Working Woman

I'm going to be very busy this week! This weekend I was able to pick up some more sub jobs so now I am working every day this week. Today was a half day in the afternoon at the middle school. It went pretty well but the kids were quite obnoxious. Tomorrow I'm at the same building I was at last week doing the one on one test reading with individual kids. Wednesday through Friday I'm at the high school. I have social studies on Wednesday, Math and resource room on Thursday and then a half day on Friday in a business class. I'm hoping that high school won't be terrible but I'm a little nervous after the obnoxious kids today at the middle school level. It was nice today though because the teacher I was subbing for was still there when I got there so I was able to ask questions and get to know her a little bit. Another added bonus was that I didn't have to pump since it was a half day and so close to my house.

To add to the busy week I'm also tutoring for 15 hours in the evening. Things are starting to get overwhelming! I think my biggest issue is that I'm not able to get enough sleep. Overall I've been coping pretty well and don't feel overly tired throughout the day but I know that I should be getting at least 7 or 8 hours per night, which I'm definitely not getting. Baby M is still up every 2-3 hours per night. The problem isn't him getting up it's that neither one of us can stay awake for a feeding. Last night for example, he woke up at 1am to eat and I brought him out to the couch to eat and I kept nodding off. I awoke at 3:30am and he was sleeping and had only eaten on one side. I had a terrible kink in my neck and definitely didn't get quality sleep. I'm not sure how much he's getting at a feeding, nor am I sure how much he should be eating at this point. I think I would feel so much better if I could feed him for 20-30 minutes and go back to my bed and actually get quality sleep. I think I may start setting my alarm so I don't fall asleep for long periods of time.

The other problem is that I can't get him to sleep in conventional type places such as his crib or bassinet. If we put him down in either place he's up less than 10 minutes. I've been getting him to sleep the longest in his car seat, bouncy seat, on his boppy, etc.... It's really frustrating but in the middle of the night I try everything just so he will sleep and I can get back to sleep. The sound of water also soothes him to sleep so sometimes I'll turn the shower on and put him in the bathroom in his bouncy seat or last night I put his bouncy seat by the dishwasher and that seemed to lull him right to sleep. We are really focusing on trying to get him to sleep in his crib though, by putting him in there during the day so he's getting used to the feeling. So far he's been doing a little better.

Lastly, R is being recruited for a job in Sout.h Caro.lina. He had a phone interview today and knows the woman recruiting him pretty well. He's actually presenting at a conference with her at the end of the month. She really wants him for the job and they are trying to work things out with HR because apparently they are very strict about the criteria and he doesn't quite have the 6 required years. He had 4 years experience and a master's degree but apparently they don't take his master's into consideration. If he gets the job he'll be starting probably the middle of November. We decided that I would stay here in MI with the kids until we were sure the job was going to work out as well as until we could make arrangements for our house. He has not heard a single thing from any job here in MI so we're getting pretty desperate.