my life ... in 7 days.

This is what it looks like starting one week ago

Wednesday night - rather than keep this evening free I decide to squeeze in a Family/Newborn session in my studio. Adorably sweet ... but the packing for the road trip the next day is not going to get itself done. It will have to wait too because one of my besties is here from the Island and we NEED to visit ... until midnight.

Thursday Morning - Wake up and remember that I was supposed to get some work done the night before and did not. Wake up extra early to put in an hour in my office before the kids wake up, except Keegan wakes up anyway! Get little kids ready, this WOULD be the one day that Karleigh sleeps in. Take them over to Grammas house. As Im walking out the door Karleigh says "Mama you packed my ballet bag right?" ... wrong. Ok, let me go get gas, run back to the house and I will drop it off on our way out of town. Go home, grab the bag, add a few extra diapers for Keegan incase who KNOWS what might happen on our trip that would keep us away for any extra time and we are on our way!
Thursday Afternoon - drive drive drive, drop Lane off at the dealership to pick up my new car (can I just say I LOVE it!!) and Tristan and I head in another direction to go and see Logan. She knows that we are coming, but does not know that Lane is. We pick up dinner for ... a lot of people, and head over! Its amazing, its encouraging, it almost doesnt seem real. We listen to her tell us about the things that she is working through, processing, its beyond words! Lane shows up and holy goodness ... the photo below will describe this moment better than I ever could. We take her out for a while and return her safe and sound and begin our trip back home. Drive ... drive, and drive some more.

Friday morning - arrive home at 1am. Sleep for a few hours and pick up the littles by 8 so that I can get them ready (again) and get KL ready for dance camp and there by 10. Drop her off, come home and meet a great friend at my house for some baby shower planning! Talk, talk, talk ... til 11:45 and then I leave to get Karleigh.
Friday afternoon ... get Tristan to work, laugh at the idea of even cooking dinner and to be very honest I can't even tell you what we ate that night ... hmmmm, nope, no idea.
Friday night ... April Martin you have a workshop to teach ... TOMORROW!! Head out to get supplies (notebooks and yummy treats, it is all women after all!) and fit in a quick coffee with my mother in law to give her the update on Logan, which I am VERY happy to give since its such positive news. Come home, grab my folder for my workshop and attempt to review before bed, spill glass of wine all over papers and decide that its just time to go to bed. I've done this workshop before, I'm good at it ... nothing to worry about :)

Saturday - workshop 10-2 ... and why not throw a Family Session in at 3pm just for good measure right? Come home, have wonderful friends over for a bbq and I think I might have even relaxed this night ... but thats debatable.

Sunday - THIS morning I definitely relaxed ... I think. Photographed a beautiful Wedding in the afternoon, arrived late to a little friends birthday party due to work and LEFT early due to my crazy 2 year old who thought it was ok to throw a fit the size of my new truck and me? I thought otherwise. I dragged him out of there, left Lane to bring Karleigh home and as soon as we got in the car all I heard the whole way home was ... "Hi Mum. I love you Mum. Hi Mum." aaaaaggggghhhhhhhh!

Monday - Keegan Reid gymnastics Day 1. Oh Lord. I'm not sure what I was thinking. He loved it, however did not listen. This was ok, he had fun, nobody got hurt and by 9:45 I was pretty much ready for a nap, although I don't remember the last time I actually had one of those. Pick up snack for the kids and head up to Gramma B's house so that I can drop them off and go check out Wedding Venues with another Bestie. I feel like my day is going well, and then my sweet stepson calls. Can I pick him up, yes but it will need to be soon since Keegan needs to nap and if he falls asleep in the car I will miss my window. Can you take me to another friends house? Fine, but again ... what I said before. Can we stop at home so I can brush my teeth? Are you kidding me?? BAH! Fine ... yes ... but why is the concept of bringing your overnight things to a SLEEP-OVER such a tough thing to grasp?? At this point, leaving the Wedding site, smoke coming out of my ears ... I am SO thankful that Lane offers to do the picking up, brush teeth and re-drop off duties. Why? Oh yes, that baby shower? Its tonight!! Eek!! Pick up kids, get home, Keegan naps (do you hear the angels singing???) and I prepare for the evenings event :) Good food, cute babies, great friends ... it all went perfectly! Monday night ... me ... sleep.

