Notice! This is a rambler of a post (like that’s new). Consider yourself warned.
Some moments just fall into the simple category of “good times”. Tonight was one of those moments:
Mommy got home from work and had to head right off to the computer to work on a paper for school. Such are the joys of education for the working adult. This coincides with what is generally a rough day of the week for Baby G and the Stay at Home Dad. Monday’s for some reason tend to be an overall ass kicker of a day for the two of us. My best theory is that it’s an adjustment day from the constant Mommy and Daddy attention during the weekend, to the limitations of a just one parent being home. Things usually tend to smooth themsleves out as the week progresses, with a spike in fussiness on Friday which I’m convinced is due to the intuitive nature of babies. In other words, by the time Friday rolls around, I’m beat and a bit frazzeled, and G can feel it. We tend to feed off each other.
This Monday wasn’t terribly different, but it was a bit lighter in stress. This despite the poop to end all poops. A blowout straight up the back of the diaper, all over the onesie, and yes, all over Daddy’s shorts. I mean, the boob juice has been awesome for our little guy in getting him from a 4 pound preemie to the approximately 12 pound chunky-monkey he is today, but dang those are some messy poops. Anyways, off to the changing pad for a quick clean-up and diaper removal, and then to the bath. But first there was the balancing act that went along with trying not to poop up the changing pad and the baby too much, while discovering that the wipes warmer was down to just one wipe. Poop covered baby (who is grinning wildly at this point) propped up with the left hand, I had to contort my body to get my right hand to the wipes packets that were of course off to the left and down by my feet. So the baby’s changed (or wiped), I run a naked baby across the apartment, quickly change my shorts into a new pair that is promptly splashed on during the bath, and the cleansing begins. Fun!
Yet, despite all that, the day ended perfectly. While Mommy worked on her paper, G and I had a nuanced conversation about football, and how thoroughly the Chargers were shellacking Favre and the Jets. A real father son bonding moment, let me tell you. I don’t care what you say, “Aaaagaawaaaaa!” to me translates to “Go Chargers!”. And to top it all off, I even allowed myself a single beer (or Daddy Juice as we’ve taken to calling it around here).
This was a pleasant change from what’s been a week-long family adventure with the common cold. Either Mommy or G got it first, but eventually we all ended up with a weird little cold that just seemed to linger as we continually passed it around. Mostly a sore throat, and achies that generally left us all feeling pretty crappy for about a week, although my Mommy and G seemed to get the worst of it. G even had his first little fever episode on Friday night, but that quickly worked itself out to being a non-event. Regardless, after passing this nasty little bug back and forth for the last week-plus, it seems we’ve finally killed it and we’re moving on.
On other notes, G turns 4 months today (9/23), which means his 4-month checkup and vaccinations are tomorrow afternoon. We get another chance to measure him, weigh him, and see how he’s doing, though so far our Pediatrician is thrilled. While a bit small for a 4 monther, G’s doing great in relation to his corrected age (subtract 6 weeks). This momentus occasion is really blowing us away here. Honestly, it’s just amazing to us that it’s been 4 months since we started this adventure. It’s really gotten me thinking about our time in hospital, finding out G was coming early, and his time in the NICU. It’s not really a subject we talk about much anymore, and when we do it’s mostly in an abstract sense. I’m not sure if this is because we’re just to tired to deal with that, or if we don’t want to because it was so sobering and such an exhausting rollercoaster, that we don’t want to deal with it. That line of thinking has made me considering a blog post about that period of time, mostly so I don’t forget the details. Then again, maybe I’d prefer to do just that. We’ll see.
Stay tuned…
