It's a Wednesday!

So, I didn't run this morning.  But before you even have the chance to think "What happened to all this bit about dedicating yourself to your training schedule for the next month?"  I have a plan to run my 5 miler after work today (and do my 2500m swim after work tomorrow) before picking up the Little Ladies from school.  And I have a reason as to why it didn't happen this morning.

At 5:30 pm yesterday, Mr. Darcy called me.  He has a business trip today and part of the day Thursday.  Originally he was going to leave from our house and drive over to Tampa on his own so he could take the girls to daycare and I could get my run on.  But, as he was about to walk out the door his boss asked if he'd like to meet him at his house this morning and ride with him.  Of course, I'm not going to refuse Mr. Darcy several hours of face time with his boss, even if that means he has to leave the house before the girls get out of bed.  Granted I wasn't thrilled when he TOLD me that this was how it was going to be.  But I expressed my displeasure in not being asked, despite the fact that all work related items are always answered with a "yes" unless there is a major reason (such as surgery or a booked flight for a work or family trip).  I think asking even when the answer has to be "yes" is a nice and respectful way to deal with the person you share your life with.  I do my best to ask instead of dictate, but I'm sure from time to time I slip up. 

And once I found out that he found us a babysitter because our usual babysitter didn't answer my phone call and then when he found her at daycare she said she wasn't available, that was even better.  Of course, the babysitter is not for today or tomorrow but for Friday evening.  The Darcy Seniors had planned to come visit us this weekend and watch the girls while we went to a concert Friday night, but that was before my Aunt passed and they ended up watching the Little Ladies this past weekend.  Evidently, while the assured us that the girls were a ton of fun and were on extremely good behavior the entire weekend but just were very active (they're my children... really the fact that they're active little things shouldn't be so surprising), was enough to wear them out and they cancelled their visit for this weekend.  So the race was on to find a babysitter, and amazingly one of Ladybug's teachers also babysits so she's going to come over Friday after she gets off work.

This week is really turning into a nutty one.  Mr. Darcy's schedule and mine is just not really lining up, which is a bit frustrating.  Monday it was the trade of the children while I swam, and then again when he worked until 1 am.  Tuesday it was me going to my Junior League meeting for elections and then leaving the meeting 1/2 an hour early to get home in time for Mr. Darcy to go to his alumni association meeting and for me to take over with the girls.  I forced myself to stay up until 10:10 pm (and am a little more tired because of it today) thinking that maybe Mr. Darcy would be back.  Nope.  I'm not sure what time he got home, but I remember not sleeping all that well until I heard him ask me if I was sleeping and then amazingly fell into a deep sleep.  Then this morning he had to leave around 6:30 (although I don't think he left until 6:40 when I told him that he needed to stop coming back in the house because I needed to get the girls up and he said he finally had everything he needed).  He won't be back until Thursday after work.  The big plug is tomorrow at 8 am and then they'll go back to the Tampa office for a bit, have lunch and then head back to work in the regular office. But we'll have Thursday evening with the girls and then Friday the concert for just Mr. Darcy and I (which in a way, I'd rather spend the evening all 4 of us since it seems like we've not all been in the same place at the same time for more than a few days at a time in a bit).  Saturday morning, I'm up bright and early to meet up with the Team in Training team for a mini-tri (1,000m open water swim, 14 mile bike, and a 4.5 mile run for me... 3 miles for everyone else).  Of course, I have to drive the wrong direction to meet with everyone because I live closer to New Smyrna Beach, so I'm adding time to my morning.  Nothing like having to leave the house by 5:30 am to drive 1/2 an hour in the wrong direction!  But it's for the Team, so it'll be worth it - besides maybe I'll have someone to either ride with me or me to ride with... which means I need to find time to clean out the mini-van again.  I just cleaned it out 2 weeks ago and it's trashed again.  It makes me crazy.

Speaking of trashed, I'm not sure what Mr. Darcy did with the girls last night while I wasn't home (other than some much needed grocery shopping basics that I'm very thankful for) because their playroom and bedroom is a giant mess - clothing from this weekend's trip spread everywhere and toys all over the place too.  It's almost as though they were running wild and making a game of making the biggest mess.  My plan is to get them to pick up after themselves this evening.  We'll see how that goes.  They do it at school, they did it at Grammie and PaPa's house, but getting them to do it at home is painful - for me, not them.

And I'm tired today... like waking up and wanting a nap tired.  I may even make myself some coffee, I'm so tired.  Sigh.  I guess I said outloud that I was feeling a bit better since starting the medicine and B12 one too many times, and this is the revenge.

On the 3 1/2 year old romance front, it turns out that Connor has no plans to marry anyone because "Little boys don't get married."  He's quite sensible, that one.  The girls told me last night that Connor told them he wanted to marry Ladybug, and Ladybug says that she wants to marry him.  Angelfish is a bit upset about it, but I explained to the girls that you can be good friends with a boy without wanting to marry him and gave them a few examples with men they know that I am friends with. (Oh, and Aunt Jennifer, the girls said they want to see you, Uncle Steve, Audey - yeah, they're still saying her name that way, and Baby Colin at Disney.) Angelfish, I think, remains a bit heartbroken despite her declaration that she is marrying Holland and that she loves him very much.

I ran into Connor's Mom at daycare and told her the latest in the saga that the girls have told me, and she laughed.  We talked about how I never wanted to get married until Mr. Darcy convinced me otherwise, but that there's a lot of social imaging out there for girls and women about weddings and getting married.  It's the only thing that explains it all.  She told me that Connor mentioned to her that someone had said they wanted to marry Z, but that Connor told her that he didn't want Z to get married because then they wouldn't be able to spend as much time together.  She asked him why he didnt' think they'd get to spend time together, and he (this kid is quick, let me tell you) said, "Well, you and Daddy are married and you don't get to see your friends often at all!"  Of course, that may have more to do with the having children thing... but for a 4 year old, he's pretty insightful.

In saying our nightly prayers last night, Ladybug prayed "God, give us a garden full of flowers so that Mommy can get married to Daddy again and I can be the flower girl."
So I've decided the girls need a hobby that will get their minds off of getting married or being a princess.  I plan to call to see about gymnastics, and will hope that if we do that with them that they'll have a class full of GIRLS!  It's either that or an all girls' school.

I thought about triathlon of course, but the youngest for any of that I could find is 6, so we've got a few years.  I think Angelfish in particular would eat it up.  This morning she talked Ladybug into letting her wear her shoes to school - they're these dressy shoes that Ladybug loves to wear and I figure whatever gets her out the door is fine.  They're shoes, they fit and all is well.  Angelfish put them on and then tried to run on them and got upset because they didn't feel right.  So she switched with another pair of Ladybug's favorites - black Mary Jane's with bows on them.  Those ran okay but slipped, and she opted to return to wearing her regular running shoes like she wear every other day of the week.  She told me, "They fit good and let me run fast!"  If that's not a triathlete (or at least a runner) in the making, I'm not sure what is!

Well, it's off to work... and a haircut at lunch and a nice 5 mile run after work.  Cross your fingers that it works that way!