Hi.
I'm Laura Vanderkamp. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist, and speaker.
And I'm Sarah hart Hunger, a mother of three, practicing physician, writer and course creator. We are two working parents who love our careers and our families.
Welcome to best of both worlds. Here we talk about how real women manage work, family, and time for fun, from figuring out childcare to mapping out long term career goals. We want you to get the most out of life.
Welcome the best of both worlds. This is Laura.
This episode is airing at the very end of April of twenty twenty four. We are going to be talking how we can rock that month that we now call May Somber or maybe Mayhem. There's lots of ways people are referring to this. We'll figure out what Sarah puts in the actual show notes as the title.
Of this episode.
But the reason we are doing this is because May can be an incredibly full time of year for people with school aged kids. Right so, there are recitals, performances, end of your concerts, awards, ceremonies, various the end of school year events for your kids and for those of us up north lots of community stuff too that happens in kind of that season in May to the beginning of June where it's finally warm enough to do things outdoors, but before everyone disappears for the summer, So lots of
things associated with that. But unlike December, at work, you are not gearing up for everyone to be off at a certain point, so a lot of big work stuff just keeps rolling. So we wanted to share some ideas and some thoughts on how to make May a little bit more orderly. Because you know, complexity is not the enemy. Many of us have very complex lives and that's fine. You just have to manage all the moving parts. Chaos
is the enemy, and that we can ward off. In this episode, we're gonna be talking about kind of a three part process for warding off the chaos, making sure practically that we don't get overwhelmed, finding the right balance between work and the rest of life or life in life as the case may be, and finally managing our energy so that the month feels sustainable. So just a quick side note, May is a big month in the
Unger household. I guess with birthdays anniversaries, right, what was your most memorable birthday Sarah may baby here.
I feel like the ones that were memorable were not necessarily the most fun. Is it weird that I immediately was like COVID and being mad in twenty twenty that I didn't get to celebrate my fortieth birthday, Like what's wrong with me? That that's what I thought of? But I also had a particularly lovely birthday pre kids in two thousand and nine where I recall champagne tasting and I consulted my blog and the memory was correct, or maybe my memory was because I had seen that post
on my blog. I don't know, but looked awesome and maybe I can do that for my fiftieth or.
Something like that sounds awesome. Yeah.
This year, though, I just I'm like a little sad because I am someone who tries not to work on my birthday and I recognize that like that can be seen as a little extra as an adult, but that at the same time, birthdays are limited, like we only given number of them, and I try to celebrate that day.
But I'm running solow on vacation time that this year I'm going to celebrate my birthday observed on the nineteenth or twenty first, so that I can still have a day for me but not use up precious paid time off.
Yeah, and you guys got married in May as well, if I recall correctly.
Yes, that was not because we like romantic blooms or the spring fever or anything like that. That is because it was between medical school finishing and residencies starting, and we wanted to pick a time when we wouldn't be stressed by either of those things. Now, I was not actually done with medical school. I had another year left, so we did get married as doctor and missus before
becoming doctor and doctor a year later. But it worked out beautiful timing wise, because I think we had a few weeks off between those two things and no like open loops. You know, it was like no projects were due or anything because Josh was starting something fresh and we got to go to Hawaii for like fourteen days or something like that. It was amazing. It was great.
Timing sounds awesome. Well, and how about May Somber this year? Like anything big on the calendar for you guys this month?
I mean May again May, It's just always like a lot and I have to manage my expectations around May as We'll talk about because I go into it thinking like, oh, it's so magical. There's Mother's Day, there's my birthday, there's our anniversary, there's a Memorial Day. Oh my gosh, and it's like it just turns into being so still work and.
Take care of your kids and everything else. Yes, yes, so they shwasher or whatever. Yeah.
Yeah, it just keeps going.
But my focal point for May of twenty twenty four is hopeful going to be the Bayshore Marathon, which Josh and I are both running. We're going away for our anniversary weekend, spending it in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where this marathon takes place. I know a marathon at the end of May doesn't sound great from a weather perspective, but historically many years this actually does have lovely weather. I guess it's far enough north that they can have
forties and fifties in the morning. So hopefully this will be a nice, cool year, and I will definitely let you all know how it goes. I'm hoping to Boston qualify, but I may not, and either way, I'm going to give it the best I can and I'll let you know what happens.
