John getting used to the baby rickshaw

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but it has been a litle nutty around here, with me starting work. Here's our schedule, in a nutshell:

Mike and I get up at 6ish. Mike showers, while I make breakfast/lunch/arrange the day's clothes.
Around 6:30, I wake up John, nurse him, try to get him to eat, even though al he wants is to go back to bed.
7 a.m., I strap John into his rickshaw - see photos above, and the two of them head off to the picket line for the morning.
For the next hour, i get ready for work myself.
I work from 9-5, then commute home. I usually come in the door around 5:30-6, at which point, I shudder at the mess left on the floor. Usually newspapers and Cheerios scattered as far as the eye can see. I make my way to John, with things crunching underfoot every step of the way.
I nurse John.
I make dinner.
I feed the brood.
I put John to bed.
I grunt on my way past Mike, on my way to bed myself.
Wake up, repeat.

It has been tough. Though, this morning I think we hit on a new patter that everyone is hapier with. Mike still gets up early and heads to the picket line, but John hangs back with me. We have a more leisurely morning, he has a chance to eat his breakfast, have a cuddle, play a bit, all those usual mornngthings. Then, I drop him off at the picket line on my way through downtown to work. We decided we're going to do it that way for the rest of the time - it gave John and I more time together and made for a more relaxed morning. John seemed much happier for it and we were both much happier too.

John seems to be dealing relatively OK. Mike says he's fine while I'm gone - he cries for a few minutes after I leave in the mornings, but then he's perfectly fine until I get home, when he becomes all blue and clingy. All he's wanted to do in the evenings is curl up in my lap and suck his thumb. I know it's normal, but this just isn't the way it should be. Mike keeps insisting he's happy during the day, but he seems to be under some definite stress when I see him.

Other than that, the job is great. I have an office, with a window. No air conditioning, so it's stinking hot, but it's an office all the same. I came in at the peak of the production cycle so I just kind of got thrown in there. I managed to write seven stories up in the first couple days - they all got used and one made front page. The Business Times magazine is going to be interesting. Not sure if they're setting me up to fail or what. It's a significantly bigger job than it was made out to be in the interview. They gave me examples of other similar publications they want me to copy. However, I have a fraction of their budget. They have big staffs of writers and freelancers. I just have me and I have another paper to think about. I hope I can deliver, but it's looking like it'll be a big challenge. Lots of late nights. Lots of sleepless nights.


What else. Our daycare lady bailed on us. She can't take John until August. We've been too tired to think about it, so we're not sure what we're going to do. CHances are, the strike will still be on until August, so it might be OK. But i know Mike has been counting the days until he can picket without John. I hear he's a hit at the line, though. The managers love it - one of them gave him a little toy.

John got a little sunburn today. Very mild - just a rosy glow, really. We'll have to be more carefull from now on, obviously. He wasonly unprotected in the sun for about 15 minutes, but it was at noon. I've been putting cream on it, so hopefully it'll heal really fast.

We have 11 cats.

Actually, I think I'm going to leave that one for later this weekend - it's getting late and it has been a long, long week.