Tuesday - Keegan Reid gymnastis day 2. He's not so excited about it today. Its a car themed day and everytime he hears someone say car he runs to me and says "ok??" because he wants to go home. We leave the class about 10 minutes early at his request. At this point why not have a play date right?? So I have 2 girlfriends and 4 additional kids over :) So crazy but so fun and I love my friends too much, even when we have a bunch of crazies running around us I am so thankful that I have them. By about 12:30 its very evident that all of these kids needs naps or at least quiet times so things quiet down, company disperses and eventually its just me. Who am I kidding, its never JUST me ... but maybe I was in the bathroom or something, in there its just me, well, sometimes. I take a breath, and realize that I need to leave in an hour to get Tristan to work. Drop him off, come home, make dinner, Logan calls. YAY! First day that she's been able to phone and its so good to hear her voice. Get a quick update from her, all is well, say our "love you's" and that's that. 2 minutes later, the facility calls with another update, still all good but just filling me in. Meanwhile I see Keegan streaking through the hallway and down the stairs, apparently he is out of his bath. Finish up on the phone, get some clothes on my little nudist and then head off for a late birthday celebration because my life got in the way of her REAL birthday. (you're welcome for the best Veggie Burger in town xo) Get home with time to visit with my husband for a bit, and instead realize that its been a long week (a long month if I'm being really honest) and we are just not on the same page at that moment, so I head to bed. Loving him, him loving me ... but not in chatty moods. Meh ... what am I gonna do.

Weds Morning - gymnastics = SUCCESS!! yay! He has fun, and again I feel like I have my whole day planned out properly. Then another text, seems that the kid that I THOUGHT was at home, is not. Drop Karleigh off at a friends house because its not her fault that she's part of a crazy family, take Keegan home, wait for house cleaners to arrive (its not as glamorous as it sounds ... get over it) do a walk through with them and then pack Keeg up again to start the next part of our day. Starbucks ... thank GOD for Starbucks! Take Keegan to the park in a half attempt to be a good mom for 15 minutes before our next chore. Sit down, watch him on the slide and remember that today is Logans 30th day :) Call florist (keep one eye on Keegan) order a delivery for her (still watching him) give her all the info including all the siblings names and spelling. Hang up and realize its time to go get Tristan now. Convince Keegan that it will be really fun and that we're going to see "T" ... he decides to believe me and we are off! Pick up Trist, take him to work, pick up Karleigh, go home, put Keegan down for a nap, realize that Karleigh is getting a nasty cold, send her for a nap also and then .... nothing. ahhhhhhhhh.
Keegan wakes up, we play in the yard, go in the pool, he snuggles me on the blanket on the grass and I don't even care that he's getting red popsicle all over me ... at that moment, life is perfect. Fast forward, make dinner, head off to another shoot in the studio, get gas and almost choke at how much it costs to fill this new beast! pick up Tristan from work and come home. Sneak into Karleighs room to give her some medicine, sit for a minute ... hear Keegan, get him out of my closet??? I know ... and get him back to bed.

That brings me to now ... many times this week I have thought about making my facebook status read something like "If you are not my child or my husband ... don't ask me for anything" but then there were times when I thought "even if you are my child or my husband, don't ask me for anything" and then my heart started to work again and I realized that I love people, even though my dads saying of "I hate everybody" has really made a lot of sense to me this week. I'm tired, as I told Tristan today. Not "sick" and tired, just literally tired from life right now. I know some people have it worse, or more busy, and that's fine. It won't make me feel better for someone to tell me that their life is busier ... sometimes my life, my husband and my 4 (3 at home) kids are enough busy for me ... enough so that its tiring, whether I love it or not.

I'd love to tell you that this post has a point but it doesnt ... I don't think. Its just another look into my life. If you're still reading, there must be a reason.

Enjoy these photos ... I love these people. Before there were the littles in our lives it was these 3 that I fell in love with first.