Vacation Jet Lag

Last weekend we went to the East Coast to visit PJO's family and see some friends. Timmy was the perfect baby on the flight there and the flight back. I had been terrified of being that parent who has the screaming baby on a full cross-country plane. But. Timmy was great. I think I need to get a CD of airplane noise with a machine that can recreate turbulence because it seemed to be the perfect combo to make him sleep. I had been instructed to put breast milk in his ears and nose prior to the flight to ward off infection and I think we avoided colds/flu.

(pause for me to jinx myself)

I also had been warned that take-off and landing are particularly hard because of the painful adjustments in ear pressure, and that I should nurse him during these times. He fell asleep when we sat down and I knew better than to wake a sleeping baby, so I watched him nervously as the plane taxied down the runway and lifted up...ready to shove a boob in his mouth at the slightest twitch. Turns out, he can sleep through take-off just fine. On landing, he calmly sucked on his pacifier without so much as thinking of crying. He slept the majority of the flight. Usually, he is cranky while he wakes up and it takes him a few minutes to take in his surroundings before calming down. On the plane, there was just sleep and happy wakefulness!

If I had to do it over again (which I will in a few months, I'm sure), the only thing I might change is getting a third seat so we had more room. It definitely wouldn't be necessary, but two larger-than-average adults and a big baby in two airplane seats for 7 hours got a little cramped for sure... especially when I was trying to maneuver him skillfully under my nursing shawl to shield him from all the onlookers in line for the bathroom. If seats were cheap enough and I was feeling spendy, it might be worth it.

Despite a happy baby, the trip was still completely exhausting. Now I'm back to real life and I'm starting to feel totally overwhelmed.

Part of it is school. I know, I know... it doesn't really matter. But. It kind of does. Especially with the market the way it is, I don't want my last semester of law school to be a total disgrace. I only have 14 more days of class (spread over 4 1/2 weeks), and before I finish school, I need to write a substantial research paper, write an LLC agreement and accompanying memorandum, take a midterm that counts towards my grade, and take two final exams. Mind you, I have hardly done anything at all this semester. And I don't exactly have any time built in to get work done. Even if I am OK with getting bad grades, I will still have to get something done that I can physically turn in, and that's stressful.

I also am dealing with medical bills from the birth STILL! Stupid insurance, stupid hospital, stupid anesthesiologist, stupid everyone trying to scam us and not communicating with each other. It's so annoying to take up time during business hours to wait on hold for these people to finally take your call, spend 15 minutes going over the same information you've already gone over with everyone else, and then not solve the problem for you.

But apparently I'm not that overwhelmed, because I still choose to do other stuff in the few spare moments I get during naps... Yesterday I painted 9" wood letters to spell out Timothy for his nursery, made Easter baskets to send to my niece and nephews, tried to figure out where and when we're baptizing Timmy, wrote thank you notes, set up interviews for nannies this summer, mailed in tax forms to the Firm so I can get my bar stipend, etc...

I think I'm stressed because I can't spend as much time as I want to doing all of the fun stuff ... and I definitely can't do it without feeling guilty since I should be studying. Being tired and lazy does not help the situation. The fact that PJO has worked almost every Saturday since Timmy was born adds to this mess. I tell myself today that I will spend part of Sunday at the library while he watches Timmy, but I already know that I'm not going to give up the one day per week we have to be together as a family. So this is how I keep pushing back the date at which it becomes imperative to actually start preparing for the end of the semester.

Lets see how long this game lasts.