A birthday, a sick kid, and a broken down car- the week that was

What a week! So much happened. The week was already going to be busy with E’s last week of term before two weeks of break from school, her whole school musical on Thursday, me having a really busy work week ahead, and E’s birthday and party on Friday/Saturday. So I’d made a plan to get it all done. Of course, you know what they say about best laid plans…

Sneak peak of later in the week

Monday went pretty smoothly, although I noted that O was pretty congested and started coughing (another cold?! Really?!). That night he slept badly and was coughing a lot - by Tuesday morning he was clingy, we were all tired and it was clear he couldn’t go to daycare.

So Tuesday Al kept Owen home with him, and I gave them a mission to drive to an IKEA to pick up a last part of E’s outfit for the school musical Thursday. Then at 10.30am, I was about to go into a meeting in the office, when I got a call from Al- he’d been on the highway with O heading to IKEA when his van BROKE DOWN! The tow truck was on its was but I needed to pick up O. So I cancelled my next meeting and hit the road. It took me 45 minutes to drive to where they were parked in a truck stop (luckily they broke down somewhere they could pull over), and collect O. We were close to IKEA so I drove O there and picked up the outfit. We then drove home, I put on Paw Patrol (O’s new favourite show), and jumped on a Zoom meeting, only 3 mins late. Al came back soon after, but the van was at the mechanic, and would be there for the rest of the week. The timing belt had blown. Sigh.

Of course, I needed to drive the next morning at 8am out to meet with some research partners and do some community engagement, and needed the work vehicle to do this. But now we were down to 1 car and didn’t want all of us to have to drop me at the work vehicle at 7.30 am! So Tuesday night we drove to my work to pick up the car, stopping at McDonalds on the way for dinner, since no one had any energy to cook (there went my meal plan!).

Wednesday went ok, and then Thursday was E’s school musical - The Little Mermaid (her class was performing on song- the chef’s one). I was hoping O would be well enough to go back to daycare, but he was still coughing and really didnt want to go, and I was working from home, so I decided to keep him home one more day. I had to take a big breath and accept my work plan for the day would be seriously disrupted. Of course that also meant I had to bring him to E’s matinee show at 1pm, which is right around nap time. Also, we had no car so I had to walk him in the stroller. We never use it anymore and I realised as I pulled it out of the garage that it is looking very old, frayed, and rusty! Oh well, i brushed it down, it would have to do.

We walked to the school (luckily it’s close) and then had to queue up for half an hour to get in the doors! By the time it started, it had been 45 minutes of waiting and O was very restless. By 20 mins in he was over tired and whining loudly and I had to take him out. Sigh. But I put him on my phone on a seat outside and could luckily still see the show through the back door to the hall! I saw E coming in with her class so we got to hug before she went on stage. Their performance was very cute!

E in her chef costume - thanks IKEA!

After the show O and E had a lot of fun playing in her school grounds, and she showed him her classroom which he loved. So I enjoyed watching them have so much fun!

Playing together after the musical

Friday was E’s birthday. 7 years old and she’s such a delight. She loved her presents, and had her last day of school, and got a great report card, she put in lots of effort this term and we were very proud. Friday O could go back to daycare (hooray), I did some planning at a cafe, and had a pretty productive work day. And now E has two weeks off school!

Opening her presents.

Coffee & planning session on Friday morning - things are looking up!

Finally, Sat was E’s birthday party, a mermaid/pirate party. It was 10-12 at our house, and was honestly so much work! I had to dig deep to finish the last minute prep. We had about 10 kids (about 6 friends and their siblings) and their parents, and it went so well. I made a mermaid cake (googled “easy mermaid cake” for inspiration) and it turned out really well! We had two games (a Treasure Hunt and pass the parcel), and my friend did facepainting, which the kids loved. The Treasure Hunt was fun (clues hidden in different parts of the garden with a chest full of lollies ar the end), highly recommend this as a game, the kids worked together and everyone got lollies and chocolate at the end, so they were thrilled. I

The birthday mermaid

The cake!

Funny comment: After blowing out her candle, E announces “I wish I was an only child!” After we said that’s not nice (luckily the comment went over O’s head!), she amended “OK, I wish I was the first person in the world to meet Sponge Bob in real life!” The funny thing she actually adores her baby brother, so who knows where that wish came from!

Then, by 12.30 it was all over and I napped with O, E went on the iPad, and we had a very low key Saturday afternoon. Now that week is OVER and I’m ready to relax on Sunday. It was honestly such a challenging week, but we made it, O is feeling better, E had a great birthday, and we can pat ourselves on the back and say, we made it!

How was everyone else’s week? Hope it was a little less eventful than mine! Ha!