Yeah, even in this part of the world, it's the weather is completely unpredictable. I mean, it's mostly nice, but it can be varied from day to day. And I remember I sort of soured on the idea of even doing races that happen on specific days because it was an early June half marathon, and the day after the half marathon it was sixty tow at seven am, and
that was lovely. I would have happily run thirteen miles in that, but the particular day that this half marathon happened, it was like eighty four degrees by eight am, and it was ludicrous, like, it felt terrible. I was swimming in the air trying to get to the finish line. So I was like, well, you know, if I want to run thirteen miles, I could just run thirteen miles on a day where the weather cooperates, as opposed to timing it for this certain day that they happened to
have booked the streets for the races. So anyway, that was a digression. We have a couple of cool things going on. Jasper and I are singing in Brahms Requiem, although that is late April and will probably have happened by the time this episode airs, it should have. I think it's the weekend before this. We have Sam's eighth grade graduation stuff coming up in May, which I was trying to remember back like what did we do for Jasper?
But that was twenty twenty one and we had just gotten through hybrid school, like they had just come back to full time school, and I don't think they had something that everyone was there for at the same time. So yeah, that was kind of a things they didn't do. And then Ruth and I are going to be taking a trip to ye There're some were cool, so looking forward to that. So it'll be a lot of stuff on top of the usual thing. But we're just kind of talking about, like, how do you know that you
have busy times of year coming up? And I think we have both noticed this. It happens in December, of course that I know what the dates of the December weekends are usually in October, but you definitely by the beginning of November, I know what those weekend dates are, and it is the same thing.
In May.
I knew what all the late April into May weekend dates were. Probably in February January February this year. I was like, oh my goodness, this is going to be quite a stretch of time because you've looked at your calendar for those dates, because there are things you're already putting on there, and so you keep looking at what the dates are and get a sense of what the
landscape of that month happens to be. And there are lots of times a year where I don't have that, you know, it's like you just figure out the weekends. A couple of weekends ahead of time, I don't.
Know, and they are events momentous enough to be planned out that far in advance. I think that's the big thing. Like, these are big things. It's the end of your show, it's the recital, Like it's not just something like that, just you know, a birthday party that came up. It's like these bigger things. So that's how you know it's going to be gonna be a wild ride, going to.
Be a wild ride. But the upside is it's kind of a fun wild ride.
I mean, you know, in many cases, one would assume that the reason you have all this stuff going on is because you are have a full calendar at work, right, Like, you know, people want you to do things. Your kids are involved and lots of fun stuff as they're figuring out their lives, and you have celebrations and you're involved in your community. These are all wins. So I think it's also helpful to approach Macember Mayhem with a yay mindset as much as a oh my goodness, buckle in
here we go. So first step, don't get overwhelmed. Take some time and make sure that you have everything on your calendar, like be systematic, go through those emails from school for each of your kids, go through the calendars or emails from any sports or activities that they are doing,
or for any community organizations you are part of. Like if you are part of a house of worship that tends to have a lot of sort of end of year or seasonal things that are going on at that time of year, you want to make sure those are
on your calendar as well. Work. Obviously you probably have some stuff there, but if you know there are big deadlines in early June, and it might behoove you to start thinking about that a little earlier, given that time outside of work might feel a little bit more compressed. But make sure it's all recorded in your one source of truth, calendar, because you are better off actively choosing to not do something that is on there versus forgetting it even existed, right, Sarah.
Yes, absolutely, and I would say going even granular as you possibly can, possibly more than is offered at times. So a lot of times school will throw out like save the dates, but I'm like, well, also, what time is that specific event? I actually just got one for Genevieve's kindergarten graduation. Now this actually was June, but it
was like, it's June fifth. I'm like, Okay, that's great, but i have a full day of patience and I'd rather not cancel the entire day If the event is at five pm, I have no idea, So ask for specifics if they're not volunteered, because you're gonna want to understand how all of those pieces fit. We did talk about calendaring very recently in an episode. But everything I
get goes into my hope in ECHI. That is my source of truth, and I have not committed to anything if it's not in there, If that makes sense, Like anytime I'm confirming something, it gets written in there. So I always have a clear understanding of exactly how crowded things are, so that I can then start to say no or start to cancel things if it really just gets too overwhelming.
