April

I returned to work at the beginning of April, and it marked one of the busiest months of my life.  Work itself was nuts.  My first week back my boss encouraged me to "slowly" get back into the grind, and I kinda fought her on that.  I really, really, really didn't want to be back at work, so I wanted to be busy to distract myself.  I'm glad I hit the ground running, because it's been crazy, nonstop mayhem.  I'll spare you the boring details of an auditor's job, but yeah, I have not been able to be a slacker state employee just back from maternity leave.  Not that it was ever the plan, but that would've been nice.  Instead I have been working far more than usual, and wasn't even able to use leave to aide at Ree's preschool last Friday.  (Thanks to flexible work arrangements, I was able to aide, but I had to make up all the other time.)

Which leads to the next complicating matter - preschool.  Each family has to aide in the classroom six days per year, and aiding is an all day ordeal with prior planning since the aiding family provides the snack and brings in an activity to do.  We were behind on aiding because I was too dang big to aide in January.  I had planned on aiding while on maternity leave, but since I'm nursing and was going to be gone most of the day, I have to take Natalia with me when I aide, and I didn't want to take a newborn to a preschool in February and March during peak cold and flu season.  So we are aiding 3 Fridays out of 4 right now.  We also spent Saturday at preschool for the annual school carnival.  (Like all families, I was supposed to volunteer, but my booth was miraculously absent when I arrived on Saturday morning, and so I got to play with Ree instead.)  And in my spare time, I have been asked to serve as president of the very active board at the preschool for next year.  So I will be penciling in that madness.

And then there's the home front.  Michael has not adjusted well to my return to work.  He is back to his moaning and generally feeling like the world is out to get him.  It does have humorous moments, though.  Like when he mopes around and announces, "I'm saaaad."  We shouldn't laugh, but how can we not?  Another day he was refusing to do something, and rather than screaming, he sang the ABC song, with "Nope" substituted for every letter.  "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope..."  How can one child be so smart and sound like such a flippin' idiot?

Meanwhile Leon has decided he must potty train.  The best we can figure is it is entirely our fault for reading all those books about being a big brother in which the big brother plays with the baby, gets to eat pizza and ice cream, and uses the potty.  We think he figures he's played with the baby, he's had pizza and ice cream, and now it's time to use the potty.  This would be a good thing, except potty training is time consuming.  And we have twin boys.  There is the competition and the peer pressure.  So every time Leon asks to go potty, it is at least a 15 minute endeavor because first he has to go, and it involves all the piddling around of a two-year-old in the bathroom with his pants off, and then Michael wants a turn to do the same.  For all the frustrations, I suppose it has it's entertaining moments too.  Every time Leon is successful, he must announce, "Yay!  I really did it!" which is a line from a potty training book.  And again, Michael showed his smart-yet-not side one day when he looked down and said, "Mom, there's dirt in the potty.  Disgusting!"  That's when I had to inform him he was the one responsible for the "dirt."

Ree is busy with preschool, and this is a wonderful thing.  It gives her a little time to be with other kids her age.  It is nice to finally see her playing with her siblings.  She and the boys started playing together outside last summer, and over the last month or two, they also play together inside at times.  Among other things, they enjoy running around the house like chickens with their heads cut off most nights after dinner.  They jump and slide and tackle each other and generally scare the crap out of me.  I've found it's safest for me to disappear and walk the dogs at this time whenever possible.

And then there's Natalia.  Poor little Natalia, the forgotten child.  Most of the time, she is happy to just sit in her bouncy seat and watch the insanity of our house.  (With the fourth child, I feel no real guilt that we are not stimulating her or doing things that are developmentally appropriate.  We are lucky to remember to feed her and change her diapers.  Thank goodness I am nursing.  I am in pain if I forget to feed her too long.  Nature is smart.)  The rest of the time, at least when I am around, she is happy to either be in the sling hanging out with me or sleeping in her swing.  At night, she hangs out and nurses while I study.  (I am sitting for a certification exam for work in June.  It is something I promised to do when I started work 3 1/2 years ago, and as much as I hate it, I really have to get it done.)  Her favorite, though, is when she gets to nurse while Jeff and I watch TV.  I must release some magically relaxation hormone because she loved TV time when I was pregnant, and now she almost always passes out within 15 or 20 minutes of us turning on the TV.  (It is hard not to watch TV every night just to get her to sleep!)  We are currently watching Miami Vice, in all of its cheesy glory, on DVD.  Last night, I opted to watch an episode with Jeff rather than study.  Natalia enjoyed it so much she slept through the night for the first time.  She is a bad influence.  After that, it is going to be hard to choose studying tonight!