The Trials & Tribulations of the First Day Back at School!

What was supposed to be a happy day didn't eventuate the way I'd imagined it.

** ahh - first day back at school, drop the boys at school, have a coffee with the other mum's (as is our usual first day tradition) and go home and say "how's the serenity" **

zzzzrrrppp. Reality Check.

If you must know the first day of school turned out to be rather crap, actually. All went well with the drop off: we were well organised at home. Got the girl fed on time. Boys dressed on time – and with shoes on too. Lunches made (thanks to Kevan for that one). Bags packed (with their entire year’s book & stationery requirements). All in the car and off to school.

A block and a half from the school the parked cars started to pile up. Crap. I don’t mind having to walk up the hill, but around the corner and also up the hill? Not my cup of tea. Please Lord, there has to be a park a little closer. Hallelujah – some woman pulled out leaving a spot for moi just-a-little-way-up-from-the-bottom-of-the-hill! Excellent, all parked, all out, all bags & all Goffs accounted for. Now for the hill. Whilst technically not at the bottom, we were only just a wee-bit up from it. And well, let’s just say it’s been a while since I last walked up that damn hill. I mean, I’ve had a cesarean since the last time I had to walk up that hill. Not to mention the humidity, nor the fact that I was pushing the pram, and it was full with the girl and two boys yearly stationery – oy ve. By the time we made it to the top I was worse than a puffing billy. I swear you could see the steam coming off my shoulders.

Then I was accosted by the mum of one of Harry’s classmates (and soccer teammates) – who stopped me in my tracks (ah the train analogy again), took one look at me, one look at the pram and said, “What THE? Whose baby?” “Err - Mine.” “Oh mi-god, Oh MYYY GODDD. WHEN did YOU have a baby?” *thought: slap her now* You’re joking right - this is a woman whom I saw nearly every week last year – once on a Tues night for soccer practice, once on a Saturday for the soccer game, and then-some mid week around the school!!! Most Saturdays the talk on the sidelines was the mum’s asking me for updates – and then us all sharing our collective pregnancy, childbirth and worst cracked nipple stories!!! Hello earth to Rachel… I mean – seriously!!!!

Harry’s class first. Quick hello & update to the teacher, find the desk and unpack his stuff. Then suddenly my most boisterous boy was rather subdued and looked a little sad even. I gave Harry instructions that because Lach won’t be there at the end of the day, Harry will have to be a big boy because he won’t have Lach there to make sure he gets his lunch box & bag etc – so he’ll have to do it himself and make his own way to the gate to be picked up.

Lach’s class next. Same deal. Meet the new teacher – a man for once. Damn, should’ve done my hair. Wonder if some of the mum’s might spruce up a bit more this year? Told Mr Mahon I’d be back at 10.45 to pick Lach up to take him to his ENT appointment at the RCH.

Chat to some mum’s. Go home, feed the girl and breathe.

Pick up mum, then head back to school to get Lach. Arrive at the school only to find they’re having morning tea. Crap. Forgot that now he’s in a senior class they have their break earlier than the Juniors. It’s not so easy to fetch the boy when he’s not in his classroom in class! And all the kids scattered around the various parts of the school all look alike in their uniforms. With mum manning Bethany in the car – I frantically search the school grounds for Lachlan. Fortunately it didn’t take too long to find him, but it took long enough for us now to be tight with the time. Go to his classroom to fetch his bag, only to find the room is locked. Crap. Found a teacher with a key, grab Lach’s bag and we were on our way.

The trip in turned out to be the least of my hassles. We must of gotten nearly every green light because only 25 mins later (yes, no word of a lie, and no speeding either) I pulled into the hospital car park at 11.30am (from Petrie no less).

We arrive at Outpatients to find a massive queue waiting just to ‘check in’ – and a waiting room already full of people. You know it’s bad when you have to send your mum to ‘bags’ a seat! Oh well.

So we sit. And we wait. And we shuffle in our seat. And we wait some more. The girl wakes and starts to cry. I’m in two minds whether to feed her in the waiting room, or find a ‘quiet spot’ somewhere. I decide to look for somewhere quiet, knowing that mum can go with Lachlan to audiology if he’s called while I’m feeding. Fortunately they had a feeding room. I’ve been going there 7 years (and had baby Harry attend Lach’s appointments with me) and I never knew they had a feeding room! So I feed the girl and re-join mum to find them still sitting and waiting. Much more of this then finally Lach had his hearing test. Which turns out to be good – all within normal levels. And better yet – his grommet is out, but his ears are clear & looking good. Yay! So we re-join mum & Bethany in the waiting room for more sitting & waiting to see the Specialist.

More shuffling, Lach whingeing, and half a cryptic crossword later we were still waiting. We hit 2pm when mum went off to the cafeteria to find us some lunch. Then finally a nurse announces that 2 doctors had been called away, then had now found 1 who could come and see the patients. Suddenly I realised that even if Lach was seen immediately, we still wouldn’t make it in time to pick Harry up from school. Ugg. So I make a few calls and get a hold of Jenni, who agreed to pick up Haz for me. Which ended up being another story in itself. Because when she went to pick Haz up from the gate, he wasn’t there. He’d announced to his teacher that he had to pick up Lachlan’s bag, and so he and his teacher went on a wild goose chase to go find it! They then got Lachlan’s teacher looking for it also, before eventually deciding to give up and the teacher delivered an upset Harry to the gate. Meanwhile, Jenni was frantic trying to find Harry!

Fortunately I didn’t know any of that until after the fact and finally, finally Lach was seen by the Doctor at 3pm. We just finished with the Doctor when it was time to feed Bethany again! The girl fed, the massive parking bill paid for, we headed home in the pouring rain and peak hour traffic. By the time I dropped mum home and got to Jen’s it was nearly 5pm!! And then I had to battle Harry to get him out of the pool, and console Lach over the fact he didn’t get to swim and Harry did.

So - that was my first day back at school! Uggh, when do the holidays start again...?