Both Josh and I were on call this past weekend. The weather was terrible (hello summer storm season . . .), so at least we didn’t miss out on any outdoor family fun.
Honestly, I ended up sort of shifting gears into total survival mode. And it ended up being okay. I know myself, and I am much happier when I intentionally give myself a break sometimes. For me this is much preferable to blowing things off and then feeling bad about not meeting my prior commitments to myself.
On Friday I decided:
- To take 3 days off from all workouts (Fri – Sun)
- To allow myself time to read each day (either at lunchtime, or while the kids watch a movie at night). I’m now 60% through my 3rd Summer Reading pick, Ayesha at Last. I think it’s my favorite pick so far!
- To sleep in until the kids were up Fri – Sun
- To make sure I have enough childcare coverage for our call weekend (our nanny worked 10-5 both days and I spent most of that time at the hospital)
- That I’d basically get whatever takeout I wanted (Starbucks scones = call week staple)
- That I would not stress about some extra evening screen time for A&C — it’s summer, after all
So, as you might imagine from the above, we didn’t do much. The kids got a lot of rest time (which is fine b/c camp starts tomorrow and appears to be action-packed!) and our only family outing was to Dairy Queen (Reese’s pb cup Blizzard = excellent call treat) on Saturday night.
3 of my favorite pix from the weekend:
(Believe it or not the other two liked and/or tolerated it too!)
I had to take a pic!
(Not shown – I got to see Laura! We recorded two podcast episodes — including the much-requested Frugal Tips episode airing 6/18! That was a highlight and we completely forgot to take pictures!!)
And you know what? It was nice. I love waking up early, working out, etc. But sometimes a break feels therapeutic, and call weekends are a reasonable time to shift gears into a lower, slower mode.
It’s Monday and I feel better already — and ready to get back to my normal routine.
In other news, the kids start camp already today! Or at least they are supposed to. Annabel injured her foot yesterday (fell carrying G down the stairs . . . luckily at least G was unscathed) and may or may not be able to bear weight. If she can’t, we’ll have to have her evaluated and it’s probably not wise to send her crawling/hopping into her first day . . .
7 Comments
Good job giving yourself a break so that you can go into the week feeling ready rather than worn down.
I’m so impressed your kids ate the soup! Griffin has become kind of picky, he won’t even take a bite of new things and it’s really starting to tick me off.
For some reason, there is nothing I love more than seeing little toddlers sitting on couches with big siblings, I find it so endearing.
I had Ayesha at Last on hold for me at the library last week but my baby got sick this weekend and I was just reminded by reading your post that I forgot to pick it up!! Just put it on hold again 🙂
We took it easy this weekend too. The weather in NC was rainy and it was nice to watch some movies, order takeout and relax. I love your call survival rules – sometimes you just have to make it through.
I can’t wait to read Ayesha at Last. I’m pretty far down the waitlist for it at our library but hopefully I can get my hands on it before the end of summer!
I’m glad you found some adjustments that made call more tolerable for you! I think it’s important to find ways to give ourselves a break during busier/more stressful times of life. Like when I returned to work after maternity leave, I gave myself permission to buy lunch every day. I still ate healthy (there is awesome salad place in my building) but I spent waaay more than I would have if I had made my own lunches. But I gave myself permission to do this for a month to ease the burden of returning back to work. It was totally worth the extra money I spent.
What a great idea! I wish I would have thought of this when I returned from leave last year. I will remember it for the future!
i m impressed with 10-5 pm child care even though both are kind of less stressful physician jobs , we use ton of child care atleast 8 -6 including commuting , feels like pampering but whatever it needs right
My on call stuff doesn’t typically require a full day – luckily!