Birthday Dilemma

So during the period that I was absent from my blog, my son celebrated his 4th birthday.  Of course, on the other side of the scale, was the marketing summit that was being put on by my clients at work - a week long intensive of meetings, break out sessions, lunches, dinners etc.  What to do? Attend the dine-a-round dinner or skip out for the birthday celebration.  

I finally made peace with the fact that although the summit was conveniently located in my home city (this time), if it was in another city, birthday or not, I would have missed the festivities. Instead I focused on the reality that Prince did not know exactly which "day" of the week was his birthday -- so we sang happy birthday the night before then celebrated in fine style at his party the following Saturday.

Sometimes being a working mom means you will miss precious moments.  But increasingly, I am realizing that the key to my sanity is making choices that are practical with the understanding that I cannot be everywhere, all the time and I will never make everyone in my life happy.  So if my son is too young to realize that we celebrate his birthday on a day that isn't his birthday, then the world won't stop if I "miss" his birthday... especially if I make up for it by giving him personal neighborhood train rides at his party :-)

Girls Day Out

So Princess recently joined this after school activity - "Go Girls Go".  A phenomenal program introduced by her PE teacher to get the 3-6th grade girls bonding and focusing on healthy attitudes.   A part of this program involves a few Saturday excursions with girls and their moms.  Today was the first - a hike through Rock Creek Park.  Not sure why I was under the impression that this would be a leisurely stroll through the park, inhaling fresh air and observing the fall leaves.  Instead, it's a power walk through the trail - up hill, down hill, around hill.  The moral of the story - when a PE teacher is leading a hike, it is meant to be heart rate increasing exercise.  It is now 9:40 and I still have not recovered - mild throbbing pain in my head coupled with aching joints.  Girls Day Out has certainly lead to Mom's night in as Princess is off at a sleep over with her girls.  On the bright side, Prince is neatly tucked away in bed (as not to be undone, he had a friend sleep over tonight too)! All's well that ends well.  Now for a martini and a good night's rest.

Memorable Moments

Last night I decided that I would start my re-entry to the blogging world by sharing daily "memorable moments".  Little things that happened over the past few months that are worth sharing.  In true Murphy's law fashion, the process created another memorable moment of its own. While drafting my note, hubby comes in to inform me that I "forgot" to pay a bill.  I retort indignantly that I did no such thing and direct him to my folder of "paid" bills.  Sure enough, the bill is hiding in the bottom of my folder (unnoticed and unpaid).  In the mayhem that ensues, Prince starts jumping all over, I'm trying to figure out what happened, and my entire post gets deleted, thereby shutting down my Memorable Moments effort.  I've decided this is a temporary setback and hope to share some noteworthy moments over the next few days. Stay tuned.

Change is in!

What a summer it's been!  Got a new job - this explains the fact that I haven't updated my blog basically since I accepted that job.  It's kind of weird, I feel like I'm in this state of suspended animation - I haven't worked out or blogged since. I have this feeling that this change has added a huge weight on the scale, and I've been operating with this fear, that the slightest thing might tip the scale in the wrong direction.  So I've dropped a few non-essentials and tried to focus on big picture things.  I'm carefully trying to balance all the natural stressers that go along with a new job, while incorporating all the essential fall activities - kids back at school, parent volunteer activities, required school events, kid's birthdays and of course, extra-curricular activities.  

So to go along with the new job, I'm focusing on having a new attitude.  These are my new rules: Simplify. I've embraced the reality that each child does not need to do 5 activities to be well rounded.  Princess is now doing two activities only (gymnastics and piano) and Prince is doing one (swimming).  The nice thing about having a big spread between the kids is that you can cut yourself some slack.  Princess only started taking piano lessons seriously last year and she's excelling.  So now I know I need not spend thousands (literally) of dollars taking Prince to music classes between the ages of 3-6. Embrace.  Embrace the imbalance and especially the tough moments.  So instead of getting frustrated with the significant parental involvement that homework necessitated last year, I've decided that I'm going to view this as an opportunity to keep learning.  I'm learning new ways to do math and new facts about US history (which I never studies as a kid since I did not grow up in the US).  

Here's the punch line - now that I've embraced the need to help with homework, Princess has taken another one of those turns - she doesn't seem to need my help anymore.  Not sure how long this will last ... but it sure feels good and it is a reminder that change is inevitable.  Even as I typed this blog, Prince started screaming because he wanted to look at the Power Puff girls on my iphone, but for some reason it wouldn't work.  I just kept typing - said a few calm words to him - and kept typing.  Then remarkably, the crying stopped. I've finished my post and I'm reminded  - change is inevitable - no condition in life is permanent ... not even a crying baby (that would be my now four year old son)!