So I'm scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed. I see a single girl post about how she just finished working a 12 hour shift, and she is "too tired." I remember those days. Those days when I thought I knew what tired was...I had no idea.
I'm working from the moment I get out of the bed in the morning to the moment that I fall into the bed at night. I should be working as I type this post, actually. Let me give you an example of my day.
I get up earlier than anyone else in the house. Take a shower, fix my makeup, fix my hair. I wake The Nugget and Big G up so we can get ready for the day. One of us gets J dressed (I can't pretend like I do it all around here, Big G is a lot of help...most of the time), nurse him (that's ALL me :)), and get his food packed into his diaper bag. Then, we are all ready to leave the house. I'm lucky enough to have Big G take J to his grandmother's house most days, so I go straight to the school. I get into my classroom around 7:30 and get ready for the day. I write my daily objectives, BDAs (before, during, and after), and weekly assignments on my agenda board, I change the date, and I get the Bell Ringers ready.
The bell rings and my students file in. "Can I use the restroom?" "I need to go back to my locker!?" "I couldn't do my homework last night because...""I need to go to the nurse...girl problems!" As I answer all of these questions, I have to make sure that everyone is starting on their Bell Ringer while simultaneously marking tardies, checking dress code, and welcoming students with a smile at my door. I'm super human, don't ya know!? All before 8am.
As the day goes on, kids file in an file out. I am in charge of loving them, teaching them, welcoming them, checking dress code, marking attendance, counting tardies, and watching for signs of abuse, drugs, alcohol, anger, etc., and making sure that they are learning something. (I know. I said teaching them...then I said I had to make sure they are learning something. These are two very different things. I'll explain that in its own post later.) All the while, I am trying to find a few minutes in the day to pump for J in privacy. I'm not even going to try to explain my pumping schedule. It's pretty much pump when you can and don't worry about it if you can't. At 1:51 I get my PLANNING PERIOD! Some people call this your 'free period'...these people are not teachers. Teachers know that your planning period is your daily time out from students and the fastest 50 minutes of the whole day. I usually spend my planning period trying to catch up on the things I am required to do. Many of these things are completely ridiculous, and I believe that they have nothing to do with actually helping my students learn (I update you on this in a later post as well!). Then the bell rings. We all get to go home. Our day is done...except its not.
If you are a mother, you know what I'm talking about. When I leave school I go get my baby. I don't know who is more excited when we finally get reunited! I take him home and we play. That doesn't sound like work to many people, but it really is. As enjoyable as it may be...it is a very tiring job! He is learning new things every day, and it is my job to give him to opportunities to learn and things to explore. We read, we sing, we play, we walk through the yard. We keep ourselves entertained until naptime. After I get J down for a little nap around 4:00, I run through the house trying to clean and straighten everything that I can before he wakes up. I have to wash my breast pump bottles, get supper started (if it's not in the slow cooker...more on that later, too!), wash, dry, and fold clothes, sweep the floor, you get the picture! I never finish what I start before J is finished with his nap.
Usually Big G is home by the time J wakes up. While I am finishing supper, Big G usually gets to his daily playtime in with The Nugget. Then we eat, we clean the kitchen, and we start our bedtime routine. Most nights we bathe, put on our pajamas, read a book, nurse, and lay down in the bed to go to sleep. This whole routine is usually over around 8:00, and J is down for the night. You'd think I'd be able to rest a little after I lay the boy down, but I don't. I start getting ready for the next day. I get his bottles/cups ready, his food ready (he eats homemade baby food...yep, more on that later, too!), and his diaper bag ready to be packed. I also try to finish what I started when J was napping earlier. By the time I finish cleaning up and getting ready for tomorrow, it is time to go to bed.
Whew! That wore me out just typing it, and that is just one day. Imagine the entire week!
I am not by any means saying that I have a difficult life. I love my life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have a wonderful husband who (usually) does his best to help. I am sure there are many people who have it a lot more difficult than me. I just know what my life used to be...boy, I had it easy.
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