At least the week seems to be going pretty quickly!
Yesterday was rather busy but last night was quiet, for which I am extremely grateful.
Because #stress, I decided I needed a new daily planner to play with. So — in honor of my 2022 Hobonchi order which is apparently shipping tomorrow, I broke out a Hobonichi Plain Notebook from last year (unused until now) and put it in my 2021 cover.
Call weeks call for extremely minimal to do lists. And also, to put really low hanging fruit on the lists so I can feel good about checking them off. Haha.
It is weird going back very thin paper (lots of show though and no gel pens allowed because I will smear them across the page) but I didn’t mind it as much this time. Maybe I just need a little break.
PS: So far I feel like I have been coping reasonably well this week. I have been more accepting of my very real anxiety around call and trying to work on addressing it in reasonable ways (meditation, planning as above, minimizing other responsibilities when possible, etc). It is still challenging. Last night Josh got home after the kids (and I) were in bed and I felt pretty negative and alone. Annabel had homework she needed help with, the other 2 needed to go to bed, and about 40% of my brain was occupied by the (many) (sick) patients on my list.
She finished (side note: math homework on the computer is kind of annoying; some things are easier on paper!), the other 2 got extra screen time, and we all survived.
5 more days! At least Josh is off this weekend.
6 Comments
Phew – that is seriously a lot. I hope you sit back and acknowledge how much you have to deal with each evening on these call weeks. I would feel alone too but you are an amazing team with your kids on these solo call nights. They are helping you take care of those other kids in there own way and you are an awesome leader of your little team. I hope today is better and all the sick kids in your care do well.
I second Irene and love the idea of your kids in some way helping you to take care of other kids! It is seriously a lot.
Oof, call + solo parenting sounds like a rough combo. Bedtime is exhausting under the best circumstances IMO so dealing with it on top of call is brutal. I hope you can find a way to take some time for yourself! Like even a 24 hour retreat where you stay in a nice hotel, get room service, geek out with planners, etc. I think that would be restorative. I’m feeling the need for something similar, but need our son to have weaned to be able to do that. Just under 3 months to go. Hopefully the weaning process is easy? I have no idea what to expect since I exclusively pumped for our first! Which I HATED but it was easier in terms of weaning and transitioning to whole milk!
I’m a little nervous about the Tomoe River Paper in my W222 as I do love/prefer gel pens! But I bought a uni ballpoint pen based on your recommendation and I do like the way it writes. It’s better than the old school ball point pens I used to us when I was in college!
Math homework on the computer is the WORST. Made me and my 4th grader cry last week and I am a math person!
Is there anyway you could hire a high schooler in your neighbourhood to come help out occasionally when you have the perfect storm of being on call/mid-week homework surges/busy schedule for Josh? An extra pair of hands to help out, someone with excess energy, and wouldn’t require rearranging your nanny’s schedule?
Solo bedtime is a lot to handle at the best of time…adding all the other layers in – yikes.
This is a great suggestion, or a family member (you live near your husband’s family, right?). That would allow you to be able to focus on taking calls when needed without having to also be the only one in charge of the kids. You don’t need a full on babysitter, just an extra pair of hands!
Also, as for the extra screen time vs expecting your kids to be well behaved when you’re taking calls, I wonder if you could enlist Annabel’s help? I always feel like the solution of “more screen time just do whatever’s easiest in the moment!” can backfire in the future — I know from experience. I see a lot of parents taking this approach, especially in the last 18 months, and while yes it does help in the moment, it makes things worse long term. But I’m not in your home so I can’t speak specifically to your situation. Just something to think about 😊