Juggling: Guest Post from Cori at Cori’s Big Mouth

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am not here.  I went on a little vacation with Daddy Head, Bear and Lion, so I have asked a few of my friends to post for me this week.  Today, the spunky Cori from Cori’s Big Mouth is here to join you.  I so enjoy reading about her adventures and crack up with people confuse her for being the mom of the triplets she nannies.

I hope that you will read her post today and then head over and say hi on her blog.  Be sure to say that I sent you.

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http://www.exnerassociates.com/juggling.htm

How many of us feel like all we do is juggle – life, work and fun?  If you’re anything like me, that’s all you do!

The beginning of April, I started my spring quarter of college, with a full load of classes!  On top of that I am working part-time as a nanny for triplets, trying to have somewhat of a social life, oh and of course blogging!  The combination of everything is enough to make my head spin!  I know I’m not alone in my constant state of juggling!  This past week was my first full week of class for this quarter and it was a busy week for me at work.  Little did I know that this would turn into a prime example of how I juggle everything!

I have to admit that I am the world’s worst procrastinator when it comes to school.  I wait until the last minute to get an assignment or paper done!  Is this a bad thing?  Not always, especially if you know yourself.  I may be a procrastinator, but I work best under pressure.  Without pressure breathing down my neck I can easily find something else to occupy my time (ahem…blogging!) Yesterday was a prime example of how I roll!  I had to work from 9am-3pm AND had school in the afternoon where I had to submit a four page paper that I hadn’t started yet!  (Remember I said I’m a procrastinator!)

In addition to that, this week is spring break for our school district, that means I had the triplets and their 8-year-old sister to take care of.  Having Sophia home always throws a wrench into my plans, because I don’t have a full “break” when it comes to naptime.  I knew I had to enter my work day with a plan…a plan so thoroughly planned out it was like the Marines taking on a beach.  Yes, I had it all planned out, basically down to the minute to get my paper written and still have happy kids – who napped!!

The plan?  I KNEW if I wanted the triplets to take a good nap, we would have to get out of the house and do something physical.  I remembered that Sophia had been bugging me to take them to a new trampoline place.  Perfect!  Trampolines are extremely physical, that should wear the triplets out and hopefully Sophia too, giving me plenty of time to work on my paper!  I decided that we would attend the 11am session, be done by noon, I packed a lunch to feed the kids on the way home in the car and get home where I put the triplets down for a nap!

My plan worked pretty well, even though the trampoline place didn’t go as I had hoped.  One of the triplets wanted nothing to do with it and basically screamed the entire time, for “uppppieeeee” (aka- pick me up!)  (I did have a mom sitting next to me comment, “you are one great mama, for being able to handle all of them.”  Little did she know I’m not their mom!  I just smiled and went about my business trying not to explode on the screamer!)  Triplet #2 had fun until he realized there was a food area.  He suddenly was STARVING and that was the end of his playing.  Even Sophia was done early.  Triplet #3 lasted the longest.  I actually found myself telling them WE ARE NOT LEAVING!  I needed them to be worn out, not to mention I had just spent $60 for an hour of jumping!  I finally gave in and we left.  I was hopeful they had jumped enough to burn some energy!  They happily ate their lunch in the car and went right to sleep when we got home!  Score!

Once the triplets were down for a nap, I just had Sophia.  She went out to find someone to play with, nobody was around, so she happily entertained herself with my iPhone while I sat down to write my paper.  By this time it was 1:30, I had two hours to write my paper before I had to leave for class.

I sat down at my laptop and looked at my blank screen, still not sure where to start.  The paper I had to write came with no prompt, I’m not great about pulling a topic out of thin air to write about, I had no idea what to do.  I finally settled on a topic, but wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to write about.  I finally just started typing, not sure where I was going with it.  The more I researched and wrote, the easier it came, suddenly it felt like my paper had written itself.  Thankfully, I was putting the finishing touches on my paper when my backup arrived to relieve me.  I printed my paper, then realized, crap I haven’t done my chores!’

I went into warp speed as I did the dishes and picked up.  I wasn’t able to get it all done, leaving piles of clean folded clothes all over the kitchen.  I had to send my boss a text saying “sorry!”   Oh well, you can get it all done, right?!  I have to admit, I walked into class 10-minutes late.  OOPS!  But, I got my essay turned in, I felt good about it AND the kids had a fun morning outing!

I was lucky and all the stars aligned for me yesterday!  It may have just been luck, but I’ll take it!

That’s one example of how I *try* to juggle my life!  Now I have a question for you … How do you juggle life??

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