Dropping The Ball

It was Monday morning and my day was planned out to the minute. I started shuffling between appointments for work, school pick up and drop offs, a doctor appointment for Ryder, following by an event which I attended with the kids. I kept a list of the day’s events, checked it twice, and even had the alarm set on my phone for each appropriate appointment time. Despite the lack of sleep from the night prior, I felt ready to tackle my busy first day of the week.

I made the first two appointments with plenty of time, but ran into some train trouble on the way back, which pushed me late for the rest of the day. With my head spinning from the schedule, I picked up Ryder from school, headed up to midtown for his appointment and then came straight back home. It wasn’t until we sat down to start his homework, when a notification popped up for my next event, which was 15 minutes out. I completely forgot about it, and it was actually a stop away from our last appointment. I wasn’t sure if I should just skip it, or try to muster up the energy to make it there. I had already confirmed, so I decided to go. We both trekked to the train again, arriving about 20 minutes late. Both exhausted and me thinking to myself how this so wasn’t the extra effort.

A similar situation arose the following day, when I booked a haircut appointment for Ryder after his therapist. It was a gorgeous day, and he was excited about getting 100% on his spelling test, so we decided to celebrate at our favorite Fro Yo joint. While enjoying our frozen treats, I received a call asking if I was going to make the appointment, which started five minutes earlier. I had completely forgotten and had to cancel.  Naturally, we are unable to book another appointment until the following week.

That night, I thought to myself about how much I was dropping the ball. I felt so awful, but in reality, everything relies on my supervision, I am the motherboard, controlling everything in this house. After speaking with a friend about the situation, I realized that all us mamas put way too much pressure on ourselves. It’s really important not to overload ourselves, and sometimes more than we can handle. In an effort to recharge, I went to bed the next two nights when the kids did, so I could catch up and luckily, it worked. Moving forward, I plan to set limits on the meetings, appointments, conference calls, and haircut appointments for a single day!

I am sharing this story with you as part of my participation with Similac’s Sisterhood of Motherhood campaign. This campaign supports mothers who choose to embrace motherhood. The sisterhood has only one rule- nourish each other the same way we nourish our children; and just like the sister who’s got your back, we’re there to help you get through the first few days and months of motherhood with confidence, and zero judgment, the way it should be. I am forever thankful to have a supportive group of mom friends that live far and near, and when I call upon them to tell them I am completely dropping the ball, they are the ones who reassure me that I am doing a great job.

Thank you Similac for sponsoring this post.