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One of *those* weeks? | Pad Patter 11.17

scrapsandsass

scrapsandsass

Oh Ricky you're so fine ...
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
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So do you ever have one of *those* weeks? One where you have waaaaaaaay too many things going on and not enough time to get them done? Or when you have everything planned out just so and something messes up and throws everything completely off?

Kennedy's dad has been picking Kennedy up two afternoons a week. He has him for 3-4 hours and then brings him back. It doesn't seem like much, but those days are the two times I can not worry about scheduling or rushing back to pick Kennedy up from school. This week, he canceled on Monday, so it threw everything off. I had multiple appointments going on this week, places I had to take my grandma, and things that Kennedy had going on. But I had to double-up and pick up Kennedy and take him to his swim class and skate night. I ended up canceling some of my plans, but I couldn't cancel others because of short notice, so it was one of those weeks where every day I had to leave early in the morning and didn't get home until late. Tonight I got home late, had to put away groceries and watch Kennedy doing school work while cooking two different meals and starting a load of dishes (we had dishes piling up and laundry everywhere). I'm wiped out! LOL. I'm so thankful these times are few and far between for us, but it really makes me aware of how limited we are with regard to back-up care and the tenuousness of Kennedy's dad's schedule.

How do you handle minor/major schedule disruptions? Do you have back-up/contingencies for times when you have multiple appointments and not enough manpower? Do you have friends, neighbors or relatives who can step in and help out? Or are you super family who does everything on your own?
 
Sheesh. I'm tired just reading this!

I hate when I have a busy week and have it all planned out just to have it fall apart. That is the worst. Especially when you have to be in two different places at the same time bc of it. #stress

I used to have more stress when the hubs had a job that involved lots of travel. It all fell on me. And we have no family anywhere in the area. (In one way that makes it easier bc we are only responsible for our family unit - no elderly parents or other youngsters needing rides, but it makes it hard when family emergencies come up and you can't do it all alone.) I've learned to rely on friends to help with getting the kids where they need to be. My kids are in HS now and we have a pretty decent network of carpooling depending on what the activity is.

Now the hubs works from home so in a pinch he can be my back up if all else fails.

When it falls apart ... I usually resort to lowering my expectations of what I can actually accomplish (if possible). I will forget about making the dinner and just order a pizza. Just to keep my sanity.

BTW - how is that tenacious grandma of yours? I hope she is doing OK> I remember the story you told us awhile back about her and just wondered how's she's been? :beat
 
I can totally relate. With two boys in sports we are constantly shuttling kids from practices and games. Thankfully my husband is able to take one and I can take the other on the days they have things at the same time, but I get off work at 3:00 and he gets off at 5:00 so sometimes when they have two things after school it gets a bit dicey. Thankfully we go to our church school and I am good friends with most of the moms, so we OFTEN help each other out. I'm very thankful for that! I also have two Grandma's that are willing to help in a pinch too. :)
 
We have no family here, so I did a lot of running around when the kids were younger. When something went awry, I would get a babysitter to help out. The college by us had a student run group called DePaul Babysitters... you could send them a request and they would fill your need with one of their students. Since we were so close to campus, we had really good luck with this, as the girls didn't have to travel far.

Now, my kids are teens and Uber is my new BFF. We have a family account set up and if they need to get anywhere that they can't get to via public transit (or its later than I want them using it), they request an Uber to get where they need to go. The app notifies me and I can track their ride.
 
I'm a SAHM at the moment so I'm always Plan A. My mom is retired and lives abt 15 minutes from us so she is almost always Plan B. Between the two of us, we get 99% of things covered that need to be. I don't know any of the parents at my daughter's school (not sure how the other parents become friends except through volunteering at the school, I guess, and this introvert is way too anxious to do that) but we live in my hometown so there have been a couple of times when I've asked someone I went to school with to help out for a one-time event/reason.

My husband works late & his weekends change on a whim according to his son's schedule so unless it's a weeknight, I usually plan around him vs. with him.

For example, my ILs' anniversary party is this weekend abt 2 hours south of where we live. DH has his son this weekend and usually spends the weekend there vs. here as his son has required sports & church activities to attend. I did not want to spend the entire weekend at the ILs' house as it is too small for 5 extra people & sharing a bedroom with both kids means we don't get any good sleep... but I obviously could not NOT attend the party. I also did not want to drive down for the day & use up 2x as much gas since DH was already going down tonight. Enter my mom who volunteered to make the cake for the party & said she felt like she should go (my parents & ILs have a good relationship) so the kids and I will ride down with her and everyone wins. She is that kind of mom. :beat
 
This happens here too... more often at work, then at home, lol! I just shuffle things up a bit and keep chugging along. Do the best that I can.
 
