So much to do, so little time . . .

I can't believe that it is the end of September already! Although I enjoy the weather, this time of year with the warm sunny days and beautiful fall colours, there are many things that I dread - digging potatoes and carrots from the garden, picking all the tomatoes, peppers and other things that are left in the garden and figuring out what to do with them and finding the time to do it before they spoil and then pulling out all the garden plants before winter. Because pulling out the dead, rotten, slimy plants in the spring is even worse! (And yes, I know this from experience!)

In what's left of this weekend (because I didn't accomplish a darn thing today!) that's what I'll be doing while my little man bounces in his exersaucer and laughs at me. Hopefully, I will get tomatoes and peppers (along with a bunch of other ingredients) made into some spaghetti sauce and lasagna for the freezer. And I NEED to make some baby food, or else the bottomless put that I call Liam won't have anything to eat this week! There are many other things that I hope to get accomplished, however I know that it isn't realistic, so I consider it a productive weekend if I get that much done!

So much for a quiet, relaxing weekend . . . I guess that they just don't exist anymore!

Does anyone remember . . .

. . . what it feels like to be well rested?? Because I sure don't! As my exhausted brain tries to think back to a time when I wasn't perpetually tired, I remember struggling to stay awake as I put the babies at work to sleep during my pregnancy, I remember waking up every two hours to feed Liam as a newborn, I remember getting up with him much earlier than I would have like during much of my mat leave, but I don't have any recollection of what it feels like to be well rested.

I can also remember countless nights of partying and bar hopping in college that left me with very limited amounts of sleep before getting up to go to an early class or to do it all over again . . . I was never this tired then . . . it is amazing what 10 years can do to a person!

I know that I should go to bed earlier, but by the time Liam goes to bed and I do even a very few chores, I feel like I need some "me time" before I go to sleep, so I fiddle around on Facebook for a little while, knowing full well that the time would be better spent sleeping. But instead, I sit here at the computer thinking about all the things that I should be doing, all the things that I need to do, all the things that I barely have the energy to think about let alone accomplish. Sometimes, I sit here even longer because I don't have the energy to get up and get ready for bed . . . now seriously, how sad is that?

Now, I will drag myself off to bed and hope that I will wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day that will come . . . however, I am not optimistic. I fear that I will be dragging myself out of bed much the way I am dragging myself to bed. Please, if anyone does remember what it feels like to be well rested, I would like to know. It has been so long since I have felt it, I may not recognize the feeling if it slapped me across the side of the head!

Surviving . . .

Well, it has been two weeks since I started back to work . . . how has it been you ask? Don't ask! Seriously, thought, it hasn't been that bad. I am completely and utterly exhausted! And feel like I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off most of the time, but it is slowly getting better.

We are starting to get into a good morning routine. I am up at 5am (yuck!), Liam is up at 5:30am and Daddy is up sometime around then as well. We are all ready and out the door by 6am . . . unless Liam decides to have a poop, which he seems to do most days about 5 minutes before we are supposed to leave. And it is always the huge explosive type . . . fortunately, as long as we are gone by 6:15, we are good!

Work starts for me at 7:20, with Liam, a later shift would be much easier, but we only have one car and Henry works at 7, so we don't have a choice. Getting into a good routine at work is proving to be more difficult than getting into a routine of getting out of the house. I am working with Toddlers again and even though I have many years of toddler experience, I have been away from them for 3 years. In a lot of ways, it is like starting a brand new job! I forget how much these kids can do for themselves (compared to the babies that I worked with before my maternity leave) and am constantly stressing myself by trying to do things for them that I should be letting them do for themselves. I hate having to ask questions that someone who has work at the daycare for as long as I have (eight years) should know, but having been away for 8 months, so many things have changed!

One nice thing about being with the toddlers is that many of the kids that were babies with me when I was pregnant are "my kids" again in the toddler program. They have changed so much but it is amazing to see how they have grown up.

I do love working with toddlers and I know that once I get used to the noise that is created by a room full of 20 toddlers and get back into the toddler educator frame of mind, everything will be fine! Until then, I am going to muddle my way through it and hope for the best!

I am still undecided on what is busier, work or after work! Once we get home, Liam wants attention, usually a bottle and then his supper, I have to cook our supper, eat supper, give Liam a bath and get him ready for bed. There is little or not time to sit and relax until Liam is in bed for the night. Even then, there is always so much to do . . . make formula and lunches for the next day, clean up the kitchen . . . and the list goes on and on!

