November, November…
Its Halloween tomorrow, and the scariest part about it for me is that once it’s over it ushers in November, and the beginning of holiday madness - compounded by birthdays in this family too, argh!
With the exception of my LO’s birthday (which is posing its own headache right now), I hate the period between now and early January! I work, full-time, in a job that is slowly sucking the joy out of me. DH travels, a fair bit, bringing about additional work-widow complications and stress. The LO’s medical concerns are at the forefront of my thoughts on a daily basis, especially during flu season. And, with birthday celebrations for both my daughter and niece, Christmas, and New Year’s back-to-back… let’s be honest, I’m left hanging by a thread most days!
Let’s not even discuss the fact that (insert Game of Thrones music here) winter is coming!
So the last thing I need is extra drama added to my already overwhelming to-do list while I keep up with the looming holiday shit show… but, there is always plenty to go around! Some days I wish I could find a cave and hibernate straight through.
For the LO’s first and second birthdays, while they were held at a restaurant and children’s activity center respectfully, there was a fair bit of planning involved; inevitably all by me. This required a level of patience and organization that I simply don’t have enough of these days. So, fast forward to the big 3, and I was determined to make it easy peasy.
Because the LO goes to daycare, she doesn’t see her playgroup friends as often as before and hardly remembers most of them. Also, since everyone is back at work no one really has time to get together these days and those early friendships are fracturing (between moms and kids alike). And, since we were late to the baby game, most of my long term friends have older children as well so it’s not really practical to throw a 3rd birthday party with a bunch of pre-teens and teenagers sitting around on their phones! So, we decided to go a different route this year – one that I was happy with until a couple of days ago.
Her birthday falls mid-week so we are dividing the family celebrations into the weekends before and after. For my mom’s the weekend before, just dinner and maybe some cupcakes. The weekend after, a small morning activity with the littlest cousin followed by cake at my MIL’s with the rest of the family in the afternoon. Pretty simple, right? Wrong! Everything was good until I asked my MIL if she minded hosting the cake and coffee at her house. She was ok with hosting, but seemingly offended that I had ordered a fancy birthday cake. She “suggested”, at least 10 times, that I cancel the cake so she could make one herself. I refused, repeatedly, and somehow managed to keep my cool. I even sent her a text message later on confirming her place for cake and re-iterating that she should NOT make any more desserts (including cake) as I will be providing my daughter’s birthday cake MYSELF. I told her that she could have some fruit and cheese platters if she insisted, and she agreed, but I won’t hold my breath. In fact, it only occurred to me today that we will have our regularly-scheduled-family-dinner mid-week, before the actual party, and that she will almost certainly try to bake something then; effectively taking away from my big cake surprise, one of the few things I am actually looking forward to in the next couple of months. I discussed this with DH and he agreed to say something to his mother about it, but he completely doesn’t understand why it would bother me in the first place. And, despite trying to explain it various ways, I just don’t have the energy to fight it out.
On a positive note, now I have a whole year to come up with a better plan for the next birthday… one that doesn’t make me want to rip my hair out. Oh, and November wallpapers are here! The usual, and a bonus to celebrate the big 3!
With the exception of my LO’s birthday (which is posing its own headache right now), I hate the period between now and early January! I work, full-time, in a job that is slowly sucking the joy out of me. DH travels, a fair bit, bringing about additional work-widow complications and stress. The LO’s medical concerns are at the forefront of my thoughts on a daily basis, especially during flu season. And, with birthday celebrations for both my daughter and niece, Christmas, and New Year’s back-to-back… let’s be honest, I’m left hanging by a thread most days!
Let’s not even discuss the fact that (insert Game of Thrones music here) winter is coming!
So the last thing I need is extra drama added to my already overwhelming to-do list while I keep up with the looming holiday shit show… but, there is always plenty to go around! Some days I wish I could find a cave and hibernate straight through.
For the LO’s first and second birthdays, while they were held at a restaurant and children’s activity center respectfully, there was a fair bit of planning involved; inevitably all by me. This required a level of patience and organization that I simply don’t have enough of these days. So, fast forward to the big 3, and I was determined to make it easy peasy.
Because the LO goes to daycare, she doesn’t see her playgroup friends as often as before and hardly remembers most of them. Also, since everyone is back at work no one really has time to get together these days and those early friendships are fracturing (between moms and kids alike). And, since we were late to the baby game, most of my long term friends have older children as well so it’s not really practical to throw a 3rd birthday party with a bunch of pre-teens and teenagers sitting around on their phones! So, we decided to go a different route this year – one that I was happy with until a couple of days ago.
Her birthday falls mid-week so we are dividing the family celebrations into the weekends before and after. For my mom’s the weekend before, just dinner and maybe some cupcakes. The weekend after, a small morning activity with the littlest cousin followed by cake at my MIL’s with the rest of the family in the afternoon. Pretty simple, right? Wrong! Everything was good until I asked my MIL if she minded hosting the cake and coffee at her house. She was ok with hosting, but seemingly offended that I had ordered a fancy birthday cake. She “suggested”, at least 10 times, that I cancel the cake so she could make one herself. I refused, repeatedly, and somehow managed to keep my cool. I even sent her a text message later on confirming her place for cake and re-iterating that she should NOT make any more desserts (including cake) as I will be providing my daughter’s birthday cake MYSELF. I told her that she could have some fruit and cheese platters if she insisted, and she agreed, but I won’t hold my breath. In fact, it only occurred to me today that we will have our regularly-scheduled-family-dinner mid-week, before the actual party, and that she will almost certainly try to bake something then; effectively taking away from my big cake surprise, one of the few things I am actually looking forward to in the next couple of months. I discussed this with DH and he agreed to say something to his mother about it, but he completely doesn’t understand why it would bother me in the first place. And, despite trying to explain it various ways, I just don’t have the energy to fight it out.
On a positive note, now I have a whole year to come up with a better plan for the next birthday… one that doesn’t make me want to rip my hair out. Oh, and November wallpapers are here! The usual, and a bonus to celebrate the big 3!
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| November 2018 |
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| Birthday 2018 |
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