More work? Yes sir!

I just got called to our current interim division chief head poobah's office. It's never a good feeling. You generally know either you're in trouble, or you're getting another assignment to work on. For me it was the latter. I'm now in charge of putting together a client council and organizing it. In addition to my supervisory duties, in addition to attempting to cover two units, in addition to internship responsibilities, in addition to school, in addition to my family life! All this is just peachy. I aslso like to have my own personal down time. My knitting/TV watching/scrapbooking time. I would like to add a couple of hours on to each day just to sleep if possible please. People ask me all the time how I do it all and it's simple. I just do it. I buckle down and get things done. If I can't get it done right away, it will get done. If I have to extend a deadline here and there it will get done. I just try my best. Do I have a lot on my plate? Hell yes! Would I have it any other way? Of course not! Am I seriously looking forward to my vacation in to weeks? Do I even have to ask that question?

Monday, Monday...

As if Monday mornings weren't hard enough already, I just opened an e-mail that says our big DOJ visit for the hospital looks like it will happen the first week in November. Great. At least we'll be getting it over with, but things around here will be really kicking into high gear. For those not in the know, a few years ago the Atlanta journal Constitution ran a series of articles about unexplained deaths in Georgia's mental hospitals. While we were at the bottom of the list when it comes to incidents, the whole system was shown to be flawed. This prompted the Department of Justice to decide to investigate the hospitals. We were waiting and waiting for when they would make a visit to CSH. Many, many trees were lost in the task of copying documents requested, many man hours were spent figuring data and numbers. And they continues to postpone their visit until they finally said they weren't going to investigate CSH. They had seen enough at the few hospitals they visited to make a general assumption that all the hospitals had the same issues. So a settlement was reached with the state and plans were made that they would be able to come in basically whenever they chose. We have to show that we are making improvements in several areas and any time there is a problem, they can show up. Fast forward to this past Spring. We had a death in my building. And a pretty grisly one at that. One of our patients killed another patient in his room. Of course this brought DOJ down on us like a pack of spider monkeys. They visited, reviewed documents, etc. They identified areas that needed improvement. The week before my maternity leave they visited again to see if changes had been made. They were not satisfied with the changes that were made and that's how we became split from CSH. We are now directly supervised by the comissioner of Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilites and the forensic coordiantor for the state is working here in this building. So now we get word that it's time for DOJ to make their initial visit to survey the hospital. Take a baseline, if you will. And that will take place the first week in November. I'm expecting that things around here will be nuts! It always gets that way. The good news is that now that we're spilt from CSH, I think it will be much calmer. Cook building staff tend to be less reactive in general to these things. I think it will be handled better than it was in Powell where people just get really crazy about these things. I call it "Danger, Danger Will Robinson" mode! LOL

So that's it in a nutshell. Over the next six weeks or so if I seem crazier (than usual), you'll know why. As if I need anything added to my brain fogginess, now it's this.

Who said tomorrow's Monday?

This has been such a wild weekend. I don't feel like I ever really rested. Well, there was this one time Saturday afternoon when Nell was asleep in her bouncy seat and I laid on the loveseat with Jay's head at the other end and him lying on my legs. We slept that way for about thirty minutes. I had rounds this week, so I had to go walk the building yesterday and today. That was just peachy. The library fair (yay books!) was yesterday. I always love this. Mom came with us this year and I couldn't have made it without her! There were so many people and Jay was wild, plus Nell and then two bags of books. It was crazy, but fun. Got some good books. Jay had a blast. Replaced the tires and tubes on the bike. Now to figure out how to remove the chain so I can replace it. It's so rusted and the chain tool isn't working. Hoping to get it figured out soon...

Tomorrow is Jack's birthday. One more year until the big 4-0. I made an ice cream cake for him today. It didn't turn out just like I'd want. I forgot to put some layers of caramel between the cake and ice cream, then the "icing" was too runny. But I'm sure it'll taste great. Who doesn't like ice cream and cake? Maybe some pictures of the big mess tomorrow.

Last week saw the arrival of my newest niece Lucy. Whitney and Cole are parents. Even though they're Auburn fans, we still love little Lucy and can't wait to meet her this Thanksgiving.

