It's Wednesday!

Today is my long day at school.  It's long for everyone -- me, the kids, the husband, my mom and sister and their household ...

I make lists the night before of what I need to do early in the morning on school days because my brain doesn't work at 5, 5:30, 6.  I usually make my lunch the night before, but my baby was not sleeping well so I put on the list to finish making it this morning.

I decided I wanted to sleep in this morning, so I showered last night.  That way, I could stay in bed until 5:30.  I need to say that I am NOT a morning person.  At all.  I am learning to be one, but I am really not thrilled getting up that early.

When I did get up at 5:30, the baby decided it was time to get up, too.  So he started playing in bed with me while I pumped, but then he noticed there were boobies out.  He tried to nurse through the pump, and when that didn't work, he tried to yank it off.  At that point, I decided I'd better just pump on one side while he nursed on the other.  We were both much happier.

Kiddo got up at 5:30 as well and got in the shower.  When she came in my room at 6, she took the baby off to change his diaper and get him dressed.  (She is SUCH a good help with him.)  Little Mister also got up at 6 and, after he went to the bathroom, I reminded him to get ready for school and actually wear pants (not shorts).  At that point, I was finally able to go to the bathroom and put on some makeup.

I went into the kitchen to check the list.  Pulled the flounder out of the freezer for dinner, stuck a note for the husband about starting dinner on the fridge (I wrote the note the night before when I made my list), and finished making my lunch and put it in my lunch bag.  I also started the car to warm up for 5 minutes so the car seats weren't freezing.

At that point, I ran downstairs and changed the laundry because we are out of towels and will need them for baths tonight.  I also kissed the husband and said goodbye for the day, then went back upstairs.  I stuck a frozen burrito into the microwave and nuked it while I washed out the pump parts and dried them, then packed them in the bag to take to my mom's.  Princess Cat was still asleep, so I went in her room and woke her up while the teen took the boys out to the car.  She was actually wearing PJs to bed (she usually sleeps in a diaper or a T-shirt and diaper), so I just gave her a jacket and shoes to put on, and we headed out to the car.  I was carrying my backpack, lunch bag (including the burrito), diaper bag, and the pump.

At 6:50, we rolled out of the driveway and headed to my mom's.  Ate the burrito on the way to mom's.

Once at my mom's, I took Cat to the bathroom.  Potty training is so much fun!  She was still dry, so she went potty and put on real clothes instead of her PJs, and I brushed my teeth.  My classmates will thank me later.  Mom found there were only two clean bowls in the dishwasher, so I took another minute and washed the other cereal bowls so she could actually feed all the kids.  I know she is capable, but I had an extra minute and I really didn't mind helping out.  So I kissed the kids goodbye, squished my squishy baby, and left for school.  Rolled out of their driveway at 7:20.

I got to school at 8 a.m., feeling a little tired and I was thinking about why that might be ... well, there you go.  I'll be here until 3, then go back to mom's, where I'll pump, nurse the baby, and then get all the kids and their stuff back into the car.  We'll get home around 4:30, and the husband should have started dinner by then.  I'll finish making dinner, feed the kids, do baths and bedtimes and stories and probably change the laundry again and break up fights and talk with the teen ... After they go to bed at 7:30 and 8, I will take a few minutes with the husband, do some homework, and go to sleep.  The first two weeks of school, I passed out while the kids were eating dinner, but I'm feeling less tired now.  Yay!

And this is why I'm REALLY glad I have Tuesdays and Thursdays off of school -- I need a day to recover after this madness!

Two weeks of the first semester of nursing school done!

I'm taking 13 or 14 credits, most of which are nursing classes.  I'm still working on some generals for my bachelor's degree.  It's been a long two weeks, but also very good.  I feel more settled into my classes and the expectations, and even though we're still just getting into the groove, it feels good to get started.  We wore our scrubs today for the first time as they are only required on clinical lab days.  (Actual clinicals when we'll be working with actual patients don't start until close to the end of term.)

My kids are surviving at my mom and dad's, with my sister and her kids helping babysit.  I know it's hard on everyone but I sure appreciate their help.

I'm going to be doing some batch cooking this weekend -- casseroles to heat up for dinner, breakfast burritos for my breakfast, muffins for the kids.  I did really well most nights, but there were a couple nights that didn't go so well, and cooking and eating breakfast at dark-thirty in the morning isn't easy either.

I'm also hoping to get back to the gym next week.  I just need to make the plan and stick to it so I can.

The Rock's bipolar is helping keep me on my toes, too.  Even in the midst of chaos, most of the time, I feel at peace and comforted that everything is going to be OK.  There are days I feel lost and confused, and that's generally a reflection of The Rock's days where he's not doing so well.

I'd better go work on dinner.  The littles are starving ... so the 5yo is cleaning up toys while he waits for dinner.  He wants a smiley face!  The other kids are hanging out downstairs, hopefully cleaning up toys too.  Ha.