Eventually I will get used to it all . . . but for now, I am just surviving! (And wishing for that money tree to appear in my back yard.)

First Week . . . Last Week . . .

So, we find ourselves at the end of Liam's first week of daycare and my last week of mat leave.

I am thrilled that he is doing so well. He had a bit of difficulty with nap time a couple of days, but over all, he is doing amazing. Rhonda, the supervisor and my immediate boss, said to me yesterday that she thinks that he is one of the best babies she's ever seen as far as how well he adjusted! And Rhonda has been working at ABC for over 20 years, so she's seen A LOT of kids come and go!

I am not so thrilled about the prospect of getting up Tuesday morning and heading back to work. Early morning drives into the city, brown bag lunches, rushing around to get things done after work, it just doesn't appeal to me. But there has been no winning lottery ticket with my name on it, no money trees have magically appeared in my back yard, nor has hubby acquired a sudden increase in pay, so come Tuesday morning, I will be dragging my butt out of bed to go look after other people's kids, while someone else looks after mine. It just doesn't seem right some how, but I guess there are lots of things in life that just don't work out the way we want them to!

So, I am going to try and enjoy the last long weekend of the summer and my last long weekend of freedom from the real world!

First Day of Daycare

Yesterday, was Liam's first day of daycare. Sunday night, I bustled around to make sure that everything was gathered up and ready to go. Monday morning, we were up bright and early and ready to go.

I arrived at daycare with my little man at about 7:30am. I put him down on the floor with the toys and went to put all his stuff away. He didn't even seem to notice that I wasn't right beside him. He played happily while I chatted with the staff and organized all his belongings into the proper places. He just continued to play as if everything was normal until he was ready for his breakfast. He complained just enough to let us know that he was ready to eat. After his breakfast and a dry diaper, it was nap time. Into his crib he went with his blankie, and in minutes he was asleep! Can you believe what a perfect baby I have? He went for his nap and ate his lunch like a pro! He smiled, laughed and talked to everyone who would listen!

I was a little concerned that today would be more difficult, as it often is for kids as it is generally the first time they are left alone. (Monday, I stay at the daycare, although I was in and out of the room and not always with him.)

We arrived at daycare at about 11am today. I stayed for about an hour, watching Liam play and have lunch. When it was time for me to leave, I gave him a kiss and said good bye. He looked at me and smile before turning back to his toys. As I was leaving the room, I called his name and said good bye again. He looked at me and laughed!

After I left, he continued to play until nap time, and was still sleeping when Daddy arrived to pick him up. He's been asleep for over two hours!

Tomorrow, Daddy is dropping him off in the morning and picking him up in the afternoon . . . I will have the day to myself!!! Whatever will I do??? I should clean my house and work in my garden . . . but I might just spend the day scrapbooking or something fun like that!!

Listen to Lena . . .

I recently (using the "Next Blog" button) stumbled upon a blog entitled "Listen to Lena" http://www.listentolena.com/ Lena is a stay at home mom who's love for shopping prompted her to start looking for deals! Now, she strives to find the best quality for the best price and she shares the deals she finds on her blog every day! And she also manages to get donations for business so that she can have contests for her readers!

The first thing that caught my attention about this blog was a contest to win a Pudgie. What is a Pudgie you ask? Well, that was my question too! Simply put, Pudgies are big, cubby, round, hilariously adorable stuffed animals! You have to see them for yourself to understand! http://www.thepudgies.com/index.html

Once I looked at the Pudgies website, and saw these creatures, I knew that I had to enter this contest. I knew I wouldn't win, I never win stuff like that, but I had decided that Liam NEEDED a Pudgie, so, I would enter, and when I didn't win, I would start saving my pennies to order one for him for Christmas! So, needless to say, when Lena posted the winner a few days later, I was shocked to see that I had won!!!! I was getting a Pudgie frog!!!

Well, Pudgie the frog arrived today! And well, I know already said it, but you need to see these things to see for yourself how frigging cute they are! http://www.thepudgies.com/index.html And they are even cuter in person! Liam was instantly taken with his new friend! They played together for a good long time this afternoon. Liam quite enjoyed showing Pudgie his toys!

Thank you Lena and Pudgies for this awesome contest! And I recommend that you all check out Lena's blog!!