I Don’t Know How She Does It

One week. That’s all I did. One week and I am exhausted!

As she recovered from surgery, I took on all the responsibilities of my wife for one entire week. I look back in amazement. I just don’t know how she does it. How does she manage the calendar that she keeps while I am at work? I don’t even know!

Before I explain just what a crazy week it was let me share an incident to set the stage for you.

The first night the kids are home, I am getting them ready for bed. I administer the bedtime medications, I get them in pajamas, we brush teeth, etc… From my bedroom, my wife calls from the bed,

“What are you doing?!”

“I’m getting the kids ready for bed, why?” I reply.

“Well, that’s not the way I get them ready!!!” she says.

As she laid in bed, it drove her stir crazy to know that she wasn’t doing the bedtime routine! She likes things done a certain way, and she hates to not to be able to do it THAT WAY.

So just what did my week entail? What rollercoaster ride of craziness was I on for a week? Here’s just a peak…..

Wednesday of last week the kids came home. Without time to even acclimate to this new schedule, I was caught up in it with no time to look back! I guess I never knew just how much she juggled each week.

One night there is dance class, which runs well past dinner time. So then there has to be dinner before bedtime because tomorrow is a school day. Bedtime is later on dance night. It isn’t easy to fit it all in unless you drive through somewhere.

The next day, you drive to school and drop off. You squeeze a few little things in before you are off to the school again to pick up. From school, you have time to grab lunch in time for Occupational and Physical therapy. Then you are finally off to get home by mid afternoon. Bath’s before bed on this night, followed by story time, teeth brushing and bedtime.

Chances are there is a doctor appointment the next day, so you are up early and hurrying around to get yourself ready as well as the kids. If one is staying with Nana, you drop off there and head down to the appointment. Maybe it is the ENT, the sleep doctor, or a visit to the primary care doc. You never know.

The next day you are at the mercy of when the grocery shoppers have finished your order. Hop in the car and go to the designated spot, text them that you are there and wait for them to bring the groceries out. Drive back home and unload the groceries. Clean out the fridge and freezer so you can put what needs to be cold in there. Maybe you get a minute to enjoy half a cup of coffee here while you wait for the dryer to ding. When it does, swap loads and fold the clean stuff.

Make dinner. What’s for dinner? Who knows?! But it needs to be something that they will eat. It’s anyone’s guess if they will eat what is on their plate, even if they loved it a week ago. While eating, be on the look out for the kitten, who seems to think human dinner time is also her dinner time. Shoo her off the table!

Bedtime again. Bath’s first? I don’t know, depends on the day! When the kids fall asleep, sneak out so you can pick up the toys from the front room floor. Maybe you can sweep, vacuum or even mop the floor before a child knows you are not in bed and they come looking for you.

In between the semi-schedule, you have to break up fights. You have to explain why you don’t put forks in electrical outlets, and answer the 18 “why?” questions that will ultimately follow your explanation. You have to switch food from the pink plate to the green plate because today that is the color they want. You have to drink a glass of white milk because they wanted chocolate milk when they asked for “milk.” You have to be the bathroom police and ask “Do you have to go pee?” every now and then because they might forget and have an accident. You call both children by their first and middle names because they are doing something they aren’t supposed to. You have to go get a “snack” for them, even though dinner was over 12 minutes ago. You have to watch the same episode of Blippi for the 87 millionth time and restrain yourself from wanting to punch him through the screen. On and on the list goes…..

… and my wife MASTERS this chaos EVERY NIGHT! My God, she is truly a marvel.

I have walked a week in her shoes and they do not fit! There are not enough kudos to bestow upon her for all that she does to make our house run smoothly. She is a miracle … and I love her so very much.

Our Ballerina Girl

Ella has been in dance for a while now. Sam has been taking her to the classes because I work on the nights of class. Outside of her showing me a few things at home, I hadn’t had a chance to see her dance yet.

Friday night was the dress rehearsal and both Sam and I got to go watch. Seeing my little girl all dressed up in her costume and makeup was more emotional than I thought. Because of miscommunication, they were told that all dancers had to have eye liner, mascara, blush, lipstick and a variety of other products. When I looked at her face, she looked 16!

At rehearsal, the director said that girls 7 and older needed full makeup, and those under needed only blush and lipstick. That was nice to hear, but it would have saved us $100 in make up if they had been more clear. She still looked older with the blush and lipstick on.

Her class performed two songs. One was ballet and one was tap. When she hit the stage during rehearsal, I watched he dance and welled up with all the dad emotions. I can’t believe that it hit me as hard as it did.

Sam had been telling me how much she loved being in dance. I didn’t realize how much she loved it until I watched her on stage. She is entirely in her element there. She loves ballet more than tap, as she has told us that a few times.

The dress rehearsal lasted about 3 hours. There were plenty of other groups dancing, too. Almost all of the dancers are aged 3 to 18. There was also a group of special needs adults who danced, as well. The rehearsal was a complete run-through with stops for repeating parts or blocking out where dancers were to stand.