For me I just know my limits (or rather my body tells me) so have to be flexible - I had an entire day planned today but as I haven't slept at all it now becomes Sunday's plan.
 
My weeks seem to always be like this lately. There's just so much to do & I can't depend on my husband because of his work schedule. I am so tired! I had a paper due for school yesterday, but haven't even talked to the teacher yet. Lupus hit me hard on Tuesday & I finally dragged myself to the doctor yesterday. He agreed, it's the worst flare up I've had in years. The steroids haven't kicked in & I still have to take the kids to all their stuff. Tonight's the Raingutter Regatta & tomorrow is hip hop class. December 2nd, my daycare is closing for good. I still haven't found affordable after-school care for my special needs son. I just don't even know what to do at this point.
 
I'm a SAHM, and like others have mentioned, that means I'm Plan A but I'm also Plans B through Z cuz we don't have any family nearby. But my kids aren't in a lot of extracurricular activities because I didn't want to make myself nuts getting kids all over the city (no activity is really close to us). And I'm SUPER STRICT about bedtimes, and some of these programs get the kids home after bedtime. I don't allow that. Call me mean, call me strict, I don't care: my kids need sleep and I need time at night without my kids rotfl! But when the kids are a bit older, I'm sure I'll be toting them around a bit more. :) But when they're older, one kid can stay home alone while I drop off/pick up the other one.
Wait, so what was the question? Oh yeah: how do I handle my schedule being upset. I just grit my teeth and deal with it. I also try not to overload my schedule. As a SAHM without family nearby to help, I don't get to "just go out" and get my hair cut or go to the dr or something, so I value my time when both kids are in school. I also value the fact that our babysitter is a very responsible college student who lives next door. So I guess technically I do have a "Plan B," but that's only if she's available and I have cash on hand to pay her! I try to save babysitter stuff for dates with DH. We are trying to be better about spending time together as a couple.
@scrapsandsass How is your grandma, if I may ask? Hopefully she's doing well and it is so great you live close enough to help out!
 
OMG, this sounds like the story of our lives. Just when you think everything is scheduled and everybody knows their part, something comes up to throw a monkey wrench in the works. This week on top of all the normal chaos, we're having wood floors installed. We don't even have a place to sit and put our feet up at the end of the day, except in bed. Last night, the boys were doing their homework on the kitchen table in the garage!
 
Oh, I hate weeks like that. I can't handle a busy schedule and tend to shut down when things get hectic. When I know I have a busy week coming up, I do try to simplify as much as I possibly can.
 
I don't do well with change like that. I'm very structured and similar to @Tree City in that we don't do extracurricular activities right now. Mostly because Daniel isn't really interested in anything at this point, but also because I grew up without all the extras and I'm just fine. LOL So pretty much, we drive to school and back every day and that's about it.

Any appointments, errands, lunches, etc., I try to schedule while Daniel is in school.

And yeah, I'm wondering about your grandma, too!
 
Thanks, ladies for all of your good thoughts surrounding schedules and back-up plans.

And so sweet several of you asked about my grandma. @jenn mccabe @Tree City @gonewiththewind... grandma update... she's doing okay. She's frustrated with the brace. She broke it last week, so we had an appointment scheduled to head up to Harborview on Tuesday. But of course, she didn't want to do that. Her neighbor came over and "fixed" it for her. He basically zip-tied it together where it had separated (the piece below her chin broke off from the chest plate). :giggle It is mostly the way it is supposed to be, but she's refusing to go to Seattle to have them check. She only wants to go when they take it off (supposed to be 12/9). I had the appointment set, went over to take her, and she refused to go. She hadn't had much sleep the night before (we had some crazy rainstorms), so she was tired, cranky, and just wouldn't budge. She called Harborview and convinced them that her brace was fine. You can only argue with her so much. She's totally stubborn.

She didn't have much of an appetite a couple of months ago, but that is getting better. I'm taking her food during the week, and occasionally she might cook something or she has some frozen dinners as well. When I take her to her hair appts or to the doctor or shopping, we go to lunch, so she's eating more and that is a good thing. She's not complaining so much about not having an appetite. She's been cleaning her windows and mirrors and doing vacuuming (she does it in stages and rests in between). She said she refuses to just sit around, so she feels like she needs to do things. She's also trying to convince me (or maybe herself) that she thinks she could probably drive again. I just smile and tell her that I'm sure she thinks she can, but her doctor won't approve it at this point, so she can't legally do it (and she also doesn't have a car or the money to buy one). So we're in countdown mode to get the brace off, and she swears she will feel 200% better not lugging it around and being able to be more comfortable to sleep. Then I won't have to go over and help her with bathing, so that will free up a little time for me as well. We'll see!
 
Kimberlee I hope things progressing positively for Grandma!! Bless your heart for taking time and putting so much effort in helping her out!!
 
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