Hi-ho, Hi-ho... It's Back to Work I Go....

which means blog postings will take for-flippin'-ever to finish. :-)

First, I am sooooo glad that this was a short week because I am soooo tired. My kids -- my school children, not my biological ones -- were so excited to see me, which makes what I do worthwhile... but still... a day full of very active teenagers followed by an evening of very active children makes me one tired and cranky SuperMom.

Speaking of Super Moms, I just got the capes and masks I ordered for the kids for Christmas, and they are freakin' hilarious. Can't wait to let them loose in the yard wearing nothing but their capes, masks, and under-roos... the neighbors will be totally alarmed...

Anyway... there are some adjustments to be made. First, I have to get up at the first hint of the butt crack of dawn (pardon the strong imagery there, but really -- it is earlier than I ever imagined I would voluntarily get up unless I was going somewhere fabulous...). I mean, the option has always been there for me to get up that early, but there just didn't seem to be a point in it when I could get another hour's sleep... until now.

Sam, who already pretty much sleeps through the night (from around 11 pm to 6 am... yes, thank you, he is the perfect child...), decided after my first day back on Wednesday that he'd start waking up at crazy hours of the night and keeping me up until literally minutes before my alarm was set to go off.

There's not really any feeling in the world like finally getting your child to sleep after a fun-filled two hours of nursing and baby talk only to realize that it is 5:29 AM... and you get up at 5:30 AM.

Moments like those are the reasons curse words were invented.

Second, I am trying to figure out this nursing thing. Gentlemen readers, please excuse, but this really is a conundrum. (I love that word, by the way.)

Ethan and Laney were both born in the spring, so I didn't go back to school until the following year... and by then, they were both on formula. I nursed Ethan for 6 weeks before getting sick with a vicious case of poison oak that required really strong steroids. Laney just wasn't having any of that nursing business, period. The Princess was much too impatient to wait for her meals to be delivered naturally; she preferred the bottle from the get-go.

Sam, of course, being the perfect child, is all about his mom, and so we're giving this nursing thing another shot.

So far, he has done incredibly well, but I've never had to actually pump at school... which I have to do now... which totally freaks me out, as the idea of that probably does most of you all.

The thing is, my room is practically a palace, so I don't have to go hide in the faculty bathroom or lock myself in the janitor's closet, like a lot of my friends have had to do... but still... there's something quite disconcerting about hooking yourself up to a machine in the middle of your classroom.

There are so many various and embarrassing options as to how this could turn out.
1 - Someone, like a co-worker, could let himself/herself in to get something out of my room. Now, I lock my door and cover all the windows (a little paranoid), but if you need a stapler, and you know I have a stapler, you're probably going to try to come in and get it. It's not like I want to post a big ol' sign that says "PUMPING!!! ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!" I mean, I do teach teenagers... No sense in asking for trouble.
2 - Someone, like one of my students, could try to get the door unlocked... I am a nazi about not letting people leaving things in my room, but on occasion, I have a soft moment and will let a kid leave books or a bag in my room. It would totally be my luck that one of those kids would have a desperate emergency that required retrieving possessions from my room while I'm exposed.
3 - The construction workers outside could somehow be able to see through the closed blinds and be getting a daily peep show. We have major construction going on at our school, and my room is right at the front corner of the building... which is right where one of the major building sites begins. Nothing says "Thanks for building our new addition!" like a full frontal flash...

A dozen other possibilities run through my brain on a daily basis as I sit there, trying to think about anything but whether or not there are hidden cameras in my room broadcasting this to the far corners of the earth....

Another adjustment is the sheer amount of stuff I have to do/have/plan in order to get through the day and still have any shred of sanity left.

I have to make sure lunches are made and coffee is set... clothes are laid out and bags are packed... cell is charged and plan is set for the next day....

There's a lot to think about...

and I am ADD...

meaning I foul things up on a daily basis.

So far, I've sent Ethan to school with a lunch that did not have an ice-pack in it... which sent him over his uptight, OCD edge... forgotten to set the coffee for K... and left my pump stuff @ home on the counter... which makes adjustment #2 very hard to take care of.

I'm sure that, at some point, this will get easier, like if I had a full-time maid, nanny, and personal assistant...