A longggggggg day!

On days like this one I am reminded of one of the reasons why I chose to be a stay-at-home mom. Of course the top reason is to raise Nora and help her develop into a God-fearing young woman. The second reason, the reminder, is that I do not have to get up at the crack of dawn each morning to get myself ready and make sure she has eaten before I head out the door. Do I hear an AMEN!?!?

As a member of a family that has recently been cut down to one income (gulp!), I am doing what I can to help out. I have been active about seeking out employment that allows me to stay home with my baby. I have been successful by landing a teaching gig at Harding University...teaching ONE class, ONE night a week (some Nora/daddy bonding time will take place, I'm sure). However, I did not feel like that would be truly supplemental to our income (think: private university paying an adjunct instructor does not equal alot of moolah...oh well, it's not for the money, right?). So, I found another job opportunity. Okay, actually Matthew found it and let me know about it. Thanks honey!

It is an "on-line facilitator of professional development classes for school teachers in the state of Arkansas". What???? Well, I wondered also. The only true info. I had was that each class was 6 weeks long, I would get paid a certain amount, and I could do it from HOME! What is better than that? Well, I found out last week that I would need to be in Conway, AR today for the orientation. No big deal, right? Well, yes, it was a big deal. I thought I was planned and ready to go...but obviously I wasn't.

Nora has been a perfect sleeper for the past few months. Only getting up once a night for me to feed her (I nurse that darling baby) and then going back to sleep right away for 3 hours. How perfect is that? Well, last night (she must have sensed that I had a big day) she decided to wake up 3-4 times! What!!!! And she wanted to eat! Grrrr....that's what was going through my head at 1:30am and at 5:00am. After the 5am feeding, I thought it was pointless to go back to bed and just jumped in the shower. Starting out the day a little tired!

The orientation was great (I did have to leave my house at 6:30am and drive 3 hours to get there, but it really was good)! I learned a ton and am excited about facilitating (this is all through PBSteacherline.org by the way). Things back on the homefront were not so great though. Matthew stayed at home with her today and had a hard day! Like I mentioned earlier, I nurse Nora. Well, I don't have a whole lot of extra milk just lying around. In order to prepare for today, I pumped as much as I could...turned out it wasn't enough. After the "good" milk was all out, Matthew tried to give her formula...and the hunger strike began! The kid stood her ground for 7 solid hours and didn't let one drop of formula pass her lips-talk about a strong will! Part of me was, a small selfish part, actually happy. I am her lifesource, I am what she needs. Crazy I know, but those of you who breastfeed must have felt the same way at times. But, overwhelming that small selfish feeling was the feeling of...oh my goodness, I'm never going to be able to go anywhere because she needs me ALL the time! At least for a few more months...will we make it to a year?

She was in heaven when I walked through the door and ended her hunger strike. She was so happy, she fell right to sleep for 2 hours (apparently not much napping happened today either). So, it was a long day for everyone in the Henderson household. The smallest one is already asleep and the taller ones are on their way to bed.

Check out our Flickr badge. I have uploaded a whole lot of new pictures. Enjoy!