Loving It

I hear it a lot: "I don't know how you do it. It must be so tough having your husband deployed for a year!" And I hear it about as much now as I did on deployments before I had Margot.

I have to say- You do what you have to do. The human spirit is so much stronger than we give it credit for being. And I was apprehensive, no- downright fearful, about being a "single mom." But you know what? Margot has made this deployment so much easier for me emotionally. Sure it's hard work being her sole caregiver. And it is taxing to have almost no time to myself to exercise or take a long, hot shower, or even go to the grocery store alone.

To that end, I couldn't imagine loving being a mom as much as I do. Who knew?! I thought it would be something I would do and try my best at. But the fact that I just adore this life is a complete shock to me. Maybe it's one of those things you just have to experience to see how it will go and what an impact it will make on your life. I certainly did not have a clue. -Thank goodness for Bob who really insisted we keep holding out hope for a baby.

I'm sure it helps having the cutest, sweetest, smartest baby on the planet! -Don't we all say that about our kids? Life is good, and will be even better when Bob gets to experience it with us. But until then, we're enjoying life as much as we can and are making the most of every single day.

Back to School

As of Monday, my maternity leave is over. I've sort of run the gamut on this one, emotionally. The week after Bob left I was SO ready to back to work (on account of the screaming bundle of joy in my arms and the C-R-A-Z-Y hormones coursing through my body). But then I got the hang of this mothering thing and have really enjoyed these weeks off.

And last week I started mourning the loss of this special time. But now that I am sitting down and planning a unit teaching Science Fiction, I'm starting to get excited about going back. I really do love teaching and I adore my school and colleagues, in particular. Plus I've found that very rarely does the experience I am dreading warrant the level of anxiety I allot it.

Plus my mom will be here to watch Margot these first two weeks back at school. As of January... well, I'm still working on that. February first Margot is definitely in at St. Mike's Tikes in Olympia. But we're still working on the January wait list. -Did I mention she's been on this waiting list since April, when I was only about 4 months pregnant? Anyhoo... more apprehension there. But we'll find someone to watch her, and when she goes to St. Mike's I'm sure she'll have a lovely time with all the babies. And because she's nursed, I think she won't get sick very easily... ah: dread, dread, dread!!! It won't be that bad. In fact, it will be good.

So this is the tune in my head from the movie "Billy Maddison"- "Back to school, back to school..." in Adam Sandler's strange falsetto. I am, indeed, Back to School.