To Mom's Everywhere

I just wanted to take this opportunity to let all you Mom's out there know, I bow to your greatness.  My wife gave birth to our second daughter 10 days ago.  She had a c-section and was in the hospital for a total of 5 days.  We also have a 2 1/2 year old daughter.  So starting last week I have kind of been playing Mr. Mom.  I can't begin to tell you how much I have taken my wife for granted.  I went into the office a couple of days last week while my sister-in-law watched my daughter but other than that, she has been with me pretty much 24/7.  This week I have been home everyday while my wife and new daughter get adjusted, so again, I have been tasked with the primary care of my oldest.  I honestly used to think, "I should do the stay at home Dad thing.  You just sit around and let your kid play, do a couple of chores, and maybe make dinner." 

It starts with my daughter waking up around 6:30am.  Normally, no big deal because I typically am up around 5am to work out before leaving for the office.  However, I am not going to the office this week and I have a new born which means I am getting about 5 hours of sleep or so.  So she usually crawls into our bed and will be content for all of about 5 minutes and then informs me she would like breakfast.  Once we get breakfast out of the way, my wife has usually gotten the newborn fed and is ready to go back to sleep because she is getting less sleep than I am.  So I try to get out of the house with the oldest so she can get some sleep.  This means the park, the gym, the pond, or anywhere else I can think of that might entertain her for a couple of hours.  Now this is no easy task in itself.  I am used to throwing on my clothes, shoes etc and hopping in the car and going where I need to go.  Maybe takes me 5 minutes to get out of the house.  With my daughter, I have to comb her hair, dress her, put her shoes on her, try and put her hair in some semblance of a pony tail(my wife really laughs at that), figure out what she wants to take with her(back pack, blanket, toy, coat, etc).  I'm doing good if I am out the door in 30 minutes.  Then there's lunch, snacks, playing, jumping on the trampoline, roller skating, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, babies, stuffed animals, ball, etc etc.  Finally, there is the afternoon nap.  FOR BOTH OF US.  Then we play some more and next thing I know, it's time for dinner.  So I have to find something to keep her entertained while I make dinner, then clean up from dinner.  Finally it's bath time, story time and bed.  Normally by the time she is in bed it is about 8:30pm and I am completely exhausted.  Oh look, a big pile of laundry that I have not yet gotten too! 

So ladies, my hat is off to you.  Don't even get me started on caring for the newborn.