I wanted to upload some pics of my kids, but blogger is being testy and I'm too tired. So pics tomorrow.

Permanent Brain Farts

When I was pregnant with Jay, my mom told me that when you're pregnant the blood flow is diverted partially from your brain to the baby and it causes memory loss, but after you have the baby, the memory will come back....she lied! Sometimes I feel like I'm just swimming through this permanent brain fog. Then get a couple of kids on top of that and you just lose it! Yesterday afternoon I had taken the kids for shots and when I was leaving Macon Nell started crying....loudly. I turned on the tibetan monk songs and all it did was make Jay mad. So he's just whining about me turning it off. I was returning a call to Uncle Bill and about the time he got on the phone I just couldn't even really remember my name! It was like I forgot who I was, where I was, etc... Then I get to work this morning and apparently after I unplugged the fridge to pump, I didn't plug it back in again...at 11:30am yesterday! So of course the leftovers in there I planned to eat for lunch today are ruined. Which means I'll have to go out for lunch instead of eating in and getting schoolwork done like I had hoped. I think I need some memory pills of anti-brain-fuzziness pills or something. That would be great with all the pills I'm taking every morning anyways! Zyrtec, cingulair, hydrochlorthiazide, prenatal vitamin, vitamin C, brewer's yeast, fenugreek. Bring it on!

Today is a long day for me. I have work, then I have class, then I'm doing my second of four administrative rounds tonight. Will also need to pump in there somewhere tonight so it will be a long night for me. I think I'm not going to push to get here too early tomorrow. This weekend is the library fair here and I can't wait. I really look forward to it every year. I already have two or three books that I'm waiting to read, but I need more! LOL Actually I generally get some good books there and this year Jay's old enough to enjoy the kids' games so he'll have a ball.

Another life change since Nell is that I have a new found love for all things caffeinated. I literally kissed my diet coke from the machine across the hall from my office this mroning...and it's my second one. Coffee too! I never really drank much pre-Nell, now I love it. I think I'll wait to wean myself off of it when Nell is three or something. For now it's a daily necessity.

Work issues I'm going to have to deal with today, need to get some reading and reviews done, need to get more work stuffs done. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Hectic, and crazy, but beautiful!

Snowball Effect

When you start your morning out right on time or just a few minutes late things have a way of snowballing. I guess I just have to be resigned to the fact that about once a week I'm going to have a rough morning. That's been the pattern since I came back to work. They can't all be smooth. This morning as soon as I get to daycare Nell spits up all over my shirt. I get the kids in and think that maybe it will dry and not be noticable. By the time I get to the building, it's still noticeable. So I head on home and have to bypass a wreck to get there. Run in and change the shirt, then whack my head getting back into the car. On top of all this, my eczema which has been a mild inconvenience the past few days decided to come on out this morning to so I'm having issues relating to that as well. Come on Tuesday, what else have you got!?!?

If you need me I'll be hiding under my desk.....

Just another Manic Monday.......

Ooooh aoooooohhhh....

This weekend was filled with the good. Saturday was scrapbooking with friends. Nell went with me because it's never too early to start, right? I got about six pages done. I'm caught up through the first of December. Then Saturday evening was the Georgia game. I was so tired and missed the last quarter, but Jack ssaid it was amazing. Sunday I did some baking. Took the kids to Wal-Mart. I need to really find a more organized way of shopping. I feel like I spend a good bit of time staring at a piece of paper in my hand and looking for things. While I was there Jack called to say he had found my debit card. I was so mad and with a full cart of groceries. He brought it to WalMart for me and even took the kids home with him while I checked out. Had DishNetwork installed yesterday evening. The guy was at our house until like 7:30! Long day.

Maybe later I'll post some recipes and pics of what I've been doing, even though Jack made fun of me taking pictures of my cookies. I also have to do administrative rounds this week. Joy! Can't wait...

Circle of Life

Reminders everywhere today of this. This morning we doscovered that a little possum had entered Georgia's territory. He don't move no more.... Just now taking something to our storage room in the back of the building I happened on a spider with something in her web. Just stood and watched as she dispatched him and began draggin him to another part of her web. Life is short...shorter for some bugs and possums today.

