First Days

First days are always interesting. I remember hating the first day of school because it always seemed to fall on my birthday (like it would have this year). I always thought that really stunk. I felt like it should have been a holiday and that I shouldn’t have to go to school on my birthday. I, of course, loved my first day as a wife. I was catered to and doted on. My first day as a mom was interesting, for sure. The emotion of it all was really overwhelming. And today was like many other first days… interesting.

I started my new job today. I’m working part-time (25-30 hrs a week) doing operational and administrative support for a financial advisor with Ameriprise.

Here’s how the day went…

5:40 am Alarm clock sounds and I’m up and getting dressed and grabbing a drink of water, putting a load of laundry in the wash, then spending time reading passages from my BSF lesson in Matthew and in prayer

6:00 am Exercising on elliptical trainer (Mike is actually up and in the shower. I'm stunned.)

6:20 am In the shower & getting dressed and ready. I realize that I need to still wait a while to put on make-up because my face is still beet red from exercising.

6:30 am Take clothes out of washer, start dryer, put another load in the washer.

6:40 am Mike wakes Sarah up to get going.

6:50 am I feel like I can finally put on some make-up and then eat breakfast with Sarah.

7:20 am Help Sarah practice piano.

7:30 am Mike coaxes Nathan out of bed and is trying to convince him to eat some breakfast which is meeting some stiff opposition.

7:50 am Time-Out #1 for the day for Nathan for I can’t remember what now.

7:55 am Mike and Sarah start to leave.

7:59 am I yell and Mike to get going and that I’ll finish the laundry later.

8:00 am Mike and Sarah leave. I should be leaving. Nathan is wigging out because Daddy’s leaving and wants to give him a big hug, so we go outside to wave bye-bye… he won’t say good-bye… wigs out again as they drive away because he wants a big hug.

8:05 am Time-Out #2 for Nathan for I can’t remember what. Should have left 5 minutes ago.

8:10 am An impromptu song session as we attempt to get Nathan dressed.

8:24 am Nathan is in the car, finally, and now I’m wigging out trying to get the rest of everything else in the car. I think I already stink from the sweat. Did I take a shower?

8:29 am Should already be at the office and yet I am just now driving up to day-care. Nathan wigs out, yet again, as I leave him. No time for pictures (we did that on our practice day on Friday) or breaking hearts. Gotta go!

8:45 am Finally arrive at office. I’m exhausted, I’ve been up and going for 3 hours and it’s not even 9 o’clock. Ugh. Thank the Lord for an extra measure of energy (even if it is partially fueled by my thermos of coffee).

9:00 am I begin learning that I’ve got a lot to learn about my new job.

10:30 am Staff meeting with Tyler (main financial advisor and owner of the practice/business), John (the other f.a.), Mike (operations guy). This consisted of them going through their normal Monday staff meeting routine including prayer over the business and a set of clients. Did I mention that I love that?

11:30 am John leaves the meeting and Tyler, Mike and I meet. Normally a few operational things are discussed, but Tyler also wanted to just give me the run-down of how some things work around there. His favorite words... flow and details.

12:15 pm Lunch… I head home, stop at the tailor on the way to pick up some pants. I get home, eat some lunch while I’m putting away the clean dishes, work on my BSF lesson, then head back out calling the day care on the way back to check on my little man. He’s doing fine.

1:15 pm I begin to see that I’ve REAAALLY got a lot to learn about my new job.

5:15 pm Head home. Pick up Sarah from her after school care (who looks hot and exhausted as she’s been playing outside) and drive around the corner to pick up Nathan (who wouldn’t hardly let me put him down once I got there) They’ve both had good days. Nathan napped (albeit for only an hour) and Sarah has already finished her homework.

6:00 pm Arrive home and start on dinner.

6:25 pm Mike arrives home.

6:45 pm Dinner. Time-Out # 3 (at least) for Nathan and I do remember why (he spit a piece of zucchini out of his mouth that he didn't want to eat).

7:15 pm Send Sarah to the shower and continue to encourage Nathan to finish his dinner.

7:45 pm Nathan is in the bath and I hear Mike say to Sarah, "What are you doing? You have to point the hair dryer at your hair for it to work. Just stop and go make your lunch."

8:00 pm They should both be in bed, and yet, well, Sarah is still making her lunch for tomorrow and Nathan is wigging out because he told me he didn’t want to do something so I did it and lo and behold, he actually wanted to do it. And I was supposed to read his mind…

8:15 pm Sarah is in bed reading and Nathan has convinced Mike that he needs to go potty. This from my son that usually says… “No, need diaper.” He’s stalling.

8:20 pm Nathan has completely lost it. I go in to see if I can help and I find out that he did, in fact, tee-tee in the potty but dad didn’t know where the treats were and yet again, he said he didn’t want to do something so dad did it and lo and behold, he actually wanted to do it. Can someone tell me how to explain this concept to a 2 year old?

8:30 pm Everyone is in bed… kind of.

9:15 pm Our 3rd or 4th trip into his room with the spanking spoon (for getting out of bed).

10:00 pm I’m done…