Why do I make my life more difficult than it needs to be?

Patch will be entering KG this fall.  Yay.  Enrollment packet came home from school the day he had a doctor appointment, and I could actually drop the form off without having to make a second trip.  Double yay.  School gave me six weeks notice for our parent-child orientation day - ample time to take off from work.  Triple yay.  

Now I read the packet more carefully, with everything I have to prepare.  

Birth certificate or passport - check.  

Mortgage bill or other proof of residency - check.  

Social Security Card - um, weird, but ok, check. 

Then the kicker:

"If your child was not born in the United States, please contact the International Student Office at 301-230-0686 for an appointment prior to the dates of orientation.  Children born outside the United States cannot be enrolled without first going to the International Student office." 

Um, ouch.  

Now, I know that since Patch is a citizen jus sanguis - from his blood, the second he was born - I can pretty much tell you whatever this process is or Office is supposed do to, does not apply to him.  I can also tell you that if I showed up with this Certificate of Report of Birth Abroad, the school secretary would have no idea what to do with it.  

Now I am going to keep my fingers crossed and hope that when I call the office, they have enough experience with "international students" like Patch (this is a DC suburb, after all), that I don't actually have to make a special trip to have his status (which is "citizen") verified.  Let's hope!  But, I only have myself to blame for this, of course.

secret to keeping my mind sane

I did not succeed in March (at keeping myself sane), which should be evident because I did not post a single blog post.

But, April 1-7, I'm home for a combination of child-watching and vacation (Lea is back in the Philippines, getting a new visa and visiting family).  Last night, I realized that, since November, I hadn't been following my own advice.  And, this is why I was feeling out of sorts.

My secret to keeping sane, with all the boys and working?  Taking one day off per month to get done all those little things that mount up.  (In honestly, that is tip #2.  Tip #1 is being able to be lucky enough to have a nanny who does laundry, cleans, and cooks dinner.  Without that, I'd be crazy.)  I had been doing a good job all of 2014 in following this piece of advice.  But then we took a wonderful week at Thanksgiving in Texas.  And then I threw out my back and for mid-December through the end of Feb, I was having to juggle two physical therapy sessions per week, so no extra time off.

But yesterday, I was home.  It was crazy running around (and, I admit, I tried to squeeze too much in and didn't make it home in time to cook dinner ... though this sort of turned into a parenting win, because Wm got his long-time wish since he remembered the local pizza joint has kids movie night on Wednesdays).  But, I crossed off some of those little things (my hair cut, second opinion on some bumps Ian has, Ian's hair cut, sorting papers, and I'm sure some other things, too, given how busy I was) and went to sleep happy.

Note to self: don't forget to take that one day per month!