Also tonight is the Indigo Girls playing in Macon. I first heard them playing at the Victorian Village in Macon when I was fifteen. I remember that concert and may even still have the shirt somewhere in the attic. Tonigh they're playing the Douglass Theater in Macon. I had thought about trying to go, but just couldn't think of how to arrange it with two kids and one being more needy these days. And who to go with. All those other questions. The concert sold out a week or so ago so I didn't have tot hink about it too much. But this morning I closed my office door for a little guitar game and my favorite way to play is to take my songbook and just randomly open it to a page and play that song. Yeah, about 75% of them have turned to an Indigo Girls song. Thanks universe for reminding me that I'm not going to that concert tomorrow!

I'm having a dilemma right now of how to spend Halloween. A group that I love to play music with is playing at a Fall Festival that night. they aren't expecting me since I usually take kids trick or treating that night. Usually I do this myself and Jack stay home and hands out candy. The past couple of years we've had less and less trick or treaters and I usually just drive Jay to a few friends' houses and go downtown where most of the businesses give out candy too. But I'm also thinking of just taking the whole family to the Fall Festival so I get to play music and they can just dress up for that. Not sure, need to give it more thought.

Sibling love

We had our first sibing related incident tonight. I've been taking nell into Jay's room at night to "tell him good-night." Tonight I had her lying with her head on his pillow so he could lie next to her (I was holding her the whole time) and he bumps heads with her when he lies down. Both were crying. It was nice. I felt so bad for her. Jay started crying because she was crying. It was lovely!

Made a corn tomato salad tonight for a bridal shower at work tomorrow that I won't even be able to attend. We have the Relay for Life luncheon tomorrow. Yay for my third free lunch this week! Two more days till the weekend! I can't wait for Friday. It's kind of funny. When I was on leave I almost lost track of the days most of the time until everyone on FB started posting their TGIF status updates. Now I'm there with them again. So looking forward to the weekend...

Decisions

This article makes me happy in so many ways. There have been several times in the past couple of weeks that I have thought about throwing in the towel with nursing. For no other reason than my convenience. It just takes so long to pump. Takes time out of my night and work day. Three times a day during the week. I know I' doing best for Nell and she is definitely benefiting. But this article really made me even more happy about my decision to breastfeed. It truly is best for my child and will help protect her from this nasty swiiiiine flu. Thank you CDC. I know that there are a lot of people out there who try to breast feed and it doesn't work out. With Jay I had to supplement. I nursed as long as I could, but we had to give him a bottle because he wasn't eating at first. I worked really hard to be able to nurse him, but we always had to supplement. There are a lot of people who just aren't successful at all and those people I support in their decision. You have to do what's right for you and your baby. It's the people who don't breastfeed because they just don't want to or they think it's gross or just don't even give it a try. Come on people, the CDC says it's important.

I'm so tired. It's been a busy day shuttling around town and back and forth to the Garden Clubs program in the Fellowship Hall. Tomorrow morning more of that, and trying to get caught up!

Work Week One

So I've almost made it through my first week back to work, broke the 200 pound mark I've been hanging around at for the past month, taken Nell for her first set of shots, been to my first code yellow....what else?

Actually it's been a pretty good week. I've gotten most of my questions asked and am meeting with the "big wig" from Atlanta who's here to run things some time next week. Am settling back in to a routine which is the best part for me. Catching up on work stuff. Still have some upcoming projects that need some attention including the Fall Musical which is in a couple of weeks and I have very few people agreeing to performa nd havgen't picked out music for the choir yet. Need to get my schoolwork finished finally. The clients on my new unit are all in transition phase. They are hopefully on their way out of the hospital so I'm working on some ideas for them. They want to go to breakfast on a Sunday. I also want to work with them on some health related/exercise stuff and want to set up once a month meal planning/cooking group. I think that would be fun and right up my alley!

Nell is adjusting well to daycare. I think it makes it so much easier to start out early. They get used to it easier and it's not so hard for her to leave me. She's such a good baby and is pretty much sleeping through the night these days! I'm so glad. Makes getting up for work a little easier. Note I said "a little." 5:30 am is soooo early!

