Driven to insanity.

We are insane, you guys.

INSANE.

Our dear, lovely friend April got married in Detroit the weekend before last, and we decided to drive.

To Detroit.

With our children.

To Detroit.

With our children.

Like I said, insane.

It was a whirlwind 1,400 mile, four and a half day adventure, but we survived. (Barely, at times.) And it was totally worth it. My children got to experience some memorable road trip moments, like eating sandwiches and Cheetos out of the back of the car on a dirt road. April got her happily ever after. And I got to spend time with my best friends, whom I miss every day.

Jeggings and tiny toes in the backseat.

The dirt road where we had lunch in Michigan.
As far as eating on dirt roads goes, I think we could have done much worse.

My cuties.

Roughing it.

Pre-wedding, post hair and makeup.

Baby Hutch attempting his escape.

My sisters (from other mothers).

With the beautiful bride...and the Hutchster.

Snackin' it up at the kids table.

Checking out her leg bows. Or maybe her gold sparkly jelly shoes?

Fun mama.

Ben and Jackson kept tackling each other.
Cal didn't know what to do, so he just ran around them.

Mama and her Bub. I forget how freckly I am sometimes.

Hooter Hiding.

Powow.

Cal making a very Cal face.

My kids opted-out because one was difficult and one was asleep.
I'll let you guess who's who in that scenario.

Beautiful bride and sleepy baby.

This nice, normal moment quickly turned into

...something a little less nice and normal.
We might be old and toting around babies, but we can still bust a move, yo.

April and those sweet DeKorne girls. They are the cutest.

Gang's all here. A miracle, for sure.

Tired mamas in formal earrings with night owl babies.

11 kids, ages 5 months to 7 years. Two moms, ages ??

I loved every minute of being with my friends and I wouldn't have missed April's wedding for the world. It was so much fun.

But, oh, was I ever glad to get home. Next time we are definitely flying.

Stress relief.

Work is out of control right now. I'm putting in long days, weekend hours, and feeling a little like my head might spontaneously combust. Within the last month my boss was laid off, my friend and extremely valuable marketing assistant Kate left to begin student teaching, and I inherited an additional job-and-a-half worth of work. No pay increase, no title change, no corner office. Just a heck of a lot more on my to-do list.

As you can imagine, I'm pretty crabby. And also fairly stressed.

Not helping matters one bit is the fact that we have historically spent the last week of January on vacation in Mexico. But, alas, parenthood has made us poor and even if we could afford to go on vacation this year I wouldn't have the time to do so given the state of affairs at work (because, you know, that might result in a DESIGN EMERGENCY. What would the people do without brochures? Websites? A comprehensive visual system? Or — gasp — a social media presence?). Yes, design is a life or death business, and someone has to be around to market/sell/write about it. And since my only remaining department colleague is going on vacation next week, I guess that someone is me.

Because I'm stretched pretty thin right now, things are slipping through the cracks — at home and at work. As a result, I'm constantly worried about one while doing the other. I feel guilty leaving work at 4:45 so I can get to daycare on time when I have tons to do, and I feel guilty staying late to catch up on the nights when Nate is home because I miss out on precious time with my son.

There's no easy answer to this problem, nor am I really even looking for one. It is what it is, and I know it won't be this way forever. But I'm at a point where I have so much to do that I can't really do any of it well. Or at least not as well as I normally would. And that drives me crazy, because — as you may have noticed — I'm a bit of a perfectionist. (Though I'm trying to let go, I really am...)

So, yeah. I'm exhausted and maxed out and I don't have the time or energy for anything except a lot of sub-par work and some equally sub-par parenting. Yet Monday night I spent THREE HOURS gluing conversation hearts to a ribbon-wrapped piece of styrofoam. May I present the second wreath in my DIY series?




The key to surviving stress is prioritization, you know. And the occasional mindless activity involving a hot glue gun.