I grossly under-estimated the complexity and intensity of this week.
I could not anticipate the difficulty Elli would have in sleeping, and thusly the difficulty I would have in sleeping.
The faulty data combined with the unexpected sleep deprivation resulted in me vastly over-committing myself.
Many months ago, my boss informed my fellow co-chair and I that we'd been invited to present to a sub-committee of the hospital's Board of Directors. I marked the meeting on my planner: 7am on Friday, October 6.
Every year Scott's employer holds their annual shareholder meeting on the second Tuesday of October. For the week (and sometimes the weekend) before that meeting, he is pretty much on call 24/7 as all the executives prepare their presentations and the marketing people get print and poster materials ready.
Neither of us realized that these two events would dovetail until, oh, Monday of this week.
I had planned on Scott being home Friday morning to do breakfast with the kids and get Elli on the school bus. I also planned on him being available on Thursday afternoon, as usual, to watch the kids while I went in for my usual work shift.
Every day this week, the plan for Thursday and Friday changed. I have been scrambling to accommodate these rapid changes all week. I switched my hours on Thursday, going in during the morning instead of in the afternoon. I tried to find backup childcare for the kids if Scott couldn't be home at all. I did find someone to watch the kids Friday morning, but this morning, half an hour before she was to arrive, I called to change the time she came and to ask her to take Sam to preschool for me.
Sunday, Monday, and Thursday nights Elli woke up between 2 and 3am and never went back to sleep. Thus, I didn't get much sleep, even though I tried. Yes, this morning I presented to the CEO, Chairman of the Board, and top executives and administrators of our hospital on approximately 2 hours of sleep.
Then there's the little project I volunteered for a few weeks ago. And the other project I insisted on doing this Sunday afternoon, despite everyone else's protests that I had too much on my plate already. I should have listened, as usual.
Our church is hosting a quarterly ladies' brunch this Saturday. I am in charge of decorations. I had planned to decorate the tables Thursday evening after work. When Scott had to work late, I decided to just take the kids. But then the second project I took on, plus the crazy work schedule, plus the kids overall crankiness and Elli's inability to tolerate anything out of the norm in the evening, all convinced me to bail. So the other women on the planning committee did my work for me.
That other project? A simple little booklet of tips, holiday traditions, recipes. I pictured something about 5 pages long.
The booklet is 25 pages long. I worked on it into the wee hours of the morning Wednesday and Thursday (yes, Thursday -- I went to bed at 12:30am and Elli woke me at 2:45am) and every spare moment of every day this week.
When I was in college, I could have totally pulled this off by myself. The relentless, unforgiving nature of motherhood has significantly changed that. I am forever in Scott's debt for bailing me out as much as he was able this week, despite his crazy work week. And the women from church who have helped me manage the stuff I volunteered for -- you guys are awesome!
I'm going to bed now. Hopefully a 2-hour nap will fuel me up enough to finish the decorations and booklets, bake a coffee cake for tomorrow, and get the kids dinner and to bed since Scott will probably be working late again tonight.
zzzzzzzz....
