A month...really?

I have been beckoned back to the blogosphere by an email from my extra mother and avid blog-reader, Laura.  Thanks.

It's not that I don't have things to write about, but time has suddenly sped up and I'm left frantically trying to keep up.  Those of you who work full time will scoff at my struggles, but for me, going back to working 20-25 hours a week has been quite a big adjustment.  It would be enough of an adjustment for me alone after so much time of being self (and un) employed; but with Emily and Angelines the transition has been complicated two-fold.

Angelines is a super-mom, as those of you whom we visited this summer will atest, but that doesn't mean she was used to having five hours of solo time with baby Emily without Mommy's teta on hand.  Yes, Emily is still mostly breast-fed.  She is now 10.5 months and so eats most anything you put in front of her, but rather small quantities so her main food source is still Mommy's milk.

This has meant, among other changes, that I have had to make friends with my breast pump that had been previously 100% neglected.  Pumping is a pain and I do a bare minimum: about 2 oz. only for the five hours I'm gone and I try to have a few small jars frozen for emergency situations or if my morning pumping time is taken up by a certain someone being unexpectedly awakened. ;)  I am getting used to it by now though, and am even beginning to enjoy my mornings alone with my obnoxiously loud pump burping along as I sip my tea and peruse my email or what have you.

Until this week, I had been working mornings only which was really great.  It was wonderful to get up, have a nice shower, breakfast with my pump, and then head out the door and be home by two for lunch.  Then I had the whole, long afternoon to spend with Angelines and Emily hanging out, napping, walking the dog or going out.  The three of us had pretty much fallen into a routine when along came this week and effectively scrambled us up again.

Working in the afternoon is much more frantic.  Mornings are when we usually get things done, so if I'm at home, we are doing necessary errands out and about or in the house and I am tired by the time I have to leave for work!  Then there's the question of lunch.  When I work mornings, I have something prepared or taken out of the freezer to be thawed to make Angelines's life easier.  If I'm home in the mornings, however, there's the temptation for me to cook which is just one more thing added to the ever-growing to-do list and also means that we cannot afford to be out of the house for too much of the morning depending on the cooking time of whatever's on the menu.

This week has been rough, too because I am constantly surprised and disappointed by Spanish children's behavior (as a general rule--thankfully there are some exceptions).  Working afternoons is a result of the beginning of kids' classes.  The kids' classes are more challenging in general because you have to be so much more together.  There is no time to be wasted thinking in the classroom about how best to go about doing something because in a split second they're up and running, pushing, shouting, taking the ball you brought in for a game and starting a rough-tough soccer game, or getting into your computer... It is amazing.

This is the cake: a minion! :)  So cute!

Monday was quite stressful because I was expecting to be given a lesson plan as I have been given with my adult classes and instead was met with "Do some games and get-to-know-each other exercises"...!  I was completely unprepared because I hadn't brought any of my own materials for playing some of my favorite fall-back games or my computer with the English songs I use in class.  It was pretty miserable and only compounded by two evil, second grade brothers (tripletts--their sister is also in class but slightly better behaved).  The day's saving grace was one of those exceptions to the rule I mentioned: a delightful sixth grader who brought in a cake she had made to share with class on the first day! :)

On top of these changes I'm just now getting over a cold that I've had for about six days and for whatever reason Emily wasn't sleeping well at the beginning of the week meaning that I was sick and sleep-deprived for these extra stressful days.  I am hoping that things will fall into a routine again although it might be a few weeks as my boss is juggling schedules and is therefore changing my schedule last minute. 

This week I also went from working 20 to 25 hours a week so I'm through with having three-day weekends... Alas, such is a working woman's life.  The good news is that this particular change means a bigger pay check. ;)  Gotta look for that silver lining!

Hope you're all well.  I promise not to be so long in blogging next time.