Whew, y’all! It’s been one of those weeks where everything has been a little “extra” and many logistically challenging things have been happening at the same time. I made it through, made the best of it and I’m now on the way to New Orleans…which I’ll share more details about at the end of this post!
I want to start by saying that I’m not complaining about anything in this post. I try to share real life as much as possible as opposed to only our highlights and I think we can all agree that some weeks are a little more stressful than others. That being said, motherhood is really helping me to learn how to take it all in stride and to not sweat the small stuff or the things that are out of my control.
Finn’s nanny had a bit of a health scare earlier this week (do not want to share her private information but the wonderful news is that she is FINE, thank goodness!) so I was doing the childcare shuffle on Monday and Tuesday. At one point I had to either get a 30-minute notice emergency sub or bring Finn to the studio with me to teach a class. Bless the management team at Vibes, they told me to bring Finn and played with him while I taught. It was my first week teaching this new Monday lunch class and none of us wanted me to miss it after we had promoted it!
Since Finn was teeny tiny, I have found childcare to be one of the most challenging parts of being a working parent. Never in my life have I missed so many deadlines, had to get so many subs or had to ask for so much leniency and help. This is definitely something that I didn’t understand until I was a mom myself and it’s been humbling. I have a whole new appreciation for all working parents and all that my parents did for us growing up with all they had to juggle.
Additionally on Monday, I was supposed to have a new refrigerator delivered between 8:30-10:30a and it never arrived. I finally discovered at 8:30p that the fridge missed getting loaded on the truck and the delivery is rescheduled for next week. My current fridge is leaking water from the freezer all over my kitchen floor but nothing some towels can’t handle for another week.
We made it through Monday and to our weekly swim lesson where Finn got to work on all sorts of skills like front float, back float, climbing out of the pool, kicking and more. He’s also wearing his goggles now for the whole lesson! Huge milestone. Look at that sweet boy.
After we got home and ate dinner I asked Finn if he wanted to go on an evening PJ walk. It had been raining all day and I needed some fresh air. Finn moved at his favorite speed (running) and we had the nicest sunset outing.
When Tuesday rolled around I had not run or really worked out since the previous Thursday and needed to move my body mostly for mental health haha. I braced myself for a stroller run. It wasn’t easy but it felt great. Let me tell you, pushing a 28 pound stroller with a 32 pound toddler is no joke. I feel like 4 miles should count as double! 😉
That afternoon, Finn’s dad grabbed him for a few hours so that I could go to a dentist appointment that I couldn’t miss. I had to have a filling replaced that was cracked thanks to my aggressive jaw clenching. I picked Finn back up from his dad’s after my appointment and headed over to my rental house where I had about five showings. My current tenants are under contract on a house so I am looking for new tenants. Luckily, the showings went extremely well and I got it leased within 48-hours of listing it. The housing market in Charlotte is just bananas right now.
I took advantage of some of the extra downtime at home this week to do some cooking and baking. Finn doesn’t eat a ton of veggies but he will eat spaghetti so I made a big batch of my favorite homemade spaghetti sauce and froze it in a variety of container sizes to pull out for easy dinners.
I also baked a batch of my sourdough to take to a friend who’s going through a tough time.
Our nanny was back in action on Wednesday morning so I handed Finn over to her first thing and hit the ground running. First I taught an 8:15a strength class at Vibes and then had an appointment at Carolina Facial Plastics to get injections for jaw clenching. It had been over six months since my last jaw injections and my recent dental appointments lit a fire under me to get it done. I am a chronic jaw clencher and I don’t just do it at night but all day long. Unfortunately, it’s how I hold stress/tension in my body and it’s very hard on my teeth. I was in and out of there quickly and headed home to spend the rest of the day in front of my computer. I worked until about 9:30 last night and finally made dinner.
You guys, I can’t even make this up. I put together a Cinco De Mayo-inspired fish taco bowl for dinner and DROPPED IT ON THE FLOOR after I took this photo. The bowl shattered and the whole thing had to go in the trash.
I started over and made the same bowl but with sautéed shrimp from the freezer instead because it was 9:45p and faster to cook shrimp than to air fry more fish. I finally sat down to eat at 10p and went to bed shortly after.
I got up early this morning and meditated, drank coffee and worked for a couple of hours before heading out on a gorgeous five-mile run.
Back at home I showered, finished packing and made lunch. Our super amazing nanny took me to the airport so that I could see Finn before I left (he was with his dad last night and will be with him this weekend). The best airport chauffeurs ever!
I’m meeting the special someone in New Orleans where we’ll spend two nights and then we are road tripping back to North Carolina with a stop in Atlanta for a dinner and overnight in Buckhead. LONG story as to why we are driving to North Carolina but it will be a nice long weekend. The last time I was in New Orleans was in college for a fraternity formal so I’m thinking this will be much different. We have great restaurant reservations and the weather is supposed to be perfect.
I’ll be reunited with Finn on Mother’s Day! In the meantime, I’m off to enjoy my weekend and look forward to sharing highlights with you guys soon!
QUESTIONS
How has your week been?
Have you ever been to New Orleans? Favorite things to do there?
Did you go out, get take out or cook anything special for Cinco de Mayo?
