The Howsehold: A day in the life....

I feel like this year really flew by. I am not talking about just moved at a faster pace than any other year, I am talking about closed eyes for one second during the middle of October 2011 and opening them to find that the month is now August of 12. (You know your old when you try and write the year and habitually say, "0-12" instead of just "12." Im officially "O-LD"). Its hard for me to grasp that in just a few years, i went from being single in the big city of Dallas to a married family of three (four if you include the dog, but after several bouts of stormy weather, he has been disowned for the time being.) in the suburbs. I often think back about those days and try and figure out what i did with all my time, especially now when i spend most of my time trying to figure out how to get more time, especially when it comes to the asleep time. If i really want to make my present self jealous of my past self, then i will remember all the way back to the college years of perpetual time. Endless time. Abundance of time. All the time in the (small and oh so unrealistic) world. Now days my schedule looks like the following:

5:15 am - Baby wakes up ready to take on the world and some much needed nursing. Me, not so much.

5:30am- After a record breaking nursing session because Reed feels like i tried to starve him by not feeding him through the night, I make some coffee for myself. 6 cups.

5:45am- Pry Reed away and try and get a shower. Not as easy as one would think.

5:47am- After worlds shortest shower, I have to get back in after forgetting to rinse out the shampoo

5:55am- Grab another cup of coffee.

6:00am- Get dressed, put on make-up, dry and curl hair (which really means half-way dry then throw in a bun), basically do everything in my power to look half-way presentable for work. I sure do set high bars for myself.

6:20am- Wrangle the baby into some clothes, pack his backpack full of last night's prep work, pack my work bag, load the car, and try and convince Reed to "get nicely" into his carseat. Reality: He is screeming and i am singing "you are my sunshine" on top of my lungs to distract him.

6:30am - Rush to the interstate just to sit in traffic for the next 40 minutes.

6:31am- Begin singing about every farmer, animal, light fixture, etc for the next 38 minutes to soothe a very angry back seat passenger.

7:30 am- Arrive at daycare and spend the next thirty minute trying to convince Reed that daycare is equivalent to Disney world. His teacher looks at me like I am insane. I might be.

8:00am - Finally make it in to work and start unloading files from my desk so that i can even see my computer screen. E-mails, meetings, behavior plans, staff schedules, revisions, and coffee make up the first two hours of the day.

9:15am- Break to pump milk for tomorrow's bottles. Nothing like being topless at your place of employment to really get the adrenaline pumping. No locks on the door to the pumping room really can make you more jittery then any amount of coffee could.

10:00am- Back to work and slip in a short phone call to daycare to check on the bambino.

11:00am- Realize I didn't eat breakfast and forgot my lunch although Reed made it to daycare with what his teacher informs me is a gourmet meal. I end up finding half a package of crackers and a piece of retirement cake in the break room. Score!

11:30am- Home visits, school visits, and more paperwork. Then more paperwork, And more paper work, followed by paperwork. I send a e-mail urging the building to go green. No response.

12:30pm- Break to pump again. Prop chair against the door this time and laugh at myself for not thinking of this solution earlier...as in 5 months earlier. Head back to the office.

3:00pm- Realize the day has slipped by and i didn't have enough time to get everything done. Shocking. Pump one last time and start in on the last bit of work for the day.

4:45pm- Leave the office looking exactly like it was when i got there, which is messy and overwhelming. Head to the day care to grab the wee one. As i walk in, i hear "reunited" play in my head and i feel like one of those slow motion commericals where the people are running to each other with their arms out ready to embrace one another. That is just how my mind works, except Reed is crawling towards me crying in relief that i came back to get him, and i look disheveled and like i got hit by a truck. Heartwarming reunion for the next 10 minutes.

5:00pm- Reed and I say our goodbyes to his teacher and hit the interstate home. Another 40 minutes. The only time in our lives that passes slowly is the time spent in traffic. My Dallas acquired road rage wants to rear its ugly head, but i just sing "you are my sunshine" for the millionth time instead.

5:45pm- We arrive home and nurse, catch up on the husband's wild and crazy kindergarten stories, grab a drink and start debating on dinner. We always have good intentions to try all these new recipes and we end up with a random assortment of whatever is in the fridge and pantry, because we are both too tired to go grocery shopping. Reed gets 2nd gourmet meal. Hux conveniently helped himself to the garbage, so he gets to watch.

6:30pm.- After dinner, It is time for bath, jam jams, and father- son play time while I try to clean the kitchen. It somewhat reminds me of what my desk looked like from this morning. Messy and overwhelming.

7:30pm- The baby nurses for the last time of the night, while he tries to rally one more good "I am not tired and should get to stay up a little longer" smile before i snuggle him into his bed. I also throw in 5 paci's just for good measure.

7:45pm- Get the house picked up, pack Reed's breakfast, lunch, bottles, and snacks while trying to mentally calculate what needs to go on tomorrow. Give up on the mental math because it sounds like this: 6 reports + 3 behavior plans= 5 penguins on a summer day. Math makes no sense so i sit down and have a beer with the husband.

7:50pm- Realize that i have not watered the plants in three days and all the clean clothes are dirty. Water the laundry and clean the plants. At this point, that is about my mental capacity.

8:30pm- Finish the rest of the chores and finally sit down to finish the beer i had opened. Blue Moon is my absolute favorite.

9:00pm Decide that sleep is more important then finishing the laundry so i head to bed.

It may be a crazy life, but of all the life that i have lived (which has been 28 years of it), it is by far some of the best! Wouldn't change it for the world!