Back to Normal?

I realize now I haven't posted in a very long time. The truth is that I've been really busy. Like, crazy busy. I can break down my major time consumers (besides being mom) into a pretty simple list:

1. teaching at Wilson
2. teaching at Putnam
3. class reunion planning
4. wedding planning
5. singing

Putnam is my newest venture and has been the most consuming of my time and energy lately. This wouldn't be much of an issue normally but it's thrown an childcare kink into the mix. At Wilson I teach after school and I have wonderful girls that watch Charlotte so I can take her with me. I'm sure there would be wonderful girls to watch her at Putnam but I teach there during the day. This means Charlotte has to be home. Which means that so does someone else. The cheapest option is Paul. If he's on swing or graveyard shift it isn't too difficult for him to watch her until I get home. They days I go to Wilson get long though.

On Wilson days, I get to Putnam at 8:30am, leave round 11:30 to go home, eat lunch, pack up and then go to Wilson from 2 until between 5:30 and 7 depending on the day. This is quite a bit of car time for baby. Throw into this mix that we've started down the path of weening and that Charlotte is fully bi-pedal and we have a pretty cranky kid.

The good news is that it's actually better than I expected. Walking is a blessing in disguise. She's finally able to wear herself out. Her napping has been better (the days we actually do manage to get a routine) and her sleep at night is starting to get better (we usually get up with her 3 times a night instead of 5+). She's eating better and we're not in the midst of any illness or teething. It's quite pleasant really. With her able to drink juice and eat more solids I've been trying to cut the nursing down to before bed and first thing in the morning. This doesn't always fly with her, and with my being so much busier than usual she's been extra clingy. Like, screams at the top of her lungs when I leave the room clingy. But I do nurse her far less than I did before. I finally feel like I'm starting to get my body and my life back. I just hope that we can all keep up!

Sick Baby

Of all the things I've had to deal with, this is probably the hardest. I'm on the verge of packing a bag and moving to Europe. Okay maybe I won't do something that drastic.

Thursday night Charlotte started showing cold symptoms that I just chalked up to teething. After a rough night that included an overly soaked diaper, Friday and Saturday have been a roller coaster of coughing, severe diaper rash, an eternally runny nose, resistance to sleep, and drooling that would rival the big bad wolf. All this coupled with helping my brother-in-law move in the midst of an emotionally wrenching divorce, hearing about a friend who was shot in his car, and reeling from financial strain has made life almost unlivable.

So it's no surprise that Charlotte's cold is turning into our cold. Currently she is pulling tissues one at a time out of the tissue box and throwing them off the couch. Normally I would stop her, but this is preventing her from screaming in my ear or thrashing at my boobs or hitting me in the face or scratching me...so we're just going to have a big tissue mess.

I'm taking her to the doctor tomorrow. Whatever it is that she has, I hope they can make it go away. It was hard before. This is just damn impossible.