Yeah, and generally, weekly planning works pretty well, I mean for the vast majority of life. I mean, I've talked a lot about planning on Thursday or Friday for the upcoming week, and this will, for the most part, give you a good sense of what is truly happening. Like you can see the landscape for the next week, and you can figure out your priorities for the week based on larger goals. Sure, but having a good mindset of the upcoming week tends to be enough most.
Of the time.
But when you get into these really sort of thicker times of years in terms of the stuff that is on your calendar, it might behoove you to look ahead an extra week or two. So when you were doing your Thursday or Friday planning, look at the upcoming week, for sure, but then flip forward or scroll forward and your electronic calendar and look at the next two weeks.
Definitely the week in front of the week you're looking at, and maybe even the week after that, because if there is something big coming up that you're going to want to think about more than a week ahead of time. You probably want to get some of that on your calendar earlier. So as an example, if you have teenagers that you're going to be helping with prom shopping, okay, like you may not want to be doing that on
Wednesday for Saturday. There's many things that could go wrong in that scenario where you're shopping for address on Wednesday for Saturday or trying to find the tech at the rental place on Wednesday for Saturday. So you know, you might want to pull that forward another week or two
and make sure it's on there. Or you know, if you've got a big work conference toward mid May, probably you want to know that and really have that in your mental model a week or more than a week ahead of time so that you can reach out to people, make sure you have prepared to make the most of this time if you are choosing to be there during this this very busy season.
Yeah. For me, it's also like the special edition of that is paying really close attention to where those call weeks are because I know they mess up not just that week but often the week after. And fun fact, I do have one in May, but it is like the special kind where I get overnight coverage, so it's not quite as bad as the usual awesome. Yeah, that looking ahead is key.
Yeah.
Well, we're going to take a quick ad break and then we'll be back with more on figuring out the right balance during this month. So we are back talking all things Maycember, Mayhem. How are we going to rock this month even though it is a very very busy time for a great many of our listeners. So yeah, Sarah, I mean, when you have something like call week and you know that you're on and you have big stuff during it, what's your approach for something like that?
Really more looking what I can get done beforehand, like to make sure I'm not going to be recording episodes like during call, which is very very stressful, and then also trying to make sure that the week after isn't too cluttered. This is very much easily more said than done. Like I try, I really do try. But then every once in a while, stuff comes up that is fairly urgent, and since it can't fall on the call week, it's going to fall in those two flexible slots on the
Tuesday and Thursday. But to the extent that I can, I try to minimize that kind of stuff. And I definitely think this is the time to you know, during May, when we have so many things on top of each other, this is not the time to have less childcare. This is maybe the time to have a conversation about, hey, summer is going to be a little bit slower, but
this month might actually have to be. I may need like a little bit of extra support just so we can get through all of this stuff and enjoy it and not feel necessarily stressed out about all the p is fitting together.
Yeah.
I think it's great too, as you're looking forward, spot conflicts ahead of time so you can make a plan. I mean, because obviously you could call in other relatives for special events, you can split duties and all this as much easier if you know about.
It ahead of time.
We'll put in a plug for if you have older kids and younger kids, hiring a sitter for the little one so you're not chasing a little one around a ceremony that you're hoping to pay attention for for the big kids, for instance. That's I know it doesn't always work, but it might be worth building that into your model so you can enjoy yourself a little bit more, but.
Yeah, side not.
I mean, you know, we often talk about there it's the work life conflicts that seem to get the headlines. But I have found that there's a lot of like life life conflicts.
Especially in May.
