Monday, September 21, 2015

A life off balance

I am currently living a life that feels very unbalanced, and I am not just saying it to justify my 21 day absence from the blog (especially after promising not to disappear).  I have started a training program in order to revisit my old OB skills and start applying them again, i.e. attending to births.  It is hard to describe how many hours per day are consumed by this program, but I am guessing that at the moment it is around 10-12 hours, plus multiple commutes daily (some of the work involves going home and coming back to the hospital at all hours of day and night).

This is taking place in Vancouver, where I chose to be in a smaller hospital that would remind me of my home town, and that is within 15 minutes driving from my parents' house.  I brought the kids, and the nanny, to stay here as well, but despite having them here with me, I don't think that they are seeing as much of me as they need.  They are still little, and they are used to me being their primary caregiver, despite the fact that I work about 30 hours per week.  Back home, a lot of those hours are in the evening, and on weekends, and so the daily average is still pretty low, between 4 and 6 in general.  They hate it that I am away from them.  I hate being away from them.  I am struggling to complete this program, and feel that I cannot stay longer than another week, although I initially was going to be here for another week and a half.  I think that I might just skip the last three days, particularly because I am ready to say screw it and give it all up.  Both kids have colds, and diaper rashes, and they fight more than usual, and they cry more than usual and I generally have a harder time interacting with them in a semi-civilized manner in the evenings because they are very prone to fits of temper.


We barely have time to wash and get dressed in the mornings, and to read a book and have dinner in the evenings, with very little time to go anywhere because I am constantly on call and may have to go back.  Swimming in the city is nothing compared to the beautiful and spacious pool that we have back home.  It is crammed with kids, and lessons, and there is not much room to enjoy life, although I do take them swimming sometimes.  I, on the other hand, did not have any chance to swim in the past month. I was able to run this weekend, and got my mother quite upset in the process because she thought that I should have stayed home with the kids and not taken that little time off to myself.  No, she did not have to watch the kids, my husband was looking after them, but that never stops a mother from being disapproving, as we all know. (However, I had not run for eight days, which is forever for a regular runner, and I needed to go, so go I did, even though it was pouring rain.  Best. Run. Ever.  Except that I got to hear it from my mom for a few days afterwards and also I now have shin splints, which is what happens when you only run once a week instead of every other day).

Anyway, I am rambling.  I miss my kids is the bottom line.  I have no idea how people can live with seeing their children only for a few hours at night.  I hate the wasted time in traffic, and feel that my moments with them are shortened by a hundred red lights. I am counting down the days until I finish this gruesome schedule and vow to not undertake such an endeavour anytime soon, although I shudder to think that someday I might need to work this way to pay for my living expenses, which is what I am noticing that more and more people have to do, with expenses going up and wages staying roughly the same.  I would like to know how other mothers cope with full time work and commute in the city, if anybody wants to share.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

It has been a century

I miss my blog.  Over the course of the week, I have realized how much I miss having a place to write, and think, a place of my own for self expression and for generally documenting my thoughts as life goes by.

I have not updated here for so long that when I tried to log in, I realized that I forgot my password.  I then reset my password, logged in, and my blog had disappeared!  I thought my, that is a bit harsh, I go away for five seconds months and look, my blog is deleted off the face of the internet.  Then I figured out that hey, I am logging in with the wrong email.  Duh.  In my defence, I am not as smart as I used to be after having the kids.

My blogging time got eaten up by exercise time.  That is because for some reason I have decided that it is now time for me to start getting into some serious athletic shape, after lying in bed for the entire pregnancy with Daniel (and with Emma before), and after never being able to compete in any running or triathlon races due to never ending IVF madness.  After Daniel, I have finally felt that my body was back to normal, my own to operate and shape in any way I want, and I the first thing that I did was to get insanely fit.

I have run two half marathons this summer, one of which was a long mountain race that kicked my butt.  I run 35 km per week, swim with the local masters group, and do cross-fit.  My body is stronger and faster than ever before, even in my twenties.  However, all this takes time, specifically 6 am time,  so there goes my quiet blogging moment.

Regardless, I am in need of writing, and so I will have to find a niche of time somewhere.  I am impressed to see that the blog still gets traffic, I have to admit that it is nice to not be talking to myself over here, but at this point I feel like I would write even if I talked to myself.  Writing allows me to observe the world in a different way, to connect my present with my past, and to use my brain in a way other than pushing myself to run uphill six times more than I'd like.

That being said, creating blogging time will be tough.  I will have to see where I can steal it from.  As it is, Daniel is busy trying to plug a lamp into the outlet, so I have to interrupt constantly to chase him away from the power outlet, lest he plug his fingers in accidentally (or on purpose).  Emma is typing on my keyboard simultaneously with myself, so I have to delete gibberish.  And oh, now Daniel is typing too.  I had no idea that it was keyboard skills class.

And now Daniel pooped in his diaper. I really have to go...for now.