On returning to work....

I've been officially back to work for 3 weeks as of tomorrow, which also happens to be the day Felicia turns 8 months old! I was very lucky to have about 7.5 months to be home with her before returning to my job as a K-8 Visuals Arts teacher. So far, I think it mostly sucks to be back at work. I say 'mostly' because my students are generally pretty sweet kids who make me smile throughout the day and my coworkers are good to work with, but I feel sad about missing time with my daughter. She's been having a hard time with the transition and refuses to eat or nap most days Monday-Friday until I pick her up. Thank goodness she is with my sister and mom who have extra patience for her! And she wakes more frequently during the night than she was before I started teaching again. I'm talking like every 3 hours. Monday night she woke at 3:30am and would not stop crying "Mama mama mamamamamamamama..." until I let her sleep ON me.

Pumping at work? Blech. Two days a week I have 25 minutes to eat lunch AND pump. It. is. ridiculous. Somehow I am making it work for now, but it is not easy. It feels like a lot more to balance than I have ever experienced before. There is never enough time.

That being said, while I loved my short stint as a stay-at-home mom, that wasn't easy, either. Being a mom is just hard.

THAT being said...wanting to be a mom and not having it happen was much, much harder than being a SAHM or working mom (in my opinion anyway). And the hard parts of motherhood are bearable because of all the great parts. The best part of my day? Picking Felicia up after school, hands down.

Some highlights from my first weeks back in the classroom:

* I accidentally called a kid "Farter" in front of a whole class. Have you ever mixed up the first letters of 2 words? I did that to poor Carter. I don't even remember what I was trying to say...something like, "Carter, find your seat," and it came out "Farter." Surprisingly no one said anything about it. And this was one of my 7th grade classes! Either they didn't notice or they are just used to me saying weird things. I may never know.

* I got a compliment from a 5th grader yesterday on the dress I wore. She said it was beautiful and her favorite color, "Tardis blue." Doctor Who reference for you, there.

*Several of my classes cheered and clapped when I told them that Felicia learned to crawl! She was officially on the move the day before school started!

*During a greeting activity in Kindergarten, my Kinders insisted on greeting ME, too. It was just too cute to hear them say, 2-4-6-8 Who do we appreciate? Mrs. Bird, Mrs. Bird...YEAAAAAAAAH...Mrs. Bird! in their little 5-year-old voices.

*I got to lead a game of Simon Says in front of 85 Kinder-2nd grade students when we had to move recess indoors due to a downpour. 85 kids and no toys at indoor recess? Thankfully I had Super Speedy Simon Says up my sleeve! That could have been chaos.

*I sent my first student ever to the principal's office! It had to be done.

So, for now we are surviving. People tell me it will take about 6 weeks to feel like we have any sort of routine. We are already halfway there!