Stay at work dad
I just realized something. There are a lot of stay at home moms out there, and there are a few stay at home dads, too. I’m neither of those. Instead, I bring my baby girl to work with me, and her Mimi does 90% of the childcare.
I think I still qualify as a stay at work dad: a dad who continues to work but with baby in tow. I am a stay at work dad.
Parenting confession
I have a confession to make.
Sometimes, I let C walk around with a pen in her mouth just because it makes her happy and keeps her from getting upset.
Yes, I know how bad it would be if sue happened to trip and fall.
Well, that couldn’t've gone much worse
My first night alone with the Bug did not go well.
I got her to bed by 9 o’clock, and I was thinking I had success. Things were off to a good start. And I followed her to bed within thirty minutes, knowing that even the best case scenario had me getting less sleep than usual.
Well, I didn’t see the clock the first time she woke up, but I think it was around twelve. Again, things were looking good. C fussed and I bolted out of bed. I patted her on the back for a minute, and she was back in the land of wink, blink, and nod.
Within an hour, though, she was fussing again. This time she was already standing up in her bed when I got to it, so I pulled her in bed beside me and gave her a bottle.
That’s when things completely ceased to go well. C clearly understood that her mother wasn’t there, and it was equally clear that she wasn’t happy about it, either. By four o’clock, I, too, was unhappy that Katie wasn’t there. I think I even started to imagine that she was there. I could almost see her, and I wanted to say, like she occasionally has said to me, “Katie … you’ve got to take a turn.”
But she did get back to sleep, albeit fitfully. For the last hour and a half of potential sleep, C slept very fitfully. If I moved, she fussed, or she would sit up and the flop back down. It wasn’t pretty, and I feel every bit of it.
Lucky for me, Katie will be back tonight, and I can’t wait to see the look on the Bug’s face when she sees her mama for the first time in nearly two days.
And she’s asleep
Katie left for Texas this morning at 4, and I am minutes away from starting my first ever night alone with the Bug.
Yes, Katie does the lion’s share of the overnight duties. C generally wakes up 3ish times overnight, and Katie gets up, gets her out of her bed, and soothes her back to sleep … or occasionally gets up with her and rocks her back to sleep when she’s not feeling well.
For the past year, I have helped here and there with overnight stuff, such as this morning when Katie left while it was still “night” to me. But I’d be lying if I said I was looking forward to tonight’s festivities.
Katie tends to notice the Bug’s needs before I get a clue that anything’s amiss. Last night I distinctly remember thinking - at about two in the morning - “wow, how did Katie hear C fussing? Did she really fuss, or did Katie maybe dream it?” No, Katie didn’t dream it.
Did I mention how much I am looking forward to this night?
It still blows my mind
Sometimes I will glance over at C, sleeping peacefully beside me, and it blows my mind to realize that we made a person.
Abstractly, being a “parent” doesn’t seem like a huge deal; the greater majority of adults are parents, and everyone has them. But realizing that being a parent means you created a person … it’s mind boggling.
