Oops, did I say I was going to update more regularly? My bad. I think a cut and paste from the last month of my diary is in order...

9/24

Poor Tim. He came home today and announced that he has been demoted at work. Say what?! Yep. He's no longer the Director of Admissions. Um, yeah. The CEO called him into her office and told him "It's good news!" and that they are restructuring these departments together so that everything from intake to discharge is all in the same department, so this other guy is going to be the head of the new assimilated department. Tim seemed pretty upset by it, but I tried to tell him, it really IS a good thing. I mean, his job title changes obviously, but I don't think they will cut his pay (and even if they do, it won't be more than a dollar an hour I don't think) and he has less responsibility. Less stress! I told him, let someone else get yelled at because you don't have enough beds filled. Let someone else deal with all that nonsense. It's just the CEO's attempt to save her job because the hospital is in a bad position with Corporate who wants to see the numbers up, the beds filled, the budget fulfilled.

Tim, however, is taking it very personally, like they think it's his fault they aren't making budget and he can't do the job, etc etc. I told him he needs to stop making it about him, because it's just not. He has no control over the pencil pushers in corporate saying "you need to have x number of kids admitted every week", and he has no control over how many crazy kids get admitted to the hospital. But the stressing about it, I am 100% positive, is contributing to his health problems. So I think it is a good thing if he is being relieved of that stress! He thinks that the numbers are going to go up next month because last year October was a month that they surpassed their budget goals. I think the economy is crappy, the hospital is in a bad place having just come off that hold they put on admissions from July or whatever, and I don't think that next month is going to be better, but even if it is, so what? Tim says then they will think that it was him that was holding the hospital back. He is just so sensitive when it comes to this job! Everyone knows how hard Tim works, they can't fire him even if they wanted to because he is the one who designed all the programs that they use to track admissions and referalls and everything and he is the only one who knows how to use them.

realized that I have fallen into a very regimented schedule. The only deviations are days when we go shopping, or Eleni comes over, or something out of the ordinary.

7:00am- Savino is invariably up by now, and Tim gets up with him and changes him and tries to give him a bottle. Gone are the days when he would go back to sleep. He throws a fit until I take him and nurse him, he will nurse for 10 minutes or so on each side and then it is TIME TO GET UP.

7:30am- Downstairs with the girls to feed Savino breakfast and oversee the getting ready for school.

7:50am- The girls and Tim leave, I finish up breakfast with Savino and have a cup of coffee and a Soyjoy

8:00am- Savino plays with toys and makes a mess and talks to me while I work and check e-mail, usually I end up in the play yard with both of the boys and we play with the blocks and puzzles

9-9:30am- Savino goes down for a nap at some point here, whenever he starts looking really tired. Usually he has been up since 6:30 or sometimes even earlier so he is pretty tired out by this point. He nurses and sometimes has a bottle.

9:30- 11am- I do the dishes and sweep the dining room and then workworkwork until Savino wakes up from his nap, change Savino and bring him downstairs to play for a little bit while I make lunch for the boys

11:30-12- We eat lunch, the boys take their time eating, and Chantal starts getting ready for work

12:30- Clean up from lunch, figure out what I am making for dinner and take it out of the freezer/off the shelf/whatever.

1pm or so- Chantal leaves, and I get back down on the floor with the boys, they get the run of the living room and we get out the pop up tunnels or make a mess with the toys

2pm- NAPTIME! Jaden lays right down (usually with a little bit of whining, but no crying anymore) and Savino nurses to sleep and has another bottle if he feels like it.

2:30-3:45- The babies sleep and I work and put the TV on Bravo to keep me company. I play with the dogs and get the mail and prep a quick snack for the babies to eat in the car or when we get back. Make a bottle for Savino and a sippy cup for Jaden to drink in the car.

3:50pm- Go pick the girls up from the bus stop. 50% of the time we make a quick run to the grocery store straight from the bus stop because god forbid we have a day when we don't go to the store.

4-4:30pm- (Depending on whether we go to the store or not) The girls start homework, Laila usually only has one little thing to do and Haley has, literally, at least an hour and a half of homework every night. I change butts for the fifty millionth time and either start dinner if it's something that can cook unattended but if not, I get back on the floor with the babies to play while the girls do their homework thing.

5:30pm- Tim is usually home from work about this time and is greeted by two little boys who go nuts with happiness and joy that their personal jungle gym has come home. He changes out of work clothes and we swap places, he lets the boys jump and climb all over him and hangs them upside down while I go finish dinner and get the table set.

6:00pm- 7:00pm- Dinner. It takes four children a ridiculously long time to eat. I haven't eaten a hot meal in like, a year. I feed babies, I help Jaden mostly by loading up his fork and letting him feed himself and keep Savino supplied with a steady stream of food. Savino is pretty good with feeding himself, but can't get it on the fork by himself yet. It takes about 20-30 minutes just to feed them and then I can eat and Tim takes over. The babies are STILL eating at this point, they've just slowed down and the edge is off the hunger. Jaden is just a slow eater and can be picky, so he has to be constantly reminded and prodded to try what is on his plate.

7:00-7:45- Baths, pajamas, playtime if there is time but usually there is not. Haley has to finish whatever homework she hasn't completed (usually there is something), and both the girls have to pick out clothes for the next day and get through showers, hair washing, teeth brushing, etc. The babies have to be bathed which takes some wrangling, neither of the boys like having their hair washed so there are complaints and tears. Then they both have to be wrestled into pajamas. Jaden is not so tough, he is very cooperative about being changed and dressed. Savino is another story. He tries the entire time you are changing or trying to get him dressed to roll away and escape. It is extremely frustrating. He does not lay there and just cooperate. It takes a lot longer than it should.

8:00pm- On a good day, bedtime. The girls get in bed to read for 30 minutes, and I lay Jaden down. He goes down so easily, everyone gets kisses and I tell him I love him and Sweet Dreams and Don't Let The Bedbugs Bite and See You In The Morning and he just lays down and goes to sleep. No crying. No fuss. Just down and out. Savino has to run around the bedroom (well, crawl or cruise) and be captured and held down for kisses, and he and Tim have this game they play where Savino starts nursing and won't give him a kiss until he starts to walk away and then he unlatches and yells at Tim to give him a kiss. Tim turns the light off and I nurse Savino and then give him a bottle and try not to fall asleep myself (if I was smart, I would go to bed at the same time as Savino, I could use the sleep). It usually takes about half an hour to get him to sleep. He is still awake when I lay him down most of the time, but he just rolls onto his stomach and curls his legs up under him with his butt stuck up into the air and lays there until he falls asleep.

8:45 or so: I come downstairs, very sleepy, make the girls lunches for the next day. Do the dishes. AGAIN. Sweep the dining room floor and mop and straighten up all the boys toys and put them away. Work. E-mail. If Tim's not using his computer, I edit pictures if I am in the mood. Watch TV in the background.

Bedtime for me is a crapshoot. Depends on how worked up I am. Lately it has been between 11 and 1am. It also depends on how much work I can cram in, whether it is busy or not. Also, if Savino wakes up and is inconsolable, I try to get up there before Tim wakes up (he usually goes to bed at 10) and nurse him down or whatever.

As long as we stick to the schedule, things usually go pretty well. If we get an hour off in the evenings, it throws everything out of whack so I try really really hard to make sure dinner is on the table by 6 and the bath/bed routine is started by 7:15 or so. Otherwise, mass chaos reigns.