We made it! (again)

October always feels like a marathon for me. Busy season at work, insane season with photography, Junior League picks back up, and trying to maintain a social life. This October was so overwhelming, at times I wanted to crawl under the covers and hide. Actually, I would have if I'd had even an extra moment to stay in bed but there's no waking up slowly in our house. We hit the ground running every day. But ... today is the last day of October and all weekend I felt a huge sense of relief. I still have a couple of photo shoots left on the calendar but much a more manageable schedule. We're attempting to do a potty training boot camp for 4 days at the end of this week but I'm not stressed about it. My birthday is this month and we have a week trip planned to visit my parents. Work is still terribly overwhelming but I have to just do what I can do and leave it there at the end of each day.

We had a wonderful weekend - one of my best friends married the love of her life, I took photos for friends (and the photos are awesome!), we played at the park, and we made ghost cookies tonight. I think it's safe to say we made it. again.

Mompetitors

We made our rounds on the birthday circuit last weekend (I'm a week later posting this) and in case you don't have young children, let me tell you, it's a whole new world. Saturday's party was a circus-themed party for a sweet friend's 1 year old. We were greeted at the front door by a pupeteer playing the piano with a marionette elephant. Inside there was a buffet table with (catered) hamburgers, corn dogs, fruit kabobs, and chicken. There was a circus themed cake, animal crackers, little containors of popcorn, and cute decor everywhere. Now I thought the party was adorable, although it was a little more than I would have wanted to take on (my sweet friend was so busy being the gracious hostess, I wondered if she was able to stop and enjoy the fruits of her labor). But ... several of the mommies were wearing dresses and heels. To a 1 year old's birthday party. To chase around their toddlers! I must say, I wore one of my favorite new outfits but it consisted of skinny jeans and boots (yay for boot season again!!!) but I was not crazy enough to wear heels. The "mompetitors" (aka- uber competitive mommies) were out in full force and I was glad I had dressed Addison in an adorable new outfit and terribly impractical flats, so as not to look like a sloppy mother. She looked super cute but I must say, I have no interest in mompetitions. Another mommy tried to get into a discussion about her preschool and future elementary plans which I quickly saw going in a "my schools are better than yours" direction. There are moments I find myself being sucked in because I want to be the best mother I can be - but I don't need to get into comparing pre-schools, outfits, or how homemade (or not homemade) my baby food is to be a wonderful mother. The birthday circuit is fun, but you won't catch me near a bounce house in high heels anytime soon ;)

If I seem distracted ...

If I seem distracted ... it's probably because I am. I can't believe it's been so long since I last blogged. I love blogging but something has had to give lately. It's the middle of photo shoot season. I have 2 very small children. I work full time. The little people in my house have decided 5:30 am is a reasonable time to wake up. You get the picture. (Ok, I apologize for the brief pity party, I'm all done)

I was at a birthday party this afternoon trying to catch up with a friend but found myself having a hard time keeping up with the conversation because I was also trying to keep an eye on Addison. I feel like I am only half "there" more often than not these days. Multi-tasking to the extreme is the name of the game! Life is wonderful, I have just been too busy enjoying it to write much of it down but I am going to try to change that because I just ordered blog books for my 2009 & 2010 posts and I love being able to read back through them.

But for tonight I am already exceeding my allotted bog time (I kept getting sidetracked) and I have to hurry to bed because you never know how long sleep will last around here ;)

Ten on Tuesday

Let the randomness begin!

1. We bought a new vacuum this past weekend. Husband said ours wasn't working correctly and I was too overwhelmed to go into my usual "control the situation and research the best options" mode. I told him research and pick it, and he did great. It's one of those bagless cyclone thingys and I honestly think the carpet looked better after one cleaning. That was probably waaay to much information about my vacuum :)

2. I went to a presentation last week about media and its effects on children. It was really good. Lots of good info, things to think about, and another blog to follow. I am seriously trying to cut down on my own "screen time" - less time watching tv and on the internet and more time reading, creating and just relaxing.

3. We've had a couple of days of beautiful weather. It has put me in SUCH a good mood.

4. My favorite two year old in the world likes to collect rocks. I keep finding them in my dryer. I keep them because they make me happy.

5. Apparently The Lion King is out of the Disney "vault" - where the heck is the vault anyway? It's a stupid concept that they somehow make MILLIONS with!

6. I have two photo shoots I should be going through but I need a night off. I can't keep my eyes open when I'm at my laptop.

7. Ava has been getting up at 5:30 this week. It's way too early.

8. I dream of the day when I can take a nap again on a Sunday afternoon but I know that when that day comes, I'll miss these days.

9. I need a new pair of sunglasses, I'm thinking Tory Burch. Any thoughts?

10. I had a newborn shoot (re-shoot) this afternoon, the baby would not settle down the first day I was there and today it took forever but she finally slept. And I got some gooood stuff :)

Sweet dreams ...