On Wednesday I joined Charlotte on her first school field trip. I feel fairly strongly that there is no need for field trips at this age, especially when there is a requirement for a parent to come along if your child isn’t yet potty trained (which is the case for us). Wouldn’t it be easier for everyone involved to just wait a bit and start field trips in the next classroom?
We went to the Galveston Children’s Museum and I rode the bus with them. On the way back, the kids are theoretically supposed to nap so the photo above is Charlotte “sleeping.” You can see how well that went — she didn’t end up napping at all and had a complete meltdown later that evening out of sheer exhaustion.
Nonetheless, we did have a fun time during the hours at the museum. It was nice to spend some time with Charlotte one-on-one. Annnnnd I’m glad she won’t have any more field trips until the fall.
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Emma only has 2.5 more days of kindergarten next week, which is kind of blowing my mind. There has been a lot to keep up with this year — and I will withhold a rant about the explosion of “end of school” activities — but we have all been excited to see her wrap up a really great year. I’ve been so pleased with her school and with her teacher, and Emma has been very comfortable and happy there.
Yesterday I came home for lunch and noticed a ton of kids at the neighborhood pool. This seemed odd since school isn’t out yet, but upon closer investigation I realized that it was the 5th grade class from Emma’s school having a graduation celebration before they head to middle school. It made me feel really good about the close relationship between our school and our neighborhood, and I’m excited for all the years to come as Emma continues and Charlotte eventually joins her there.
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The last part of May is always a bit crazy, but there are plenty of things to celebrate too. We celebrated Jose’s birthday on Tuesday, and our 9th anniversary on Wednesday. (Yes, we got married the day after his birthday and yes, he was ok with that.) Last Saturday Jose and I left the girls with a babysitter and took a picnic dinner to Miller Outdoor Theater to see The Barber of Seville. This is the 3rd or 4th time we’ve done this — every year, there are a string of free performances from the Houston Grand Opera and other performing arts orgs through the spring and summer — and it’s always such a nice thing to sit on the lawn and enjoy a great show.
At one point, I happened to look up and see a bright dot crossing the sky directly over the theater roof. I watched it for a moment — very bright, moving steadily, not blinking, not too long after sunset — and quickly realized that it was the space station! I’ve seen it enough that it’s very recognizable to me, but I still looked it up to confirm that yep, it was indeed the ISS. How cool is that? It was a fun moment in an already fun night.
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I had a rough day at work yesterday — just dealing with a couple difficult people, and I tend to take that too personally. It led to a bit of a meltdown of my own last night. I’ve been saying quite a bit lately that I feel overwhelmed and burnt out, but figuring out what to do about it has been much harder. Everyone says to just let things go — but which things?
I could stop sewing (and I haven’t done much at all in the last few weeks outside of 10 minutes a day for my 100 day project), but sewing is fun. I could stop working out, but that’s detrimental to my overall health. I could just not do all the school stuff, but then Emma is the one who suffers — and yes, she notices.
I could just not do laundry or dishes, and that might fly for a day or two, but the downside after that is obvious. Jose and I could have stayed home on Saturday night instead of adding a date night to our calendars, but that would suck. Various things at work have also been wearing on me quite a bit, but quitting my job would clearly be an overreaction.
I feel like I’m already turning down most of the things I’m able to turn down. Jose says that I always have something to do, that I am like my mom in that regard, and I know this is true. But it also feels very much like the reason I always have something to do…is because there is always something that needs to be done! There is so much day-to-day stuff — the “remember this” and “we need this” and “what about this”.
I know “this is just a season” and all that. But right now I just feel SO. VERY. FRIED.
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It seems sad to leave this post on such a downer, so I will say that I absolutely recognize that overall, my life is very, very good. I have faith that these stresses will not be here forever. I’m just hoping I can feel like things are under control sooner rather than later.
Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl says
We got married the day after my husband’s birthday, too (and he was good with it). It was actually probably the best birthday he ever had as everyone was there for the rehearsal dinner on December 26th (his birthday) and it was really a lot of fun making sure we celebrated HIM for one year on his actual birthday.
I know what you mean about so much going on and not knowing what to stop or let go of. The one thing about life is that it has a way of filling up even when we try to relax and do nothing, and I think that knowing that things like sewing/quilting and exercise are big parts of your overall health will help a lot in the long run. It still sucks when you can’t do as much of something you enjoy as you want, though, no doubt.
Gretchen says
I can definitely relate to the feeling of perpetually not having enough time, and I too have done plenty of introspection about that. I hesitantly listened to a recent podcast of Best of Both Worlds (Laura Vanderkam and Sarah Hart Unger) on the topic of challenging times and I did find it to be helpful. (I say hesitantly because often their solution is to hire out – get a nanny, housekeeper, person to shuttle the kids around – which is not a feasible option at our income level.) The takeaway for me is to consider efficiency. For example, doing a workout at home instead of going to the gym.
As a parent of older kids (ages 15 and 12) I will tell you what you already know – it DOES get easier. They do their own laundry, wash the dishes, rarely need help with homework, and I am so thankful. But I still wish I could either survive on less sleep or get an extra hour (or two) each day. Or maybe quit my job.
Sarah says
I listen to Best of Both Worlds too and heard that episode. I agree with you that their solutions don’t always seem feasible, because they both seem highly dependent on their nannies, and at least one of them has some local family as well. I think they generally recognize their advantages, and I don’t think it’s necessarily their responsibility to try to cover every possible situation on their podcast — they can only really speak from what they know. But yeah I hear you. Even though my husband and I do have the income level to support a nanny if we wanted to make that a priority, there are downsides to nannies as well…and we really are happy with our current childcare setup.
(Side note — while I do like their podcast, I also listen hesitantly because the general tone is usually “how to do more, how to be more efficient, how to plan better.” I am very susceptible to getting swept up by that train of thought, when what I really often need is something of the “how to slow down, how to stress less, how to NOT have to plan every detail” variety.)
In my household, I think we need to do a better job of dividing and conquering. I’ve actually noticed an improvement with this in the last 6 months or so, and I think we will continue to get better at it as the girls (especially Charlotte) get older and are more self-sufficient, which will make solo parenting (while the other parent takes care of to-do list items or gets some “me time”) feel less burdensome. I also think we need to make more frequent use of babysitters, even if it’s just to let Jose and I to get stuff done around the house or run errands.
There’s also an argument to be made that I just need to lower my expectations. But that is proving to be difficult. Do you listen to the Happier podcast? I relate very strongly to Gretchen Rubin’s “outer order, inner calm” mantra, and it feels difficult to overcome the stress that results from outer disarray sometimes!