A New 24 Hours

4 am Tiny Overlord is thrashing in her sleep. She does this every night. It will continue until she lets out a series of loud farts, then she will fall peacefully back to sleep. I chuckle.

4:30 am Tiny Overlord did not go back sleep; she wanted to nurse. She slept through the night so it's not a hardship.

4:45 am Tiny Overlord is content and back to sleep. My alarm goes off at 5 am, so I don't even bother to try to go back to sleep. Turn off alarm, go into kitchen to wash up the baby bottles that I was too tired to wash last night.

5:00 am Start oatmeal, put clean baby bottles in the backpack that holds the pump, unload dishwasher, put dirty dishes in. French braid hair, put in contact lenses.

5:30 am Tiny Overlord wakes up. I nurse her on one side, pump on another, eat and try to catch up on email.

6:00 I should be doing other things, but I spend 30 minutes with the Tiny Overlord, just enjoying her company.

6:30 Change her diaper, get her dressed for the day. Find an extra bib and diaper overwrap to go with her. Get dressed in outfit I laid out on Sunday afternoon. Brush teeth, touch ups to my hair.

7:00 Put Tiny Overlord in her car seat and talk to her to keep her entertained until both Minions are ready to head out door. I grab my lunch and pump, Minion #2 grabs diaper bag, the lunchbox of milk for the day and of course the Tiny Overlord herself.

7:15 am Everything is loaded into the cars, kisses all around, and we both drive off. I stop at a local bakery for coffee (decaff) and a pastry because I'm feeling a bit blue.

7:40 am - arrive at work, drop stuff off in classroom, walk to office, clock in, check mailbox, tell people who ask "yes it's hard being back", walk back to classroom

7:55 am first work pumping. Lock door, cover window in door, arrange pump so anyone looking through space between construction paper cover and the window frame won't see anything.

8:10 am put milk in little cooler in staff room refrigerator, wash pump parts, start work.

8:20 students enter classroom, start teaching

12:00 Lunch time pumping, eat lunch, observe a colleague and ask questions to learn how to use graphic organizer she designed for us.

3:40 students leave for day.Science department meeting.

4:00 Tutor a student. Prepare a powerpoint for forensics class. Forget to grade papers (sigh)

4:30 Student leaves. Afterschool pumping. Collect breastmilk cooler from refrigerator, pack up, head home.

5:00 arrive home. Put milk in fridge. Wash pump parts and empty bottles. Make lunch for tomorrow. Clean litterbox, take out trash. Take shower. Publish science blog (hoping to one day have enough visitors to it to make some money from it, so publishing on time is somewhat important)

5:45 Minion #2 arrives home, escorting a sleeping Tiny Overlord. Wash baby bottles. Load her lunchbox up with fresh milk for tomorrow. Dirty diapers into diaper pail.

6:00 Tiny Overlord wakes up and gifts us with play time. Minion #2 takes quite a few pictures of the Tiny Overlord. We tell her how smart and beautiful she is, and exclaim in delight over her attempts to sit up. She approves of the praise.

6:30 Minion #2 makes dinner while Tiny Overlord demands a fresh meal. Eat dinner, careful not to spill any on her.

7:00 Tiny Overlord sleeps in my lap. I try not to fall asleep, with little luck. Attempt to spend some time watching tv with Minion #2, also with little luck.

7:30 Tiny Overlord's bath time, followed by reading of last half of Hop on Pop. Tiny Overlord approves.

8:00 Tiny Overlord snacks, then falls asleep on my lap. Minions watch Mythbusters.

9:00 Minions watch Supernanny as research for later.

10:00 I realize how late it is and put Tiny Overlord in her bassinet. Brush teeth, take out contacts, put on sweat pants and sweat shirt, which is as close to her pajamas as I can get. The Tiny Overlord can not have a blanket (chance of smothering) so I don't use one either. If I'm comfortable in what I'm wearing then she should be comfortable also. Fall asleep after checking on her several times. Hopefully she'll sleep until 4 am again.