If you have multiple kids, there's things that happen at the same time for different kids, especially if they're in different schools. Those tend not to spawn the overwrought think pieces of like oh I was, you know, miss whatever the softball banquet because my plane was delayed. It's like, well, I missed this softball banquet because the other kid had the lalante I made at the same time. So you know, they don't know what do I do with that? Can't
get rid of the kids. I guess we just accept that life doesn't always go as we might wish it were. But you actually have you have, Sarah, a work life conflict in May this year that you kind of made a decision on.
And no overwrought think piece, because honestly, like this stuff does conflict, and sometimes we might make one choice and sometimes we might make another, and having to make those choices doesn't mean that it's bad that you're working or
something like that. So I guess I'll share that. Like, my annual endochronology meeting that I usually go to is being held the first weekend in May, as it usually is, and I had a kid related thing that this kid had been talking about and talking about, and I was like, you know what, I don't really want to miss it. I mean, it's a once a year thing and there's kind of like a tryout piece of it, and I just felt like I wanted to be there for that.
And I'm like, you know, this meeting does come every year. I can go next year, and truthfully, if this event did happen again next year, it wouldn't be the first time. And so I think I would choose the work event next time, and we can. We can make one choice sometimes and one choice the next time. And then since I made that decision, another kid event came up that same weekend, which I would have been annoyed to miss. So now I'm like very much grateful that I kind
of just preemptively made this choice. But again, like sometimes I think, as Laura mentioned, people take this a step further and say like, oh my gosh, I just can't do it, and it's like, actually, I can not every meeting is mandatory, and we can make different decisions different times, and that's okay.
Yeah, But the reason of course to look ahead is because if there are avoidable conflicts, then obviously, you know, it'd be better to like, you know, somebody wants to meet and they're like Wednesday or Thursday, and you're like Wednesday, and then it turns out that Wednesday was the huge end of school thing. Probably nobody would have cared if you'd said Thursday, but now you've said Wednesday, and now you have to dig yourself out of this or deal with it in some way, shape or form.
So, yeah, or their ahead.
You can spot conflicts, the more ways you can come up with to solve them. One thing I've always appreciated, I've usually been able to go, but our nursery school, our preschool used to call it the mother's day Tea or something like that, and then they began calling it the Special Person's Tea, And that is so much better because it's like you send a special person. It could be Grandpa, it could be your older sibling if they
happen to have a day off school or something. You know, it's just there's so many ways that it could be differently interpreted when it's a special person's tea, and so I think that's.
A really cool idea.
So one question for people to think about is they are looking at their work life balance or work life fit or whatever you want refer to it as in the course of May, is do you actually have enough time to work?
Now?
This may not be the normal way that people think of work life conflict. It's usually that work needs to dial down because we have so much stuff going on. But we have both had the experience of when you do have flexible hours and days in your schedule, often you put the stuff there because you can, and then your work hours wind up getting quite compressed. I have certainly had this experience with you know, have kid meetings
during the school day. I may have had physical therapy going on for months, which hopefully by the time this air is that is over. But you know that when there's enough stuff during the work day, you can wind up with fewer hours to work than you may need to actually meet your obligations.
So you need to be careful with this.
I know Sarah, you've encountered this reality as you have your Tuesday and Thursday entrepreneurial days, I'll be like texting Sarah and she's like, I'm at the dentist.
I'm at the oral surgeon, I'm at the dentist, I'm at the obi Joyanne, I'm at the kid I appointment. Yeah, Like it's I swear. I have three relatively healthy children, and yet the sheer number of various things they need to go to that are at least medically aligned is high. I think I counted once. It was like nineteen a year or something, and I don't know a lot anyway. So I mean there's two ways of thinking of this.
There is the Okay, I need to figure out my strategy to have more work hours outside of those days. And then there's also the acceptance that some months are going to be more productive than others. And so sometimes giving myself that permission that, like, this is not the month I'm going to take on XYZ big project is fine, especially if I have a month when I know that I can be really really focused and get after it.
And I'm already thinking about May as Honestly, I don't think it's going to be a month of a lot of extra work, but April could be a really good month for extra work. I have no call week. I have really like no travel, Like I can really take my Tuesdays and Thursdays and try to keep them as clear as possible. Working ahead. I know we're super ahead in our best of both world recordings, so that's kind of awesome, and so I would have.
