Slowing Down....

The first few weeks back at work went as smoothly as could be expected with only the occasional baby-sitter mix up, ingredient for supper forgotten at the store or load of laundry left in the washer. Then came the dreaded week. The week I had feared since I started this job six months ago, the only other person that works in this office, beside me and the owner, quit. Gone, gone were the days of avoiding one or two calls while trying to catch up on paperwork. Gone were the days of conversations about good restaurants, customers attitudes, and the weather. Gone were the days where I went home happy and woke up excited about getting to work. In came the days of constant phone calls from people that barely knew what type of car they had, let alone the type of part that they needed. In came the days of trying to inventory a car, answer the phones, trying to understand what the boss is harping on, dealing with family issues all at the exact same time.
While I thought this major change would be a recipe to for disaster, it didn't.... for the first week. Now, when I thought a routine would have started to form and thing would be calming that exact opposite is happening. My husband has stepped up and started helping out a majority of my errands (bank, post office, city utilities, etc) and he has even cooked supper several times in the past week. Even with all his help this last week has been really tough. I don't think I could have made it with out all of his support.

My goal for this week.... learning to slow down and deal with the stress of work and home. Learning to keep the two separate and making sure that any problems with work don't spill over on to the home front.

Quote:
"The time to relax is when you don't have time for it."  ~Attributed to both Jim Goodwin and Sydney J. Harris

Week 2 Hump Day

It's Wednesday evening, both the kids are in bed, and the hubby is out doing his work thing. Time to relax, except I am sitting on my sister-in-law's couch killing time because surprise, surprise our AC unit went out yet again. The day we brought Levy home from the hospital it went out, that was a nice $150 bill and here we are not two months later and it appears that the fan has locked up. It stopped working twice last summer, once was just four hours before my son's birthday party. Just add that to list my headaches this week has had.

Diary of a Working Mother

Monday was my first official day back at work and this has presented a few challenges.

1)  Two kids, two babysitters, too far to drive: Levy is easy, he is going to a daycare and can therefore start at anytime. Blaine on the other hand will be entering the first grade in three weeks and it gets expensive (translation: pointless to work) if I pay for both to go to that daycare. The economical solution is to shuttle Blaine between different relatives for the remaining three weeks. Now we HAVE to be out of the house by  7:20am (that includes running into the relatives house and the daycare without stopping) in order for me to get to work by 8:00am and the afternoon trip takes 45 minutes.

2) Breastmilk: Again the most economical (and healthy) way to feed Levy is with breastmilk, but in order to get the 5 four ounce bottles he needs while at daycare I am having to pump every two hours all day and night and I still barely squeak by getting enough milk together. I am using two pumps, taking Reglan (a prescription black boxed by the FDA) and drinking enough water that I should float away. I want desperately to provide what my baby needs, but I just feel that between the stress of work and home I won't be able to keep up and I do not want my baby suffer as a consequence. I have almost come to terms with the idea that I will have to begin suplimenting  with formula at some point in time, but for right now my goal is to provide only breastmilk for as long as I can.

Two nights ago my son decided that "The Little Engine That Could" would be his bedtime story and every since then my moto has become "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can,"

Boys Say the Dandest Things

In the past two days my husband and my oldest son have each made comments that have completely blown my mind.

First, my son....

Blaine "Mommy, do you know why me and you are unlucky?"

Me "We're unlucky?"

Blaine "Yeah we're unlucky because we're McMillans, but you're an Allbritton now, so now your lucky."

   A little background. Blaine's last name is my maiden and has not yet been changed to my husband last name. This conversation also took place two after we had just been to the McMillan Family Reunion. If you knew anything about my very dysfunctional family you would know what it is funny.

Next, my husband.....

Tim " I saw a friend of your in town this morning."

Melinda " Who?"

Tim " Jim and a guy he works with."

Melinda "Really! Does Jim still have that forest growing on his chin?"

Tim "Melinda, really? I was inside the building, how should I know what kind of car he was driving?"

Melinda ?????

    I just can't seem to believe that he was listening to me, I think the TV had his attention.

Jam Packed Week Ahead

I have officially made my decision: I am returning to work on July 18!

That being said I now have just one week to prepare for my return to the business world. To a world of dealing with rude customers, a confused boss, not having enough time to do anything, and not seeing my kids or husband for most of the day. I have found a daycare close to the house where Levy will start visiting Monday and I have made arrangements to shuffle Blaine between relatives until he starts 1st grade in August. I have this one week left to cram in the last few items on my to-do list. 

To-Do List:

-start Levy's baby scrapbook

-work on Blaine's scrapbook

-get wisdom teeth removed

-get house clean and prepared for neglect

-RELAX WITH MY HUSBAND

..... 5 days left.

P.S. I still working on the weight management / get back into shape goal. It isn't going that great. I better add that to the list.

Back to Reality

We successfully made it back to Georgia in one piece and with everything we left with, I hope. The Reunion / Vacation was great and needed by both Tim and I.

Now the rest of the week will be filled with days of laundry, getting Levy back on a routine, and making sure everything is running smoothly. Blaine is happy to be back, but all he does is talk about how much fun he had swimming, playing with Owen, and Daddy hurting his foot on a bee. When he isn't reminiscing about everything he did he asking "how long til we go back?". I am so glad he enjoyed it.

Family Reunion

My family, extended family, and extended-extended family have a 3 day get together every other year in Ft Payne, AL at the De Soto State Park. It is 3 days of hiking in the woods, swimming in the river, and generally getting reacquainted with everyone. The reunion has its perks and its drawbacks. 

This year has been a lot more fun because in addition to bring Tim for the first time (he now understands my craziness) we also brought the baby. We took a side trip on the way up here to Chattanooga, TN and rode the Incline Railway to Lookout Mountain. Blaine and Tim both loved it, though I am not sure if they enjoyed the ride or making fun of me being terrified. The next day was a clan excursion to High Falls Park, it was a 45 minute drive but well worth it. The high light: a 25 ft jump into the river, but that was not the scary part. The scary part was the climb back up the cliff you just jumped off of. You had to use a rope to pull yourself up and you really learn how much upper strength you really have. Once you got past the first 10 ft of vertical climb you reached the ledge and saw how frayed the rope was that you were depending on. Still I did it twice.

Levy slept through the entire trip, I later found out that was the result of his first formula bottle which was provided by his Great-Grandmother. Blaine had a blast catching a few tadpoles and making friends with some of the other visitors to the falls. It was a fun family outing for all of us.