We're doing a Labor Day thing this afternoon with snacks for the clients. Tomorrow I need to take Jay for a haircut and am trying to set up a playdate. Tomorrow afternoon is the Georgia game. Then it's a three day weekend! Yay for three day weekends!!

Headed back to work

I would not necessarily say I don't want to go back to work, but I am anxious about it. So much has gone on since I went out on leave that I don't know exactly what I'll be coming back to. I really don't even know if I'll have the same supervisor when I return or not. I've had some great anxiety dreams. One involving coming back to work and my office was all messed up. No desk or fridge and there were boxes stored up in it. I know that Nell will be in a good place with good people, so that's not a worry for me. IT's just getting back into the swing of things at work. Will just have to wait and see how things go.

On top of all this, I'm really anxious about pumping. When I went back to work after having Jay, my supply went away really fast when I went back to work and had to pump more than nurse. I've started taking Brewers Yeast and tomorrow will start Fenugreek. I made some oatmeal chocolate chip lactation cookies. So far I have seen much of a difference. Hopefully things will pick up in that department.

Here's hoping for a good night tonight. Last night we were awake between 2:00-4:00. I could barely drag out of bed this morning. I gave up and nursed about 3:30 and she was up a little after that, but Jack helped out too so that was great!

Tonight Nell was fussy and I finally swaddled her and put her in the swing and she calmed down. Jay got really huggy. It was so nice just hugging and cuddling my boy. He's getting so big that he barely fits in my lap anymore, but he was lovey tonight. I love that.

The Nighttime routine...

The last few weeks night time has been a chore in our house. Jay used to just get in bed and go to sleep. It was nice. We'd have him asleep by around 8:30 or at the very least confined in his room with the babygate and he'd just play. So he stopped wanting to go to bed and learned that he could use the stool for his "big boy" bed to climb over the gate. So that was no longer useful. Now we start a little before 8:00 and we're in and out of his room. The worst is the "potty" excuse. I don't want to discourage him from using the potty, but he rarely actually goes. Then it's back again. Jack and I have to take up "post" in our room so that when he gets out of his room we can direct him back. Nell, on the other hand, fusses a little, then she goes out. It's nice. I just hope that by the time she reaches this stage that he's out of it!

Hit up The Fresh Market in Macon for the first time today. I'm so glad there isn't one of these in Milledgeville because I'd shop there every day! I got this smoked salmon salad that is so tasty. And I loved their help yourself snack mixes and nuts. So fun just walking around and looking at everything. Also found some new non-dairy foods to try. a non-dairy rach dressing (looks terrible) and a block of cheddar vegan cheese (I can have pimento cheese now) and mac & chreese. Now just to see if they're any good!

This has been my last week of maternity leave. Monday Nell is going to go to daycare for a little while so that I can wrap up some things before I go back to work. Then Tuesday it's back to work again! Sad and relieved at the same time. Good to get back to a schedule, but I will miss time with my little girl. I can't believe she's eight weeks old now and I have to go back to work. Le sigh...

New fridge!!

Woohoo!!! It came and it's lovely, but they told us not to put anything in it for 24 hour? We've put a few things in there and I think I'll wait for tomorrow morning, but I need to get the coolers emptied out! And by the way, another unsolicited endorsement for Sears. They had scheduled the delivery for Monday, but I called this morning and asked if there was any way to get it today and explained that our fridge had died and they were able to work us in. I was really impressed with their customer service. Jack said they didn't want to lose a delivery charge, but I don't care. We got the fridge.

Tomorrow is my last day that I don't have anything really planned before I go back to work. Still have my little work and school stuff, but nowhere to be. Just hanging out with Nell. Then class tomorrow night. I still haven't finished all my reading, but I've done about half of it. It's just sooo much!

Hoping for a good night's sleep tonight!

REfrigerator update

So now the fridge is totally dead. The light comes on, but there's no cold. Had to bring in coolers for the refrigerated goods. niiiiice... We didn't have much in there that would be a tragedy if it spoiled, although there is a few ounces of breast milk and I have to pump tonight. I'll just have to put them out in the freezer first thing in the morning. The new fridge isn't due to be delivered until Monday so Jack is trying to get someone to pick it up tomorrow.

