Forgive me loyal readers, for I have sinned.

Electronically sinned, that is.

It has been two weeks of adjustment in our world, that’s for sure. Our days are so busy that most of the time, I’m ready to fall asleep as soon as Joshua does. Since he still wakes up once or twice a night, I’m getting really disconnected sleep. Couple that with 120 teenagers keeping me on my toes all day and that makes for some Grade A Exhaustion.

Our day goes something like this:

Joshua wakes up for the first time (usually) between midnight and 3am. If he wakes up closer to midnight, he’ll be up AT LEAST one more time before we’re up for the day. If it’s closer to 3am, I can usually count on him to sleep until about 5:30. This makes it difficult for me to get ready for work, but it’s manageable.

So, by 6:00ish, I’m in the shower and getting ready for the day. I have to either pick out my clothes the night before, or decide what I’m wearing while I’m in the shower. I also have to pray that Joshua doesn’t spit up on me after I’ve gotten dressed. When Dan is still home in the morning to help me by playing a game of “Juggle Joshua,” it’s easier to get ready. When he’s not, I have to lay Joshua in the floor in the bedroom (right outside the master bath) so that I can get ready, and this usually results in him rolling over to his belly and freaking out after .02 seconds. Awesome.

By 7:00, I’m putting him in the bouncy seat, giving him his reflux meds, making my lunch, loading the car with the breast pump, teacher bag, diaper bag, lunch bag, and by 7:15, we’re in the car and on the way to day care.

He’s at day care by 7:30. I’m at work by 7:45-7:50. (Sidenote: Having Joshua has helped me get to work earlier, which means I have a few extra minutes in the morning once I’m there to get some things done, like make copies, or oatmeal, or talk to the co-workers I don’t see all day and really enjoy talking to. For that, I’m grateful.)

The bell for first period rings at 8:30. My “lunch” period starts at 10:30. In the 54 minutes I have for my “lunch” period, I have to pump, eat, do my share of lunchroom duty (every three weeks), make any copies I need for afternoon classes, respond to emails, handle color guard paperwork, pee, grade papers, enter grades in the gradebook, and save the world. In heels. Which I am severely out of practice with wearing.

My next round of classes begins at 11:30. I teach three hours in a row (which isn’t bad, really) and then I get my “planning” period. Take out the “lunchroom duty” from the previous paragraph and planning period is the same as lunch. Complete with saving the world for a second time.

The bell for the end of the day rings at 3:30, so then it’s off to color guard practice. (Yes, I’m a “band geek” complete with an annual trip to band camp. But, I have a job because of my affinity for marching band, so I’ll take all the jokes you want to throw at me, mmkay?) Guard practice lasts until 6:15, but Joshua has to be picked up before then, so I usually go get him from day care at about 4:45. I then take him BACK to school with me for the remainder of practice or until Dan gets there to pick him up, whichever comes first. He’s usually REALLY good while we’re there. He likes being outside and I think he likes hearing the music. Or, he likes looking at socially awkward teenagers and devising a plan to NEVER become one.

I usually have to nurse him while we’re at practice, which is awkward since I have to sit in a repair room with a door that doesn’t lock. At any moment I’m scared some wayward teenager will come bursting in because he or she needs a reed or a screw or something and gets a lesson in breastfeeding instead.

Even though practice is over at 6:15, I don’t always get to leave right then. Occasionally there are staff meetings to discuss how practice went, what we need to work on, or I have a teenage girl having a meltdown because her equipment wasn’t where she put it and she didn’t have it when she needed it and she screwed up and it’s that time of the month and she failed a test and her boyfriend was looking at another girl in the cafeteria and…you get my point, right?

I’m usually home by 6:45 or 7:00. When Dan has come to get Joshua from practice, he goes ahead and starts Joshua’s evening routine on time (or closer to on time). The evening routine is “dinner” at 6:30 (a vegetable and fruit/oatmeal), bath at 7:00, bottle at 7:15/7:30, bed by 7:30/7:45. When I have to keep Joshua with me the whole time, all of this is pushed back by about 30 minutes.

Once Joshua is in the bed, it’s time to wash bottles/pump parts/bowls/spoons and get everything ready for the next day. Plus eat dinner. And pump. And do any laundry that needs to be done. And watch any TV I can manage to watch. And save the world once more before the sun sets. Oh yeah, and spend time with my husband.

I have reached a point with my milk supply where Joshua needs more than I seem to be able to pump in just three sessions a day. So, in order to still be able to give him breastmilk (except for the last bottle before bed which has been formula for months now due to its heaviness–he doesn’t spit it up as much) I have to pump twice in the evenings once I’m home. I try to do this while Dan gives Joshua his bedtime bottle then again before I go to bed, usually around 10:00.

I try to always be in bed by 10:00 because I never know how long it’s going to be before Joshua wakes up for the first time. If it’s later, awesome. If it’s earlier, at least I got a couple of straight hours of sleep before the up-every-two-and-a-half-hours routine begins.

Then, everything repeats. Every day. And it’s crazy hectic. Seriously. I feel like every minute of my day is scheduled with something, so moments like now, where I have time to update y’all on my superhero doings, are precious.

Our weekends so far have been filled with wedding festivities for M & L (but my mom came to stay with Joshua because even though I’m used to juggling him plus a million other things, I think my hair would’ve all fallen out if I’d tried to juggle him AND a wedding) and today I had a day camp for marching band. Plus, he woke up with a fever of 101 and a runny nose. The pediatrician thinks it’s just a cold, but still. It’s no fun when he’s sick. At all.

And–this is big news–BIG, HUGE, MEGA news (no, I’m not pregnant or even remotely ready to think about having another baby).

JOSHUA HAS A TOOTH!!! Yes, it’s true. He has a teeny tiny little shard of a tooth on his bottom gums. AH!! He’s growing up so fast!

And now that it’s 7:45, it’s time to pump, and shower, and pee, and eat, and maybe paint my toenails, but definitely drink a glass of wine. Oh, and I’ll also try and save the world again. For the third time today.