Been lightning to strike us, Sarah.
I know these are all tracks are going to be deleted and we're going to have to record them in May, all of them. Just kidding, but you know, like as Cal brought up during his interview a few weeks back, you know, sometimes the seasonality can be helpful. And I do think May and December for me are probably well. December is special because I have a lot of kind of year ending stuff that I have to lean into professionally, so I can't do a lot of extra things in
addition to that. But I think May is kind of a month of like I think I do just have to be okay with working a little bit less, especially a May when I have a call week in there and a couple's trip with my husband. So that's kind of how I'm going to solve things this year. But that means April and June are going to be really kind of devoted more to productivity and trying to keep those Tuesdays and Thursdays clear.
Yeah, and even if you do have flexibility and wind up covering a lot of this stuff, you can be smart about when you schedule it too. I mean, batching things as much as possible. I've certainly wound up with them batching kid doctor appointments to the extent that that was possible. I think I did three and two this year,
which was better than going five times. We're doing everyone's dentist appointments in one day that will have been long over by the time this errors, but can report back on how that went the or just asking for later in the afternoon appointments. I mean, this is kind of upside of the kid not missing as much school if
it's you know, something with that. But it's also for those of us who do tend to be more productive in the morning, Like a ten am appointment is just a killer, right because that's your entire productive hours then, whereas if you have an appointment at two thirty, you might have been able to work from eight to two, and you're getting most of what you probably would have
gotten done between eight and five done. Between eight and two if you a tendency to, you know, kind of not be as productive in the afternoon, So just being very careful of that, and then if you do wind up taking a lot of during the daytime, being totally okay with scheduling some night and weekend sessions to make it up is not necessarily a sign that something tragic
has occurred if you are working on the weekend. I know some people feel that way, but I would encourage people not to be so precious about it for certain kinds of work, because like if you took three hours off on Tuesday, the time has to come from somewhere and unless you are reducing your responsibilities so you taking that means especially if you have a partner and they did not take that, that that person should probably take three hours on Saturday so you can make up whatever
you did on Tuesday.
And there is nothing wrong with that. It is just how the world kind of works.
I agree, it is not tragic. I did record a podcast episode at six thirty pm. It was the best way to plans episode and it wasn't my favorite ever time to be doing it. But honestly, if I have a deadline, it's not the worst either. I'm like, it's not eleven o'clock, it's not three in the morning. Like I can talk about planners at six pm.
It's okay.
Absolutely, we can talk about planners at any point of the day. Well, we're going to take a quick ad break and then we'll be back with talking about ways that we can manage our energy, which is sort of a topic of whether we are working at three am or not. We are back talking about all things May,
Sumber May, how we manage the month of May. We've been talking about making sure you know when everything is happening, and being able to spot conflicts before they occur, making sure that you have a work life balance that works for you, which can include creating some extra times to work if a lot of your work hours wind up being taken up with personal things, and that can certainly happen for people who have more flexible jobs in May.
So this last part we want to talk about is how we manage our energy, because we want to do things that add to our energy levels. And one really cool idea we heard from one of our Patreon community members. So Mother's Day occurs in May, and I think in many of our minds we have the idea of like things we might do to add to our energy levels as a celebration.
Of our motherhood.
People want to you know, go to the spa, you know, have a day to themselves or all that. But that is probably not how your family wants to celebrate Mother's Day with you. Like they you know, if you have a partner, they might take the kids for a few hours or whatever, but like they're going to want to do stuff with you, or if you have you know, extended family around, you might wind up being part of celebrations that are more aimed at kind of family matriarchs
or something. And and so it can wind up being a little bit maybe not what you were hoping for on that particular day. And so if that is the case, our Patreon community members suggested having Mother's Day observed so when a holiday that like the government or post office would have off falls on a weekend, they then have it observed at some point, like on the Monday. So you can do that, you know, instead of Mother's Day on Sunday, have Mother's Day observed on Monday or Tuesday
or whatever happens to work for you. Maybe you could even take some paid time off from your job if that is an option, and go to the spa on that day and so that way you get the best of both worlds.
