Props to all you working folk.

So it's been over a month since I went back to work and if there's one word to sum it all up, it is "EXHAUSTING." Like all things in life, it's an adjustment and we'll get used to it, but my gosh, I don't know how people with 5 kids, all of them at different schools and different schedules and mom's off to work (loaded down with 3 different bags, in my case) and dad's out the door (loaded down with diaper bag, baby, and work stuff) and much chaos abounds.

The glue keep all our stuff together is we have a pretty easy going baby and we're both giving everything we have to make this work.

Here's our day:
Our alarms start going off at 5:45. Half the time Carter is awake and babbling, sometimes more forcefully squawking.

By 6:00, Seth is in the shower and I get Carter up. Stella is thrilled to see Seth and I and follows me into the nursery, crashing forcibly into walls and smacking her tail into crib rails.

While Seth gets ready, I feed Carter. We switch around 6:30, hopefully Seth is ready by then. Then I get ready, pack my pump (this whole process is complicated by the fact that I'm still exclusively nursing), pack my laptop, and the rest of my stuff. Then I pack a cooler for Carter. I try to do everything else the night before. Seth gets Carter changed and dressed for the day, puts the dog out, and we try to be out the door by 7am. Seth drops Carter off, goes to work.

I'm usually home around 5 and Seth and Carter walk in around 5:30. I try to squeeze as much as humanly possible into those 30 minutes, even though I would really like to just collapse. I also try to give Stella some attention. Clean the pump, put away milk, start some laundry, vacuum the tile (between Stella and my post-baby hair loss... my vacuum and I spend a lot of time together).

We try to hang out from 5:30-6, maybe start dinner, play with Carter a little. Then I feed Carter at 6, followed by bath time, some cuddle time, a story or a song (mostly determined by who is putting Carter to bed). Carter's usually in bed around 7, at which point we make and eat dinner, clean for 15 minutes, and do some quiet time. I try to pack Carter's bag for the next day. I pump and go to bed around 9:30-10. Seth gives Carter a bottle at 10:30 and goes to bed and then we start it all over.

I've never loved the weekend so much.