Finished 1/3 of my performance reviews this morning. They need to be finished by Friday. Still have about forty pages to read before class Thursday night. Still have my final from last semester to finish. Still have my final intern evaluation to finish. Lots to do. Shame is, I'll have more of an opportunity to get them dne once I go back to work! LOL

So try to get all this busy work finished tomorrow and hope that we have a new fridge. I kept kind of wishing that I didn't have to wait until Monday for the new fridge, but I didn't want to get it early this way!

New Refrigerator!!!

We are replacing the refrigerator! I must be getting old of I'm excited about a new appliance! Am I excited about a new bill? Not really. I wish it could be fixed, but yay new refrigerator!!

seven days left until I go back to work now. The next two days I can get some things done around here, then Friday I got to Macon for a filling and Monday I'll probably take Nell for a little while to daycare since we're paying for that week anyways and the refrigerator will be delivered then to. Then Tuesday it's back to work!

Am I excited to go back to work? That's complicated. I'm ready to be back in a set routine, but I don't want to leave Nell. I will miss this time I've had with her and it's time you can never get back. Do I think I would want to be a SAHM? No way. It's so much work and I don't do well with self-imposed routines. I need someone to tell me when to who up and what to do. So I'm ready to go back. I think that Jay has thrived at daycare and has made good friends and has been good for him so I'm not worried there at all. In fact I'm less nervous about it this time around. When Jay started daycare I was so worried that they would do things "right." I worried that he would miss me. Not that he didn't, but he was truly happy there too. And well taken care of too.

This last week I won't feel put out when it's time to sit down and spend the time nursing, I will enjoy getting to talk with her over her diaper changes, and I will cuddle her a little longer...

CIO and Crest Spinbrush

So there are a lot of people these days who think that CIO is of the devil. Really I'm not downing those people, but they believe that babies cry for a reason and CIO is ignoring that. Now, if I didn't have to work outside of the home, I might feel differently, but CIO worked with Jay and he's a well-adjusted (although crazy) three year old. So over the last week, Nell would wake up at night and I'd go nurse her and she'd nurse about ten minutes and fall asleep. Nothing like her 20-30 minute marathons during the day! So I had decided that she wasn't really needing those night feedings. Night before last I started to let her CIO. We did three cycles of fifteen minutes of crying and settling her down in between. She was not calming and by this time Jay was up so I got her up, nursed and got both kids back to sleep. Last night I decided to try again. This time she had to be settled after two fifteen minutes of crying, then next thing I knew it was 5:30 and she was barely stirring! She actually didn't start fudding to get up until about 6:30 and even then wasn't crying to be fed right away! It was amazing. Not that I thihnk it'll happen that way every night from now on, but there's hope! Maybe I'll be getting good sleep when I go back to work. With the things facing me, I'll need it!

I'm going to start out by saying that I have not received any compensation from the Crest company, but if they want to send me a check that will be fine. I switched to a Crest Pro Spin brush this morning. That thing is so strong that it makes your whole head vibrate! My teeth hqaven't felt this clean!

So on tap for today, I'm walking with Julia and Ada, need to hit the store for diapers for Nell, get some schoolwork done. I have my finaly from Administrative Law last semester that needs to be finished, plus reading for my current Issues in Nonprofit Managements course. All the reading for this class is going to kick my butt!

I go back to work a week from tomorrow. It's coming. I'm ready in some ways, but will really miss spending this time with Nell. Also trying this week to get up early so that I'm used to it. Going to try to get back on counting calories this week too. The weight is not coming off as quickly this time around as it did with Jay. I think part of it is that I'm eating crap these days! Just munching alld ay and not watching my portion sizes. One thing that will help is that I've had to cut way back on dairy. It seems to upset Nell's tummy and she's not as happy when I've been eating it. I take Lactaid every morning too and that seems to help, but I could tell a difference yesterday since I was weak and had some ice cream on Saturday. Yesterday I hit up Kroger and found some soy ice cream and also some other non-dairy foods in their limited selection that I'm trying. I'm also going to hit up the natural food store when I go to Macon Friday and see what I find.

Guess that's it for now. Later taters!