Work-Life Balance - and a lot of dancing

It’s been a big week for our little girl. On Thursday morning she took her Grade 1 ballet exam, which is a huge deal and a massive achievement for a six year old (well, I think so anyway!)

The level of emotion, excitement and hype in the dressing room beforehand was enough to make any adult burst into sobs, so I wasn’t surprised when Molly’s eyes welled up in panic tears a moment before she was due to go into the exam studio. 

But she managed to compose herself again a few seconds later, went on to do her exam successfully and came back out again smiling and giggling.

The hairstyle (using 75 hair clips, 6 hair bands, two hair nets, a tub of gel and half a can of hairspray) remained in place for the rest of the day as she wanted to show it off at school in the afternoon, and was kept in place until Jake came home from work at 7pm.

The next evening was followed by more dancing at the school Halloween Disco. I don’t remember going to any discos until I was at intermediate school, aged about 10. But these days they start them early and Molly’s been to about 4 or 5 already. I’m still not entirely sure that the playlist was completely appropriate for her age group (eg I’m Sexy and I Know It – but luckily Molly has interpreted the lyrics as I’m Sixteen and I Know It), and it’s crazy to watch the kids dancing and singing along to all the pop songs, word perfect.

The disco was preceeded by a “getting ready party” at her friend’s house where six girls squealed and shrieked for a couple of hours while they put their outfits and make up on, and was followed afterwards by a sleepover at her friend's house where I believe four girls squealed and shrieked until 10.20pm. They got up this morning at 5.30am – therefore Molly is a bit of a mess today! 

Meanwhile, I have taken on a number of extra freelancing projects lately which means I’m going to be working full time, 40 hours a week, for the next 3 weeks or so. Yikes!

I know, I know, people do it all the time. But Alfie’s only at pre-school for 15 hours a week and this is where the plan falls short. In order to fit the work in I will need to drop some other stuff out of my life for a while, eg cleaning, cooking, shopping, laundry, paperwork, school drop offs and pick ups, and taxi-ing to and from the kids activities. And house hunting? Ha ha, that’s not going to happen any time soon! I guess I also need to strike off the list zumba, coffee/cafes, playing the piano, walking up the mountain, reading, blogging and anything else that usually makes my life fun! 

Alternatively I could just reduce my sleep time down to 3.5 hours per night. I can handle that for a month, surely? Wish me luck...