Mother's Day this year was my favorite one to date. It involved working for 7 hours at the hospital, so maybe my expectations were low that it would be one for the record books. (I had traded teams with another attending in order to get the weekend before - daughter's first communion - off, but that meant being on for Mother's Day.) Instead, I was pleasantly surprised.
8:00 am. Enter post-call team's room - an all-woman team with resident, 2 interns, and 1 third year medical student - bringing breakfast (nothing worse than being post-call, hungry, and not having food) - and I'm met with a chorus of "Happy Mother's Day!" None had families of their own yet, but they knew about mine. Before we launched into patient presentations, they wanted to know about how my family fun 2 K run went the day before since I had warned them that if I didn't show up that Sunday, it would be because I had died from attempting to run that thing (Not a runner. Usually break things when attempting to run.) We round, take care of our patients. I write my admission notes and head home.
4:00 pm. At home, Girl (8) and Boy (5) have prepared a Mother's Day show. Boy2 (2) is an unpredictable assistant. There is a ticket booth with tickets and an information sheet informing us that we should expect to arrive between 4:00-4:15pm and the last time to get there is 4:15pm.
We all go upstairs into Girl's room and me, husband, and our awesome au pair M are seated in a row of office and desk chairs facing Girl's bed. She reads from a script.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, before we start the 3 songs, I would like to talk to you. Over there near the bounce area, you can get raffle tickets. There are only 27 raffle tickets. You just ask for a number of tickets, I hand them to you, you sign your name, and hand them back. Then at the end of the show, I will pick the winner, give them artwork and they will keep it. I also have artwork for KC because it is Mother's Day. Now, if you are wondering where the bounce area is, it is there. (points to corner with many random pillows and blankets). You cannot get all the tickets. The most you can get is 6 raffle tickets. Boy, '1' please."
Boy runs to the CD player and starts the first song of the Holiest Kid CD Known To Man, a CD given to Girl by her first grade teacher at the end of last year - very holy bible songs in surprisingly catchy tunes - this CD deserves a post in itself. Girl, Boy, and Boy 2 stand on the bed and sing and perform. It is achingly cute. (and holy).
"Thank you, thank you. (bow)" repeat x 2 other very holy songs.
At the end, I won the raffle AND got special Mother's Day artwork. Score!
"The show is over. You can play on the bounce area or leave. Thank you for coming. You can also take one of the dolls on the floor, but not Rebecca or Baby Boy, they are my favorite. Thank you!"
7:30pm. I am walking into Verizon Center arena with Girl for her very first concert. Taylor Swift. This is a birthday present for her, but I am secretly very psyched. It's been ages since I've been to a concert. Girl is a Daddy's girl through and through. I'm usually assisting our boys (very much Mama's boys) and the husband, her. This time with her feels very special. She is BEYOND EXCITED. Half walking-half running ahead to find our seats She screams and sings along to the songs. Watching her experience the concert fills me with joy.
Taylor Swift is fantastic. Such a great, entertaining show. The best concert I've ever been to by far. (OK, maybe not saying much given my track history - not telling - but let's just say the concert that's a distant second was Madonna's Blond Ambition tour, complete with her torpedo bra outfits. Much less family-friendly.)
11:00pm. We finally get home after the drive in from the city (and leaving before the encore - tomorrow is a school day) and get her quickly ready for bed. It's going to be a rough morning.
It was a full day, a day of work-life on steroids. And completely awesome.
Awesome! Sounds like you have a nice wards team. How did you find your au pair? We so desperately need one.
ReplyDeleteIM Traditional - Mom of twin 5 month olds and a 4 year old.
I've been thinking that I should write a separate post about having an au pair since we have done it all - live-out nanny, live-in nanny, daycare... and we are seriously loving having an au pair.
ReplyDeleteWe went through Au Pair in America - a big agency, good experience dealing with them. We searched through the profiles, selected a number to interview via Skype and have made 2 really successful matches so far - young women that have become like family and who truly love our kids. Happy to tell you more about it - feel free to email via the MiM email.
Loved reading about your day!!! Especially the "holy songs!!" and bounce area!!
ReplyDeleteShe IS creative, and the kids do put on a good show.:) I know I will sorely miss the blaring of the Holiest CD on Earth in a few years...
DeleteWhat an awesome day!!! I too was attending on wards that day but business was slow so I got out early and arrived home to a clean house from DH and a letter from DD1 that had been transcribed by her teacher explaining how great a mother I am. Apparently I am a great mother because I let them "eat ice cream but does not let us get unhealthy". This letter is my most prized possession at the moment. AND I received 2 mugs that had been hand painted by the girls. It was the best day ever.
ReplyDeleteComing home to a clean house...good man you have there. Just that is worth so much. Glad you had such a nice day. I'm never loving working on the weekends but having high quality time at home afterwards seems to make up for it.
DeleteSuper fun!!!
ReplyDeleteI split Mother's Day with dad and stepmom. Time for me in morning (went on a long, three hour hike) and time for kids in afternoon. I got painted mugs for me, my mom, and stepmom, with kid art. Cooked a fantastic dinner with kids playing in background. Jack gifted me an azalea from the yard, C gave me a picture with a hand-decorated frame she made at school. It was a fantastic day. Sorry you had to work, been there:). Sounds like you made the most of it!
ReplyDeleteI secretly love Taylor Swift. I hadn't thought of "gifting" my daughter tickets for her birthday so I could go to. Too bad I couldn't do the same for Lady gaga.....
ReplyDeleteHappy mom's day!