Someone's got a case of the Mondays ...

I dread Mondays. I hate saying that too. I used to look forward to Mondays, heading back to work after an energizing weekends, ready to pounce on my to-do list. But it's just not the same anymore. Now I spend Monday mornings running around the house, trying to avoid getting baby spit-up on my work clothes, and making several trips to load up the the car (in the rain today) - diaper bag, lunch, Bumbo, stroller, pump, binder, purse, water, baby - usually whilst wearing heels. We're always running 5-10 minutes late. I breathlessly dump Jack off at our wonderful sitter's house and race into the office as fast as I can. I try to schedule back-to-back appointments with "prospective students" while I'm there, followed by two different staff meetings, then it's off to get Jack before heading home to see Daddy, eat cold leftovers for dinner and entertain a cranky baby who doesn't want to let mom out of his sight for the rest of the day.
It's not that I don't like my job. I really enjoy what I do. And it helps that I have some really appreciative students that make it a point to tell me how wonderful I am. :) Just today one of them asked if she could give me a hug (now that I think about it, what does it say about my personality when someone has to ask to give me a hug?). And despite trying to juggle career and parenthood, I've had a fairly successful year in the work world. So it's not the work itself, it's just trying to fit work into the rest of our life, and that is stressful.
And I'm not the only one who isn't crazy about Mondays. Today Jack cried for the first time when I left him at the sitter's. For the past 6 months I've had no problems leaving him, he seems to hardly notice whether I've come or gone. But not today. He's usually pretty happy to see me when I pick him up, and then he protests when I put him in the carseat and he can't see me anymore. And today was no exception. But a crying/yelling/screaming baby in the backseat doesn't make rush-hour traffic any easier, in fact, it seems to make traffic more congested and drivers more apt to cut me off. Ah Mondays. It's usually on these exasperating commutes that I decide that I never want to go back. Yes, every Monday I decide to become a stay-at-home mom. And then every Tuesday morning I make myself a cup of tea, check my email in my pajamas while Jack plays next to me floor, and decide this whole working thing isn't so bad after all.