142. They're Back...Thank goodness.

Last week was not one of my favorites. It was terrible coming home to an empty house while my wife and baby girl were away. I wrote in my previous post that I bought tickets for my wife to visit her sister in California...And I'm sure you've all been waiting on pins and needles waiting to see how I survived my week alone.

Well, it was terrible. Sure I went fishing a couple of times and I got some good home improvement projects completed, but on the whole I did not have fun. For the last 12 months, I've come home everyday to a beautiful wife and the cutest baby girl in the world. To suddenly stop that was a bit of a shock. I saw it coming though. As soon as I dropped them at the airport I realized my mistake, but by then it was already too late.

I couldn't sleep or concentrate most days, all those home improvement project that I completed were started randomly throughout the house. I could never work on one for very long before I'd get distracted by another one. Fortunately, I was able to get everything together and cleaned up before they came home, but it was close there for a while.

I'm the kind of guy that needs to be close to his wife and child as much as he can. It bothers me that I have to go to work everyday, while they're at home. I want to be home too, but I can't so I just try to make the best of the hours I am there. Luckily, I work in education and the summer is fast approaching, which means I'll get some time off. I can't wait.

I learned my lesson last week...Where ever they go, I go.

What the!?!? It's 2010...Where have I been?

I tried, I mean I really tried. Last December, I sat in front of this very computer screen and I promised myself that I would get back to business on this blog. And what did I do? I let the blog wither like the forgotten houseplant in the corner of the living room no one every remembers to water.

Fortunately, I think we can save it. I think there is a little bit of green left in this blog to make a returned effort to bring it back to life. My daughter is now 10 months old and in those 10 months I have learned a lot.

Things Like:

1. Don't go un-diapered unless you are fully prepared to face the consequences.
2. What the baby eats today can easily become ammo tomorrow.
3. Sleep is a good thing, perhaps the best of things, and no good thing ever dies...It just gets a little shorter.

One of the most interesting things I've learned as a parent is that any bad thing that involves children in the news suddenly hits me much harder. I put myself in the shoes of those parents and I can't bear the weight of their stories. I think of my little girl and I just want to protect her from everything.

Trouble is, I'm no superman and I know she'll have to experience life and learn some hard lessons on her own, but with every tear or problem she comes at me with I want to be able to put on a cape and save the day.

In 10 months I've learned a lot, but in 10 years I'll learn much, much, more about who I am, who she is, and where I fit in all of the adventures we're bound to have.

So I am making a new promise. There are 294 days left in 2010 and I promise that for at least 150 of those days I will be posting. I've been away from the keyboard too long. Maybe, someone will start reading this again, but if not it's cool. I'm doing it for me...Come a long for the ride if you wish, there's still some room on the bus.

Hush, Little Baby...

The funny thing about babies is that they have an amazing ability to sleep at the most inconvenient times. These inconvenient times include, but are not limited to the following:

1. When someone else is watching her.
Thanks to a thoughtful mother-in-law my wife and I were able to escape to the movies for my birthday. We were gone 3 hours and baby girl slept for 3 hours. When we returned from the movies to feed her, mother-in-law said "Hey, she's doing well why don't you go get a bite to eat?" So out to dinner we went. We were gone 2 hours and baby girl slept for 2 hours...

2. When there is absolutely no time for us to sleep.
When she is awake we have no time to do normal house duties. She occupies all of our attention. So when she sleeps there are times that we have to make sure the house isn't caving in, the bills are paid, and the grass is cut. We can only do this when she is sleeping and during the day, as cutting the grass at 2am is probably against some town ordinance.

3. When we have visitors.
People come over and we look run down and exhausted then they look at our beautiful baby girl and see a calm and content sleeping baby. They look back at us and wonder why we're so tired. It's funny, no one believes us when we say she's a handful because whenever we have people over she's out like a light.

Two milestones this week: Dad turned 30 and baby girl 1 month old.