and it's just not an easy thing to accomplish. And trust, man, it's huge. It takes so much time for me even to feel comfortable leaving the house with someone new. I didn't leave for two weeks the last time we had someone start. I am not looking forward to that again. But life must go on.

All these things made for one crazy week, one I am glad that's over! But so much more to come in the next few. Just praying for these loose ends to get tied up, for space to be created with my work, and for a little balance. Here's hoping it was just the April Fool's Day curse that hit me this week!