October 2013 Update

Well, I survived conference season and I’m back among the land of the living. Hallelujah! The conference actually went very well and was a HUGE success! We are already planning away for 2014 but things are a lot more calm as far as work load goes.

As soon as the conference was over, Skylar flew out to join me in Las Vegas. Y’all, this kid is a super traveler. Granted, she’s been flying pretty regularly since she was 18 months old so she knows the drill. However, this was her first time to fly as an unaccompanied minor. I’ll admit, I was a bit anxious but she did great! She had no hesitations whatsoever and boarded the plane like a champ. Once she landed, her flight attendant assured me that she was fantastic up in the air. I had already been away from her for 6 days at this point and was missing her BIG time. I was thrilled to finally wrap my arms around my little jet setter. I think she was equally excited to see her mama! 😉

I had arranged for a limo to pick her up from the airport so we started our adventure in style. She LOVED Vegas! She says her favorite parts were the M&M Factory and seeing Cirque du Soleil’s “O” (which was indeed fantastic!). I think her favorite part was the push-button closure for the drapes in our hotel room. She pushed that button no less than 50 times. And on the morning we were supposed to leave, she woke up crying saying she didn’t want to leave the Bellagio. Bless. Me, I was done with Vegas on about day 2. After 8 days I was definitely ready to get the heck out of there. All the flashing lights and sounds and smells and scantily-clad girls – ugh!

Next, we flew to Dallas to visit the Drose Family. I was so happy to be with my bestie again for a solid chunk of time and to see her new home and surroundings. It rained a lot while we were there, which was fine with me. I was EXHAUSTED and just wanted to rest. The conference had me working 12-hour days (in heels) and, of course, Skylar was ready to hit the ground running when she arrived. So, it was nice to finally just chill out for a few days. We did take the kids to Medieval Times. It’s dinner and a show with knights and horses and a jousting/sword fighting competition. Our kiddos loved it!

Then, 12 days after my travels began, I flew back to Nashville with my girl. Again, such a great traveler! She wears her backpack and pulls her suitcase all over the airport. She is even pretty good at reading the signs and making sure we get to our next gate or baggage claim. My favorite part is she helps us skip the x-ray machine. I’m not sure at what age they will stop letting her go through the metal detector, but it makes me super happy that, for now, we both can avoid that extra radiation. She also can spot ice cream from a mile away, so we make a good traveling pair.

Back at home, it took me about another week or so to truly recover and I’m still trying to get this house back in order and catch up on projects that got pushed to the wayside during the madness of September. As much as I dreamed about getting back to our “regularly scheduled programming” it has dawned on me that there is no such thing as a “normal” day around here or even week for that matter. There is always some sort of surprise that throws the routine out of whack. I’m much better at going with the flow than I used to be. I’m at least back on the Hot Yoga bandwagon, which has me feeling much better. If only I could talk myself into meal planning and cooking again. LOL!

Another nYn doula baby made their debut earlier this week and I got to help catch. That was an awesome experience that I will never forget! I have clients booked through the end of January and then I’m trying to decide if I want to continue taking clients after that. Part of me is apprehensive because our very good neighbors just moved and she was always my plan B backup if I got called out in the middle of the night. I’m working to make some new connections but it’s hard to get someone to accurately understand the childcare needs of a doula. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore being a doula. It’s the most amazing high ever. I crave it! But being on call is, well, the sucky part. You attempt to go about your life in normal fashion but you are CONSTANTLY working on Plan A, B, C in your mind. I need to be able to drop everything at any given moment and I need people in place to hold down the fort in my absence. It’s a whole bunch of “hurry up and wait” and “maybes.” Working for hours on end with no sleep is a piece of cake. It’s the being on call part that wears me out.

Halloween this year was a bust. It rained but me and my girl did dress up and head over to Bass Pro for a little mall trick or treating and crafts. She was a ninja. I was a ninja’s mama = geisha. 😉