Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Jeezie Creezie What a Day!

I have had a crazy 24 hours. It all began this morning with Alexander being awake at 5:45 when I went into his room to rock and nurse him. Usually I wake him a little, nurse and rock him and put him back into his crib where he will sleep until Chris wakes him up around 8:20 to get him dressed for the day.
So Alexander is already awake, I have him in the rocker and he's nursing and I'm rocking and he's not dozing off. Reuben is running in and out of the room being supremely annoying, especially since Alexander really wants to watch the dog. Reuben finally leaves for a few minutes, and I start to relax. That's when Alexander bit me. On my right nipple. Ugh! I suppose there is a first time for everything.

Reuben comes running back into the room and he's frantic. Two feet away from the rocking chair he squats as if to pee on the baby's rug. I stand up, put Alexander back in his crib- he starts crying, I'm trying to explain to him what's going on, Chris gets up to see what the commotion is all about. I take Reuben outside and he urinates for a full 65 seconds. That's a lot of tinkle. I don't think I've ever EVER seen a dog pee so much before in my life. Well, maybe a great dane, but not a weim-sized dog.
Back in the house, Chris is patting Alexander's behind. I pick Alexander back up to nurse him, and he bites me again. Finally it's 6:30 in the morning and if I don't start to get dressed I'm going to be late to work. I give Alexander some stacking cups that he loves to run across the bars of his crib like a hardened criminal. He fusses, but I have to get dressed. He's still awake when I leave.
As I'm driving I realize I'm exhausted. Great. Being exhausted at my job is like having an open wound in shark infested water. My students smell any kind of weakness. I start sharing with people at work that I am being moved to the other campus for next year, and I get a lot of "whys", which I can't answer because I don't actually know why. I know the sugary coating I got to make me feel good about the move, but I really don't know the real reason. Whatever it is, I'm just glad to have a job that I enjoy and being at the other campus won't change that.
My reading appointments go well enough, but A, G, and P smell my fatigue and decide to fight me every step of the way. Students who aren't mine also smell the fatigue and try unsuccessfully to wreak havoc in my classroom and office. Not happening.
Finally, the students go home. I walk out to my car, put my work bag in and take my breast pump out. I walk back to my office, like I do everyday and when I get to my office door the English teacher is there. She's 7 months pregnant and needs her afternoon snack. She grabs her snack, and tells me she's locking my door so I don't have to get up. I proceed to set up and I start to pump. Five minutes in, the dean walks into my room to tell me that if I get to the meeting early, we can start early and leave early. I tell him I'll be there in a few minutes. Not one minute later the male social worker walks in to tell me something. Thank God my office is set up so that my back is to the door. Neither knew what was going on, but it was a tad unsettling.
So, there is my day. Probably the most interesting one I've had in quite a while. I'm hoping for a long series of bland until the school year!


Thursday, May 07, 2009

Ian Graduates!

My baby brother, Ian, graduated from Coast Guard basic training on May 1st!


Ian shaking the hand of his commanding officer.











Ian coming out of Healy Hall with all of his gear, ready to come home for a short leave.















All my little brothers, and Alexander. My brother Brendan is holding Alexander, my brother Ian, obviously, is in the middle, and the suited fellow on the end is my brother Patrick. A good looking crew...but I'm biased.