“Make it work” has kind of been a theme for our household for a while now. Between sick kids, some rough patches at work, a hectic schedule and the general ups and downs of family life, some days I feel like we are doing all we can to make it work.
This week has been a pretty good one. We have successfully made it work despite some bumps in the road. We went to church on Sunday, then out to lunch at Einstein’s. The boys made a trip to Academy to get some equipment to start preparing for t-ball, which starts in just a couple of weeks. While they were gone, I got the urge to take some pictures. Nola was my model as usual and despite the fact that she wasn’t very interested in the idea, I managed to get some pretty good shots, including this one:
Wednesday was by far the hardest day of the week for me. Rudy had class, so I picked the kids up at daycare with full intentions of spending the evening at church. I had talked to our children’s ministry director about starting a playgroup on Wednesday nights and this week was supposed to be the first night. Nola and I were there, but nobody else showed up. I sent Caleb to the 4 year old class and then sat in the room with Nola for 45 minutes but nobody else came. I was disappointed, but realized that the announcement had only gone out earlier that week and maybe other people couldn’t come on such short notice. After that, I picked up Caleb and got ready for dinner at church before the Ash Wednesday service. I managed to get a highchair to our table while carrying Nola and guiding Caleb through the crowd. Once our stuff was settled, I maneuvered through the buffet line to get baked potatoes for myself and Nola and chicken nuggets for Caleb. We sat down and I got Caleb started eating while I cut up food for a very impatient and hungry Nola. I had forgotten to bring a bag for her, so we were without a bib, a sippy cup or any extra diapers. I managed to feed her bits of food to keep her occupied, but realized that I was becoming more and more stressed with every passing minute. It was just too hard to manage feeding both of them and myself from a baked potato bar. I finally gave up and as I was gathering our things and picking up the mess that Nola had made on the floor, she began to cry. By the time I got her out of there, she was in full meltdown. People were staring at me, but nobody offered to help. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I made the difficult decision to throw in the towel and skip the Ash Wednesday service. I had really wanted to go to that and share that experience with Caleb, but there was just no way. I needed to get home. I drove home with tears in my eyes, feeling frustrated and disheartened that I hadn’t been able to “make it work.”
On Thursday, I made it to work and realized that I had forgotten my workout pants. I ran to WalMart at lunch and bought a pair of pants and some other things that I needed and then went back to work. After work, I went into the bathroom to change clothes. Once I was fully dressed, I realized that I had also forgotten my shoes. I was bound and determined not to skip my workout, so I went (in my socks) to the Shoe Dept and bought some new shoes. I met Leola for our workout and we tried 3 different rooms before we could find a place where our DVDs would work. We were rocking and rolling along for about 30 minutes when I realized that my toes were quickly going numb. The new shoes were not working for me. We stopped our workout a little early and when I got ready to leave, I realized I didn’t have my keys. I retraced my steps and found my keys in the first room that we had tried. By that time, I needed to get to church for my board meeting. The meeting was short and sweet as usual and then I came home at 7:00 – 12 hours after I left – understanding a little better what my ADHD students must feel like every day.
Friday afternoon, I went to the Rhea Lana consignment sale with Stacy and got some great clothes for Nola at a good price. Then I ran in Hobby Lobby to get the supplies to make Caleb’s birthday invitations before picking the kids up from daycare. I fed both of them pancakes for supper, we took a walk around the neighborhood and then I put Nola to bed. Caleb and I snuggled in my bed watching a movie and then went to sleep before Rudy got home from his work obligation.
We didn’t have much to do today until our pictures for the church directory late this afternoon. We got all dressed up and the kids did great while we took the pictures. Unfortunately, they didn’t turn out good at all. We had trouble even choosing one that we weren’t embarrassed to put in the directory. We certainly didn’t buy any of them, which was a disappointment, since we haven’t had family pictures taken since Caleb was a baby. After our pictures, we decided to go out to eat. Rudy suggested Shogun because he thought Caleb would like watching the guy cook our food and do all of that crazy stuff they do while they cook. It was a mild disaster. Caleb didn’t like the food. Nola made a royal mess between trying to eat noodles with her hands and spitting out everything else. Rudy and I spent all of our time taking care of the two of them and barely tasted our food. We couldn’t wait to get home.
Tomorrow, I’m taking Caleb to meet Mom and Mr. L. for his week in Hot Springs. He’s staying with them while Rudy has meetings 3 nights this week and class on the only remaining night. We’ll meet them again on Friday or Saturday to get him back. Spring Break starts on Friday at 2:45. Hallelujah!
And so we Make It Work…and Carry On.
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