I'm totally doing this, and I'm also taking my birthday observed. And no, I am not bundling them to one day because that would not be fair to me. So I love this idea. I think that's great and it's true, that's not I mean, the family wants to spend time with you. You want to celebrate being a mother by enjoying time with your family, but then to have a little bit of extra time on another day is such a beautiful idea. So thank you for that idea, Patreon member.
And we also will go beyond that in terms of managing your energy to make sure and we talk about this during the HOLI so this is a recurring theme, but make sure you have something during this season that you are looking forward to. So, Laura, what is that going to be for you in May?
Yeah? That's well.
I mean I haven't been running as much, so I mean often would be run somewhere pretty that I enjoy. But I think even having some weekend downtime where I am not running around after kids, especially if I get the house to myself. Oh I love that. But I like going to botanical gardens. I might do some of that in May, going on a walk somewhere.
I like going out to eat.
Like my husband and I have often been doing casual dinners on Friday night on the nights when we have childcare for Henry's that can be a fun thing too.
Obviously, a sing with my choir.
That's something I do almost every weekend, although I can see that there are going to be several May weekends where I'm not going to make it to church because of various things, and so it's like a well, you know, but just think about this, Like, what's going to be restorative for you over the course of a weekend, even if there is a ton of community or family related activities that you need to do. I mean, how about you, Sarah, what is it that adds to your energy levels?
Yeah, I mean on the weekends I love really it's non negotiable getting in the long run, usually on Saturday morning. I love doing a date night of some kind on Saturday, or at least a family like out to dinner kind of a night. And like you, I just enjoy some total downtime. Like if I can get on the couch for two plus hours while the kids are having some device time one afternoon, then that is considered a huge win in my book. And I usually will read and
then I'll fall asleep and it's like the best thing ever. Yeah.
Well, in your non negotiables too, I mean, you get your morning routine, you're running during the.
Week as well. I know that even on a very busy day, you tend to do that.
Yeah, I mean it helps that my non negotiables are usually during the time when everybody else is asleep, so it makes it it work for me. But I mean, yeah, that is not something that I would be happy to give up just because our season happens to be busier. It's still really really important to me, and certain elements of it still feel like treats to me, even though
it's just a regular old Monday. I meet with a group two of those days, and those are just like built in fun time where I'm getting to do something that is purely something I look forward to and enjoy.
Yeah, become more militant about my bedtime, which isn't that early, but you know, I have to be up at around six thirty most mornings during the week, and so bedtime lights out has to be eleven. That's seven and a half hours, and so pretty much, no matter what happens, I'm going to be in bed at eleven o'clock. And I've found that if I do that regularly, I just feel a lot better about life.
So I've been.
Trying to do that and just one thing that can make like the down time you do have more fun with getting outside, and especially those of us who are in place where the weather does start getting nicer that time of year, We've been doing a lot of what we call toad time, that is time outside after dinner, and you know, I just sit outside in the nice weather and the kids play on the swing set, or run around the yard, or ride their bikes up and
down the driveway or something. And that's feels like it's a little bit more low key on the nights that we do have that option. It's just a reminder that even during busy stretches, it's not over the top busy, right there does tend to still be some space.
I like the openness of toad time too, because you know, it can be a little kid playing on a swing set but it could also be you know, a big kid just moving their homework outside and doing it in a nicer setting, or everybody enjoying like I don't know, a popsicles outside or something like that. Like it can be so flexible. It could be taking a dog for a walk and just enjoying better weather. So yeah, I like the openness of that, even if it's not necessarily as easy executable where we are.
Yeah, exactly, well, you guys can do toad well promise, then it's still dark with the.
Time I mean, I call it mosquito time around this.
Yes, that seems a little bit less appealing, all right, So these are some ways that we can think about December. I mean, making sure everything is on the calendar, making sure that we spot conflicts ahead of time so we
can strategize to solve them. Making sure that you still have enough time to work, particularly for those with flexible schedules, and then managing your energy to make sure that you are not feeling like you are completely depleted by the end of this, that even the busiest weekends have something that you personally are still looking forward to. So this listener question kids at weddings. This is obviously wedding season May June. What do you think, Sarah, kids at weddings?
