Whew!

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who's checked on me for the past few days. My first day back at work was very odd. I felt like I didn't belong, like I was just a visitor. I had the same feelings after returning from having Claire. I was off for 8 weeks which is a long time to be off the job. I took 12 weeks with Claire because I didn't think I was going to be having any more children.

I was at work on Thursday being greeted by many friends and co-workers. People were genuinely glad that I was back. I could feel it and it felt nice. I saw one of the Deputies who was parked on the side of the road picking up one of his co-workers. As I passed and waved at him, he was clapping - indeed happy that I was back. It was nice and made me smile.

My friend Linda, who I adore by the way, came to welcome me back and I told her that I felt out of place. I told her it was 11 o'clock and I had yet to have anyone ask me to get them a glass of milk. I'd never last that long with out that happening here at home. The troopers had meeting in the large meeting room outside of my office that day. Some of them came in to welcome me back which I thought was nice. Who knew they'd even notice that I was gone? Anyway, one of them is from Milbank (my home town) and when he asked me how it felt to be back I responded with "I haven't had to get anyone milk yet. Can I get you some?" He got this strange look on his face and obviously didn't want to make eye contact with me anymore. He finally did say "I need a pop. You could get me that." After his meeting he told me that he thought I was talking about MY milk - breast milk. HA! No WONDER he looked as though he might pass out at any minute. Funny!

Going back to work made me realize how much of a break I really did need. I'm not sure that I'd call caring for 3 children under the age of 5 a break, but I really did need time away from the office. I'd gotten a bit too snippy and found myself talking back to the radio after almost every transmission I had. Now being back at work feels like a break. :)

Natey pulled a funny yesterday morning. I was just finishing up getting ready when Natey got out of bed. He came down stairs and realized that he'd forgotten his cars in his bed. He wanted me to wait for him while he went back upstairs to get them. I told him to hurry so I could get to work. When he came down, I was gathering my things. He looked at me and said "You look far.... familiar. Do I know you?" I laughed but I should have said "Yes son, it's me, your mother. This is what I look like with nice clothes on, my hair done, and make-up on." I have no idea where he picked that one up, but it was a good one.

He had show and tell on Friday which really makes school that much more fun to attend. He told me he was going to take two of his cars that he got for Christmas to show. I asked if that would be ok to take two and that I figured he should just take one. He said "No, I can take two. Mrs. Poncelet always says 'Is there anything else in your bag?' when you show just one thing." LOL! Come to find out, his dad only let him take one car. Nathan wasn't all too happy about that.

You might notice that my blog has a different template. I changed it so that I could print it out. I want to keep it so that the kids can read it someday. Who knows if blogger will always be here? Anyway, I might change it and I might not. Maybe I'll even change it to something totally different. We'll see.