A day in the life...

I thought I knew what busy was... little did I know what it actually is.

I've juggled multiple things at once throughout my life... I think, since moving to Gainesville, before all of this, that the last 2 years were the least busy of all.

Todd was born between my Junior and Senior year of high school. I was working 4-5 days a week with a 12 hour shift every Saturday most of the time I was pregnant (up until I was placed on bedrest for premature labor) and also going to school all day, completing homework and assignments etc. I kept my grades up. Six of the seven days a week started at 6am and ended at 10pm or later (my Saturdays were a little different, I got to sleep in a bit). He was born on June 14 and I returned to finish high school the beginning of August, on time. Luckily I had stacked up on credits and was only required to go to school from 8-12 and was able to work from 12:30- 5. I thought this was busy. Juggling school, work, a baby, college applications etc.

College was roughly the same scenario juggling a child, studying, class, but this time I was working more like 30-40 hours a week. I was a waitress for the 30-40 hours a week the first 2 years of college. I managed. Once I got into nursing school I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep that up. I switched to a new, less stressful, better hour job... that also had fewer hours a week I was required to work. I definitely needed the extra time for studying. Nursing school is a killer. I thought that was busy.

I moved to Gainesville 2 weeks after graduation. I spent the entire summer vehemently looking for a job. My first 2 jobs were absolute disasters and I was absolutely miserable. The second one required 12 hours of over time every other week. I continued my job search just has vigorously as when I didn't have one. The time itself was not the problem, it was the demands and lack of resources I had to do my job. No one would be happy doing what I did... I thought this was busy. I finally landed the job I have now and can't go to the Oaks Mall without thinking about jumping for joy since I got the job offer while I was walking to my car there. Around the same time that I got this job is when Brian and I got engaged. That wasn't too much of a demand since we weren't planning on getting married for a couple of years. I would say this was about the time things started to slow down. For the first time in my life... my life was calm. It was nice.

Then this happened.

I've talked enough about the 3 months we were in the hospital & rehab... we'll skip over that part.

The day we came home I hit the ground running. I had a series of errands I had to run, packages that needed to be picked up, deliveries, home visits etc. Nonstop. The first 3 days are a blur. We've started to find a routine though and it's nice. Tweaking things here and there... it's all coming together.

A day in the life...

Let's say the day starts when I actually get up like it's a new day (6am)

6 am - medications for Todd, change diaper, start laundry, take shower
7am - pack car, check that suction is charged, pack diaper bag, pack for medications needed through the day, eat something
8am - medications again, get Todd dressed, nebulizer if he needs it, brush his teeth (trying not to make him vomit with his sensitive gag), take phone calls
9am - be at or leave for appt, get the wheel chair in the car, make sure the movie is on so he doesn't stare out the window and puke, if he vomits add time for changing and cleaning, take phone calls
10am- medications, hope appt is over, or begin appts, get him in and out of his carseat, in and out of the wheelchair, wheelchair in and out of car, take phone calls
11am - medications, hopefully headed home, it's hot out, hope I have our portable fan with water sprayer and hope the ice cubes haven't melted, oh the doctor decided to draw a lot of blood, crap, I don't have any water or formula with me to give Todd, take phone calls
12pm - medications, give Todd a can of formula, make my list of errands I have to run this afternoon, remember to eat, try to stretch him a bit,
1pm - organzing ducks, running errands
2pm - medications, still running errands
3-5pm - try to do something socially with Todd, walk in the park, around other kids, blow bubbles, walk around the neighborhooh
5pm - medications, think about dinner, grocery store?
6pm - medications, start over night formula, start cleaning the house that I have destroyed throughout the day
7pm - eat? quiet time before bed with Todd
8pm - medications, put Todd to bed, set up camera and monitor, start laundry again, reorganize EVERYTHING
9pm - continue picking up the apartment, fold laundry, put away dishes
10pm - medications, attempt to sleep for an hour
11pm - medications (this sometimes gets moved to midnight to allow for 2 hours of sleep)
12am - medications, sleep
1am - sleep
2am - medications, change diaper
3-5am- sleep hopefully!!!
5am - medications, change diaper - go back to sleep for an hour.

This doesn't take into account that we have multiple doctor appointments in a day and all the fine details that go into executing any of these things. This my friends... is what busy is. And in August I am adding in a full work week on top of it. I think I need the next month to mentally prepare myself for it.

I do also have to say that, even with how busy we've been, it has been one of the best weeks I've ever had. I still have my child here with me.