Jude’s sleeping which means I should be working on grading those essays I brought home with me, but I’m blogging instead.  I guess those papers won’t grade themselves, but I really, really wish they would.

When it comes to life as a teacher, the only thing better than summer is spring break, and it’s a week most of us start looking forward to in January.  All of my students have been asking me what I was going to be doing or where I planned to go, and my response was just that I wanted to catch my breath.  I feel like the past 3+ months have been a blur.  Five days a week of alarm at 5:15, race to get out the door in the morning, drop Jude off, race to school, teach, lunch, teach, race to get Jude, head home, sit down for a minute and play with the baby while Scott drives home, make dinner, bathe Jude, put him to bed, clean, relax for an hour, pack lunch and breast pump, sleep.  Repeat.

Doesn’t that sound fun?

So I really just wanted time to unwind and relax this week, and that’s primarily all I’ve done.  I always say things like “I just want to relax,” but in reality, I get totally disappointed if certain things (or no things at all) get accomplished.  So I woke up this morning feeling like here I was heading back to work, and I didn’t really get anything accomplished all week.  Then when I really thought about it and reflected on the week, I guess I did do a little here and there.  I’m such a listy person, and sometimes I think it feels so good, instead of making a to-do list before you do things, to make one after.  It makes me feel a little more productive…or fools me in to thinking I was productive.  Whatever.  It feels good.  So things I managed to accomplish over the past week?

• I cleaned out my closet and switched my spring/summer wardrobe in while I packed away my heavy sweaters.  I also managed to set aside a large goodwill donation bag in this process.

• I got a much-needed haircut, pedicure, and an eyebrow wax. I was quite behind in the personal maintenance department, and I didn’t even let a surprise flat tire get in my way on that one.

• I met my teacher-friend and her adorable baby at the park on Tuesday for a luxurious middle-of-the-day, middle-of-the-week playdate.  We thought our two babies (born within a month of each other) were destined to be married, but they seriously cannot both stay awake at the same time.  It’s too funny; if he’s awake, she sleeps; if she’s awake, he sleeps.  My friend did manage to take this shot though.

• We had Jude’s 6-month photo session earlier today.  This time we used Andrew Thomas Lee to do the session.  He was so nice and comfortable, and Jude loved him!  He hung out here at our house for about two hours and got a lot of great photos of Little Man.  Even when he was done, he hung around for a while and talked cameras and aperture and lenses and a bunch of other stuff I don’t understand with Scott.  I can’t wait to see the pictures!  [In related news, I have a 6 month old?  How did that happen?]

• I cleaned out my pantry.

• I cleaned out my freezer.

• I made 26 ounces of apple babyfood.

• I’m currently roasting sweet potatoes for more babyfood as I write this.

• I did who-knows-how-many loads of laundry.  Does it ever go away?

• I had the carpet steam cleaned.  It needed it so badly with our two muddy, rowdy dogs.

• I’m trying out a new fish tacos recipe tonight.  We always order them when we go out but have never made them here.  I love trying new stuff in the kitchen, and finishing spring break with fish tacos and a beer on the porch sounds perfect.

Whew.  When I look at all of this in a list, I feel a little bit better.  So my resume didn’t get updated as I intended to do.  So I didn’t get those Shakespeare essays graded.  Oh well.  I did get something done, I guess.  What about you?  Make a list.  It’ll make you feel better.

[Edited to add:  While I was finishing this post, Jude woke up.  He was in that I-wanna-sleep, but-I-don’t-wanna-sleep state, so I lied down with him on the sofa to get him back down.  He cuddled that perfect baby-cuddle where they bury their head in your neck so you can smell their baby hair and feel their chubby cheeks at your collar-bone.  I fell asleep too, and we napped for a while.  I’ll add that one to my list of spring break accomplishments.  The top of the list actually.]