Yesterday was the day of the show. They did a 2pm performance and a 7pm performance. The show was 2 hours long, so it was a very long day for everyone, but especially Ella. Almost everyone was at the 2pm show. My dad, Sam’s parents, Aunt Margaret, and Aunt Shannon were all there.

At the end of her first performance, She received flowers from Aunt Margaret, my dad, her little brother Andrew and a bear from me. She was so excited. She posed for pictures with everyone before they left. Andrew went to Nana’s house so that we could grab dinner and get her back to the second show.

We went to Applebee’s where she ate and had a huge chocolate dessert for dancing so well. We made it back in time for her to change back into her costume and get ready for the evening show.

During the first show, Sam had volunteered to help with the kids in the back. She got to watch from the side backstage for that first show, however, was glad to be able to sit in the audience for the 7pm show. It was so nice to be sitting together and watching our baby girl shine.

Our friend, Miss Christa, came with her daughter and watched the night show. She brought Ella a book about a ballerina, which we had to read before bedtime last night.

For each show, she was on stage about a total of 6-7 minutes. It was a very long day, but those 12-14 minutes will forever stay with me. I am so proud of her and how wonderful she danced. I am already excited for the next recital!

Life’s Little Moments

It seems odd to do a week in review “highlights” post on Thursday, but it really is the day that I get an extra minute or two to look back, so here goes.

Kicking Kid

While the days leading up to it were extremely unorganized, Saturday morning Andrew got to play soccer. It was quite a mess in the days prior as we had no idea what time to be there until the day before. Next, there was confusion about whether or not they had to wear cleats (They did. Thankfully, Ella’s baseball cleats worked.) Then there was confusion about whether or not we had to purchase a uniform (We did at $75). To top it off, hours before we were supposed to be there, the coach texted to say that she wasn’t going to be there – and the assistant coach was also not going to be there!

Thankfully, the guy in charge had a couple people who were there to run the kids around doing drills. So, technically, there was no game, but they got to “dribble” the ball up and down the field and shoot at the goal.

It was pretty chilly that morning and I wish we had all dressed a bit warmer. As much as we thought he’d love running around, he (and the rest of the 2-3 year olds) were done about 30 minutes in. He did love when they sat up some cones in front of the net and he had to try to know them down.

Sam was the “pin setter” for the soccer bowling.

Sam was stylin’

When we got home, we all relaxed around the house. Sam was sitting on the couch and Ella asked if she could brush Sam’s hair. This led to an impromptu hairstyling session.

All I could see was the front, but Andrew and Ella said I really needed to see the back…

Holy Bows!

Ella was sad that I have no hair to put bows in. Sam suggested she put them in my chest hair. I will spare you from having to see that photo!

Will I Walk ‘Round in Circles?

Yes. Yes I will. 17 circles in fact. The indoor track I told you about at Ella’s preschool is not a full size track, and so you have to go around 17 times to walk a mile.

The track is on the second floor and goes around the top of the basketball court. The day we walked it without headphones on, it was weird. The track is almost like a plastic/vinyl type material. My shoes were very loud as I walked on it. Now, when I drop her off, I put on my headphones and don’t even notice it.

There is also a gym/work out center there that I could join if I wanted to. I’m thinking about it, but I’d have to do everything before I head into work and I am sure that my coworkers would not want to sit near me post workout.

For what it is worth, it is a nice 30-45 minutes lost in music, a book, or my thoughts. It is very nice!

James Earl Jones

It was sad to hear of the passing of James Earl Jones. Man, did he have a voice! What a great actor, too. He made every role his own. As a child, I had no idea that he was the voice of Darth Vader (who gave me nightmares after seeing Star Wars).

James doing comedy was funny because he almost always played it straight. There is a scene in the Naked Gun 33 1/3 where Leslie Neilsen’s character is mistaken for Phil Donahue. At one point he see’s something that makes him ill at The Academy Awards show and he runs out on stage as James Earl Jones and Olympia Dukakis are at the podium. He leans over the band stand and vomits into a tuba. When Olympia asks James “What is that?” James says, as serious and straight as possible, “It looks like Phil Donahue throwing up in a tuba.” That never ceases to make me laugh.

David Letterman always had him on his show to do silly Top Ten lists and more. Here are just some of them:

Of the many tributes to him this week, I loved this one:

He was such a part of the Star Wars Universe and to have him amongst those who had passed away before him is simply beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful

My baby girl not only started preschool this month, but she also started her dance class. She will be learning ballet and tap. She had her first class this week. I was at work, but Sam kept me posted on the happenings. Even though there are no parents allowed in the dance studio where they kids are, Sam said you could hear the tap shoes tapping away.

She called me at work after he first class and was so excited to talk about it. They got to dance with tambourines and maracas and she loved every minute of it! I can’t wait to see her perform!

I guess I am officially a “soccer dad” and a “dance dad” – and I’m ok with that!