Life is bumpy. Sometimes the bumps are just little divets that you stub your big toe on, sometimes they are giant potholes that trip you up. In the end, though, there isn’t really any harm done if you remember that the rest of life is actually smooth. I welcome smooth. But just to tip my hat at Life and its weird sense of humour, I thought I’d share 3 things that made my week interesting.

I’m linking up with Pink Chai Living, Love Laugh Mirch and The Write Balance as part of #3ThingsThursday. If you’re a blogger who’d like to join in, please visit one of their sites and drop you link!

One: My (NOT) Pregnancy Announcement

Sunday was a LOVELY day. In fact, the Sunday closest to December is actually one of my favourite days of the year. It’s when we pull out our Christmas decorations and our tree from storage and pretty this place up. This past Sunday we did just that. What I love about trimming the tree is pulling out the ornaments – some made by my husband when he was a child, some made by my kids at our annual family dinner at my sister-in-law’s house, and others gifted to us that are wrapped in special memories.

Like this one:

To this pretty picture, I innocently added the caption: It’s that time again!

What I meant was, it’s that time OF YEAR again! Not, it’s that time when I’m pregnant again. I had to laugh when I got questions about this because I mean, c’mon…these people were giving me way too much credit. I NEVER announced pregnancies in this cute-sy way. I was too busy sticking my head in a bucket 4 or 5 times a day, while couch-ridden. As fun as that sounds, no, thank you. These booties symbolize my last baby’s first Christmas. And that’s it!

Two: The Interrupted Webinar

On Tuesday evening, I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with the ladies behind Kindness is Key Training, Inc. Not just with them, but with everybody tuned into their webinar. I was up toward the end of the hour and my excitement had been building. I love talking about authenticity, creativity and kindness and will never turn down a chance to do so! Finally, it was my turn to answer questions, and just as I was in the middle of answering a great one, my older daughter burst into the room, wide-eyed. “Alyzeh just threw up! And it’s all over the floor and Papa and her…”

What?! She’d never thrown up before (other than baby spit up what feels like ages ago) and this one sounded like a doozy. (And it was). I’m not sure if I mumbled anything to the audience at that point, but I quickly muted the microphone, texted the moderator (My daughter’s vomiting! Nadir needs my help!), changed out of my brand new shirt from West + Wind and well…did what mamas must do.

In hindsight, I wondered if there was a different way I could have handled it. Was that totally unprofessional of me? But how could I have left my husband and baby covered in vomit upstairs while I finished up my thoughts on creativity? I guess what I did on instinct was the right thing to do because I got a text from the moderator the next day saying she admired what I did and asked me back in the near future.

Three: Late.

So, there may be some of you (my husband *cough, cough*) who don’t believe it’s a big deal to be late for things. I should tell you I’m a Taurus and I beg to differ. Before kids, my motto was: “If you’re on time, you’re 5 minutes late.” When my first born was 6 weeks old we went to a family friend’s birthday party and we were like half an hour late. It killed me. In the last 8 years, I have slowly, painfully had to let go of my old friend, Punctuality. (Where kids are involved. If it’s just me, I’m good!)

However, I would like to say that it is extremely rare for my kids to get a late slip at school despite the fact that we start at the insane hour of 8:30 am. Not insane to me, the Taurean morning person. But insane to me, the mom of 3 who hears her mom’s chiding when she tries to leave the house in her pyjamas. (I’m just going down the street! I don’t even have to get out of the car!)

This morning, though, my daughter had to be at school by 8:20 for a field trip. Seriously, that is just Life mocking me for being proud of my ability to get my 3 kids up and out on my own, with no medication-induced superhero powers. I did my due diligence: woke my son up 10 minutes earlier than normal (he’s the slowest), woke the toddler up 10 minutes earlier than normal. Packed their backpacks myself. You know. To be helpful. I seriously did everything right. I didn’t yell. Nobody cried. And we were still 10 minutes late.

When we pulled up to the school, my daughter saw her classmates piling into cars ready to go. “They’re leaving!” she cried.

“Nobody’s leaving without you.” (You’re going to the skating rink, not taking a flight to the moon. Relax, daughter of a time-obsessed Taurean woman).

Later, after dropping the youngest to daycare I noticed I had a missed call from one of the other moms in the class. She was wondering where my girl was as she was the one driving her to the rink.

And for the FIRST TIME in my astrologically-influenced, time-panicked, genetically-disposed-to-crazy life I didn’t feel a darn drop of guilt. Like, nothing. I had done my best. There was not a thing I could have done to change the outcome. I hope it didn’t cut into anyone’s ice time or totally mess anything up, but things can always be worse.

Maybe I traded in Punctuality for Perspective. This morning, at least.

Hope you’ve all had a fantastic week! Cheers to two more weeks of getting my kids to school…on time! Yes, still counting down to Christmas break!