For some odd reason I feel really poopy this morning.  No, not like little C-man, though that has been getting much better!  And in true Amanda style (over-analyze much?) I feel bad about feeling bad.  I mean, after all, we just returned from a wonderful weekend in the U.P. with family, friends and great food (lots of flowers too!).  And, we were even part of the modern society again upon our arrival at home.  Well, close.  We have power, but no cable and no phone….so it still feels like the dark ages in some ways!  We actually watched a video last night.  Not a DVD, a video!  How strange is that?

Another positive is that Calder slept for nearly 3 of the 4+ hours of the drive home yesterday.  Around hour 3 we started getting a little worried about what the night might hold.  After feverishly inhaling his dinner, playing for about an hour and watching us feverishly inhale our dinner, it was bath time.  And miraculously, he still turned in at 7:30!!!  He woke up around 8:30-9:00 as usual, and wanted a little snuggle time after his late night snack.

OK, so I think the real reason for the bad mood is a) the weird stench in my classroom and b) the fact that I have to take all my furniture into the hallway in order to have the cleaning crew re-shampoo the carpet to get rid of the weird stench.  ARRRGHH!  With today and tomorrow left as our “officially unofficial” work days I was feeling good about my progress.  I just loaded my new book shelves, have all my little “homey” touches in place, and was about to tackle posters and books.  Now, I have to empty out and start fresh again!  Give me a while and I’m sure I won’t feel so “woe is me,” but for now, I’m bummed!

OK, so I’m going to summarize as efficiently as possible the insane events that ensued yesterday.  I’ll begin with daycare….

Miss K: (with a look of uncertainty) I have a confession.

Immediately my mind slips back to the last time I heard those words from my very own mother in Colorado, where I learned that my son had been momentarily locked in the hotel room.  Alone!  Luckily he was in his pack and play and all turned out just fine

Me: Okay? (spoken calmly)

Miss K: Madey (Golden Retriever pup) ate Calder’s pacifier.

Me: (breathing a sigh of relief) Oh!  That’s no problem, we have another one at home.

Miss K: And since he didn’t have it, he hasn’t taken a good nap since this morning.

Me: No problem, he’ll be fine.  I’m just interested in how Madey will be?!

What I thought would be heart-dropping news, turned out to be rather trivial and funny.  The irony there, is that Calder’s two pacifiers have travelled to California, Colorado, the UP, Ypsilanti, Grand Rapids and countless other places, without being lost.  I wonder if the pacifier rule is like the accident rule?  You know, most accidents happen within a certain distance from home.

With our back-up binky firmly in place, Calder and I snuggled later on the couch while my darling husband went about the business of completing odd jobs around the house since we’d be leaving in the morning.  Fast forward a few hours and he and Miss Micah return home and we start watching a movie on cable.  The lightning and thunder picks up, as does the rain and wind.  About half-way through our movie, there’s a big crack of thunder and all goes dark. 

This was the kind of thunder that shook your core, the kind you could feel with a thud in your chest.  Or, was it?

“We just lost a big tree!” Garth exclaimed from the red room. 

With that, we were all peering out the window to bear witness to the monstrous portion of the tree near our property that was currently blocking the entire street, the trunk-sized branch of which was suspended above the ground courtesy of our power lines.

“Holy crap!” I breathed, fogging up the window.

The storm continued to rage for about 30 minutes longer, while we called Consumer’s and lit candles so we could play dominoes to take Micah’s mind off the craziness.  As I write, Micah, Calder and I are at school and Garth is at home, still without power, waiting for Consumer’s to arrive.  As we left town, we saw about 4-5 other trees/branches littering sidewalks, streets and yards. 

Hopefully we’ll be able to head out before too long!  And (as has become my catch-phrase) I took pics of the tree, and will post them soon!

Garth laid Calder down shortly after my fruitless trip to the Shoppe.  However, he wasn’t having any part of it.  I let him cry it out for a while, but then this wave of sadness swept over me and I had to go pick him up.  I could see he was clearly tired and I knew he needed to sleep.  I also knew, however, that he would be hungry again in about an hour, so I decided to feed him.  He promptly fell asleep.

That’s when it hit me.

These past two days have been an adventure, and I’m really excited to be back in my classroom, setting up and getting things orgainzed.  Yet, when I look at that perfectly plump face, and those sleepy little lashes and I think about how I’m going from 24 hours a day with him, to precious groggy moments in the morning and a few hours before bedtime each night, I get pretty sad.  So, I cried.  My daycare dropoff tears were delayed by a couple of days, but they did finally arrive!  After he finally gave in to sleep, I just sat here on the couch, watching him.

3:00

•  Changed one two three diapers

5:00

• Slithered out of bed and started my day (after trying to ignore my alarm 3 times!) 

7:00

• dropped Calder off at daycare (no tears, just a really lengthy good-bye hug!!)

8:00 – 11:00

• “constructed” my new stool
• stared around my room trying to envision the layout that would work best
• sorted school supplies, which felt a little like Christmas morning for school-supply loving geeks such as myself!

11:00 – 11:15

• Drove to Beaner’s to meet with our fiancial advisor

11:15 – 1:00

• Arrived back at the school where our financial advisor was waiting because we had changed the meeting location
• Started Calder’s college savings
• Talked a lot about money (realized kids (and life in general) costs more than expected)

 1:00

• Called daycare to check-in (after having restrained myself most of the morning)
• Learned that he had 2 more poopy diapers and that the daycare provider thought it might be something more serious than teething, my diet, or stress. 

1:20

• Scheduled an appointment for Calder to be seen by the doc!
• Felt terrible that I hadn’t called the doctor or daycare earlier!

1:30

• Picked up Little Man and headed home for lunch and to let Xanther out

3:00

• Headed into Lansing to hit the Dollar Store, Teacher Store, and Babies R Us before Calder’s appointment.

5:15

• Stuck in a traffic jam on I-496.

5:25

• Avoided most severe part of traffic jam because we weren’t going downtown at rush hour. 
• Stopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods to check out kayak sales
• Left empty-handed (thankfully!)

5:30

• Arrived 20 minutes early for our appointment
• Fed Calder
• Were seen by the doctor much earlier than schedule (Hooray!)

6:15

• Left the office with a smiling, cooing, little baby who apparently has nothing wrong with him as he seems just fine.

6:30-7:30

• Shopped at Meijer for odds and ends, including two bookshelves for my room, which I’ll assemble tomorrow
• Looked longingly at the aisles of treats and tasty goodness that I wanted to devour, my lunch having long since worn off.

8:00

• Dropped off a few things at school and a friend’s house
• Sat in the backseat with a wailing child who was not the least bit amused by my antics!

8:30

• Finally arrived home
• Fed Calder
• Changed him
• Finished feeding him
• Changed him again (2 diapers this time!)
• Swaddled him so I could restock the diaper supply that has been quickly dwindling
• Emptied Diaper Genie
• Washed bottles and pump parts
• Made Dinner and Sat down!
• Watched my angel fall asleep on my handy-dandy video monitor! *Thanks, Mom!*

10:30

• Crawled upstairs, kissed my sweet child on the cheek, climbed into bed and thanked God for the countless blessings in my life!