Try to remember

the kind of September, when life was slow, and oh, so mellow....

Yeah. Right. Not this one, that's for sure. I am so very glad to see the last day of that month - I can tell you! (And I am, aren't I?)

The month started out with the dogs....a kinda calm, well thought out way to start off the month that school starts? Dontcha think? The month where I lose the babysitter, housekeeper, lifesaver, I've had for the past four years. The month where I have to take my kids to their bus or school each morning, getting in a little bit late every day. Yeah. Smart one there, having those dogs here right before this major life transition. Please. Feel free to remind me of this anytime you see/hear me sounding at all smug or responsible.

Then there was the start of school.... Trying to figure out the bus and getting the kids there without a sitter... and Nathan. Crying every day. Every night. Clinging to me. Sobbing. "I don't want to go to school! It's so big!!" Oy. And of course I know that most children go through something like this at some time in their lives... but... mine never had. This was my first time. Why didn't any of you tell me how horrible it is?!?! Like you're throwing your kids to the lions with nary a care! "Here! Off you go! Into the big school with all new teachers and kids and stuff!"

Then work. I took off the first week of Sept to get the kids set up - which was a good idea.... but of course work backs up when you're out. I go back to work on a short work week (Rosh Hashanah). It's a crazy week. Ok, I manage to save a life or two... but....it was tough. Then there was the client who became ill, the clients who just would not leave me alone. The clients, the clients, the clients. It was tough. It was stressful at work AND stressful at home. And I have to say, I hadn't ever had that before... usually it's one or the other. And that's STILL going on. Not looking forward to going to work tomorrow.

And then there's X. Remember him? Well, I have to say ,he's actually asking to see the boys more. He's going to take them over night every other Wednesday & then take them for dinner the others. Of course there was a stipulation. I have to split the cost of the cab for him to take them to school Thursday morning. It will cost me about $10. Figure it'll be worth it. And, the man who is just craving more time with his kids... well... they were with him this past weekend & I called him to see if I could get them earlier on Sunday. We were going to J's parents' for Sukkot & were worried that I wouldn't be back in time to get the kids. So, I asked if I could pick Max up from Hebrew school at 12:30 then swing by to get Nathan. I really figured he'd say "no." I mean, he was all upset about Hebrew school taking away his precious time... so I thought well, he's not going to give them up so early in the day. So. Guess what he said when I asked? Guess. Ahhh, you guys probably already know. You seem to know him better than I do. He said "How about you pick Max up and bring him to Hebrew School and take Nathan then, too." So. I was worried he wouldn't give them up at 12:30... and he was offering me them on a platter at 8 am.

And, just because a post isn't complete without another X tidbit... Max gets in the car and is all: "I don't want to go to Hebrew School. It's for babies." Now, he had been going regularly for the past few weeks & was really pretty ok with it.... Sooooo..... upon further exploration... "Well, Daddy says it's for babies." !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I said, "you know what - boring I could accept - it does get boring - but for babies?!?! You're learning another language! How is that for babies?!?" Divorce Agreement: "Father agrees to verbally support and transport to Hebrew School two out of the three times he has them." I friggin knew it. I knew it enough to put it into the agreement... but.... right. Been through that already. For now I'm just going to let it go. Ignore it. I just can't deal.
Friday Nathan had his Growth Hormone Stimulation Test. This was the four hour test at the hospital. He had to fast from the night before and could not eat until the test was over: 1:00 pm. For some reason I thought this was just purely blood work... that they're just taking samples.. but no. They give these meds to stimulate the growth hormone. (Did I ever really HEAR the name of the test?!?) These meds, pumped into my little boy's body, made him drowsy, lowered his blood pressure... and just made him miserable. It was hard. It was really hard. J was there with me... (I knew I couldn't stomach 5 hours alone with X...) and of course I felt guilty about not really pushing X to come (told him once, never reminded him...) and was worried that he'd be upset when I told him about it after the test. Was he? Actually, I'm kind of even embarrassed to admit it, because again I'm sure you all knew before me. No. He was not. Did not say a word about "Why wasn't I there.." or anything.

So, now we have to wait for the results... and if the hormone is low he'll need an MRI of his pituitary gland... Oy again.

But, let me end this massive depressing tome with some good stuff. Things are starting to work. Things are starting to fit together. Max has... POOF! Grown up! He is involved in his school work. He is vested in it. His handwriting is even better. He sits down, does his homework.... is proud of what he does! And Nathan, comes home, goes into his back pack, takes his homework out & sits down and does it!

And the mood... the mood in my place is somehow more relaxed... I can't explain it, but I actually think that because the old sitter was SO regimented... it made us all more tense? Or maybe because this new sitter really Pays Attention to my boys when she's with them. Like she reads their Pokemon cards with them, she does Light Saber battles with them... and I come home and they're not bathed, they not fed.... but they're happy. All three of them are sitting on the couch together watching tv. My old sitter would have been in the other room on her cell phone. (Granted my house would have been spotless, but.....) So it's good. It works.

And we made it through September.



And I wanted to put photos in this, but friggin' blogger just makes it so difficult!!!