Battered, Beaten and Worn

It's been a rough week here, and we're all exhausted.  Why, pray tell and I blogging and not sleeping... well, we all need our therapy, don't we and it's less calories than the candy or beer I'm inclined to consume.

It all started a month or two ago when Matt told me these two weeks were bound to be crazy for him at work, as they were planning to hand over the last section of the school building he has been working on for several years to the town that owns it.  Then, things are hot for me at work also, since I've missed so much sick kid/me time, a few surprise projects and deadlines looming.  Then things really got interesting when I was invited to sit in on a set of meetings that happened to be occurring in my office - generally my boss's boss attends, so it was kind of a big deal for me to sit in on them.  Oh, and my boss, who I see at most once per year, was going to be in town.

The down side was that the meetings lasted 9 or 10 hours, two days in a row and included a dinner one of the nights, and I probably could have/should have gone out for dinner the second night.  I had to drop the kids off early 3 days in a row and Matt was on his own with them one night - bath night no less.  Complicating matters somewhat was that Norah's night wakings have returned, so we were at a little deficit when it comes to sleep.

Matt did an impressive job and all was looked after on the home front.  I learned a lot in the meetings, got to know some folks face-to-face that I've been talking to on the phone for years, and I even got a nice kudos from the big boss running the meeting (more than a couple of action items also, but that was to be expected).  Wednesday night rolled around, and it looked like we were going to make it - one more early day and then things were to return to normal.  However, that wasn't meant to be...

Roddie woke up with a high temperature around 3 am, and coupled with a few other symptoms I had chalked up to teething, it was clear that he couldn't go to school that day.  But I had an 8 am meeting and Matt had an end of the week deadline approaching fast - what could we do!  Well, I went to work for 90 minutes or so, then met Matt in the parking lot of the pediatrician's office, where he handed off Roddie.  Rod and I had a nice visit with the doctor, then spent the afternoon together.  Thankfully that included a long nap so I got some work done.  He seemed to be much more like himself by the end of the day, and the fever had not returned, so I felt confident that he would be fine by Friday...

not the case, he had a rough day at school and I got a call around 3:30 with an update on his status - I had a meeting scheduled at 4:30 and I was racking my brain, figuring out how to attend, tend to Roddie, pick up Norah and not lose my mind.  In the end, the meeting was cancelled, I picked up both kids at once and Matt ended up getting home more or less on time.

So, in the ongoing challenge that is working motherhood, this week was a doozie!  I'm only slightly behind at work and I capitalized on most of the opportunity I had this week.   The kids seem to be fine at this point, though between Roddie's fever and Norah's behaviour at times, I do a little mommy guilt.  But, at the end of the day, I think we did alright.  Matt and I did a stellar job of communicating, despite the fact we rarely saw each other during waking hours, which was a big part of it.  I feel as though I can do a good job at work and still be the mother I want to for my kids - it may mean my 'career' isn't as stellar as it would be otherwise, but my life will be full.  It also means that we all need to be a little flexible at times.  When I really think about it, this has been my approach for most of my life - I never strove to be first in my class, or to get 100%, I strove to do well and have a full life - the same as today.