Yes or no?
I mean, as a general rule, it depends on the vibe that bride and groom wants, so I'm happy to
generally oblige either way. I enjoy both kinds of event. However, the caveat is kind of like relating to the kids' ages, where I have found that family events have recently become fun, but only fairly recently, like I'd say, when Genevieve turned five or so, the age where you can basically let them run with their big siblings and not worry that something catastrophic is going to happen within a relatively closed environment.
When you have like that toddler and they want to invite kids and the whole family, yes, I get that it's pretty in the pictures to have this cute little cherubic, you know, flower girl running around, but I personally found
it a bit of a kill joy. So one compromise would be to bring the big kids who can have fun and are still cute, and maybe leave the baby home with a sitter if it is a kids are invited type of wedding, because really, the little one is not going to have memories from the event anyway, and everybody else's time will be elevated. But adults only events
are great too. I don't complain if I get but you know, unless it's like if my sister like was having a wedding and didn't invite my kids, I might be a little offended because it's like we're that close of a relationship. But beyond that, I mean I'm fine. Adults only is fun. Then you get to be a grown up and party and enjoy it.
Yeah, I mean you could definitely.
I would say kids under five, somebody is going to need to watch them the entire time, So somebody will not be participating in most of the adult conversations or the ceremony and enjoyment of the wedding. So you just have to know that going in, and you know, you could split this or you can also just if it's not that particular person's family, maybe they might be willing to take one for the team. I know that my husband wound up chasing Henry around my little brother's wedding.
That was you know, when he was, oh boy, like a toddler, and he was just everywhere, and so Michael took him and I could talk to my family and that was great, but you know, it wouldn't have worked for both of us to be able to interact with people given that reality. So yeah, kids under five really
just think through that reality. And one option you bring them for part of the time, because particularly if summary you've like gone somewhere and you have a hotel room there, maybe you can bring the little kids for a little bit so they get in the photos, and then you book a sitter at the hotel. They go back and watch movies and order pizza from room service, and you can go have the conversations with relatives and friends for
a few hours and then come back. And that might be a way to have kind of best of both worlds with little ones and weddings. All right, So love of the week, Sarah, What are you enjoying this week?
We had a recent trip to do some kids shopping, and I think I still stand behind Abercrombie Kids being my current favorite kids retailer. Like the price point is not super low, but they have sales. It seems like it's well made. My kids like the styles, but I like them too, which is not always going to be true. And so right now. They're kind of like our number one go to for tween and little not necessarily boys as much, because Cameron's much more into like Nike under
Arm or whatever. But I guess for the girls, we're into Abercrombi kids.
Awesome.
Well, my love of the week is going to be wireless chargers, So I probably should bite the bullet and buy a new iPhone. I've had mine since the beginning of twenty nineteen, so it has made it through over five years, which I think is impressive for a phone. But the plug part basically stop working, like I can't plug it in, you know, and charge it with a regular wall charger. So I bought a couple of wireless chargers,
which are fairly inexpensive. So you plug the it's like a little sphere, well flat circle, and that gets plugged into the wall and then you put your phone on top of it and it charges the phone that way, and that works, so it doesn't matter that the little port doesn't work anymore. Again, I probably need to bite the bullet and buy a new phone, but this has bought me another few months, so I mean, you know, it's more economical doing it that way, and I just
put it down on my desk. It's chugged in and my phone is constantly charging and it's awesome.
Cool, great to extend the life of your electronics.
Yes, I know, I'd like to use things up when it all possible. Well, this has been best of both worlds. We've been talking all things may, how to survive and perhaps even thrive in what tends to be a very busy month for people with school age kids. We will be back next week with more on making work and life fit together.
Thanks for listening. You can find me Sarah at the shoebox dot com or at the Underscore Shoebox on Instagram, and you.
Can find me Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. This has been the best of both worlds podcasts. Please join us next time for more on making work and life work together.