Return of the Routine

What a week! On Monday the boys were out of school so Pattie and I left them in bed and went to finish up her shots that had been delayed by her recent pneumonia. She did pretty well with them. She has had so many shots lately that she gets pretty nervous about them as soon as she knows we are going to the doctor. I had a plan in mind to keep her from getting too upset this time. I told her that if it turned out she did need a "poke", I would take her to "Monkey Treehouse" which is what she calls the McDonalds near our zoo because the playground has a monkey theme. When the nurse came in with the syringes, she was starting to cry but I told her I would hold and reminded her about lunch and she barely cried at all. Once we were done, she was surprised!
I hadn't anticipated getting called in to sub much this first week back, but I did get a half day on Tuesday from 10 -2. I was able to get up in a leisurely way and loaf around while Jayme got a couple hours sleep after his night shift. I was home before the boys were even out of class!
Wednesday I officially started my new weekly gig. I am subbing for a teacher every Wednesday for the rest of the school year while she takes care of her elderly father who has Alzheimer's. That gives her mother (his primary caregiver) a little break to do things for/by herself. It's a great class that I am thrilled to get to spend time with. They are 2nd graders and I have subbed for them many times, once for 4 days straight. I feel really honored to have been chosen by the teacher and the principal and I am going to do everything I can to honor the trust they have put in me by letting me spend time with these 21 youngsters.
Thursday I got a call at 9 am to see if I could come right away to a 1st grade class whose teacher had to go when her child's daycare called. Very sweet little group of kiddos there!
Friday I was back in Pre-K/Kinder PE/Music! I feel like I worked a full week, let me tell you! I am still getting the hang of working AND doing my regular mommy things at home along with the cooking and laundry and cleaning and a little sleep now and then. I think it's going well, but one thing is definitely suffering and that's my sweet little BLOG. If you are still hanging with me and sticking around, then thank you from the very bottom of my heart! 2011 has a lot of potential and I am so hopeful that we will reach the stars we are shooting for here in Chaosville.