Lesson Learned – Sleep and Conferences Don’t Mix

Well, we finally made it back home after 3 ½ child-free days.  Although I was worried about potential snags, everything was relatively seamless – our flights were on time, exchanging the kids in Atlanta was easier than expected, and Greenleigh was even good on the plane home.  Notice I didn’t say Hazeline, because she was not good on the plane home.  Instead she fussed for most of the flight (with intermittent crying, of course) and then fell asleep the very second we put her in the car in Fort Lauderdale.  I guess a 50% average isn’t bad when you have two kids.  Hey, it’s better than 0%, right?

As happy as I am to have the girls with us again, it’s going to take a day or two to get back into parent mode.  I mean, a girl really gets used to eating her own food and not waking to the sound of a toddler screaming.  I even got a chance to read a magazine.  An entire magazine…you know, without one of the pages being ripped out by grabby toddler hands as I’m trying to read that particular page.  But the transition back to parenthood would probably be easier if I weren’t so exhausted.  So, so very tired.

How is it possible to come home from a child-free “vacation” more exhausted than when you first left?  The answer – one word – BlogHer.  There’s no doubt that I slept less in the last 3 nights without kids than I normally sleep when I’m home with the girls.  The sessions, the expo halls, the keynotes, the parties – oh, the parties.  There are just too many to count.  And I just didn’t want to miss a minute of the action.  So I would stay at the sparkle-rrific parties until 1am, only to be back down in the ballroom for breakfast by 8:45 the next morning (please note, breakfast actually started earlier than that, but 8:45 was the best I could do).  But I soaked up every ounce of it, and don’t regret it for a minute.

I’m planning to write an entire blog post about what I learned at BlogHer12 later this week, but for now, I just want to share a few pictures so you can get an idea of what it was like (in case you weren’t there).

Registration

Katie Couric's Keynote (Katie Couric is on the left)

Expo Hall - Just one of many

Hanging out with The Lorax

Unicorn at Sparklecorn (one of the many, many parties at BlogHer12).

Entrance to the hallway where the sessions were held.

Waiting for one of the sessions to start. This was taken early, so the room wasn't full yet, but all the sessions I attended were pretty full by the time they started.

And of course, this trip would not have been possible without the support of my sponsor, Live Clean.  There’s no way to fully convey my gratitude for their support of my writing and sending me on this wonderful adventure to NYC and BlogHer12.  If you have any questions about their fantastic eco-friendly products, feel free to visit their website or email me directly at diaryofaworkingmom@mail.com.