A Long Week - Daddy's First Rant

This is my first attempt at "blogging" so please bear with me. Combining my computer weenie skills and my writing skills might turn out disasaterous, but I'll try anything once. And besides, H has me hooked on reading parent blogs now and I may have picked up a trick or two.

I am sitting here at the computer waiting for a call from H to make sure that she and J have made it to the airport safely and will in fact be making their flight back to CA. For the last week I have been home alone. That's right, a week long hall pass. You'd think that this was the equivalent of having an early Christmas or another one of the infamous week long bachelor parties my college roommates and I like to organize for one another. No waking up in the middle of the night to the soothing sounds of Baby J. No diapers, no wipes. No tears, no lower lip sticking out. No bottles to warm up. No spit up on my shirt, pants, arms, neck, back, in my hair, in my ear, in my shoes, or directly into an open mouth (Mommy got that one...classic). This was an opportunity to revisit the past. A chance to remember what it was like before the baby. Surely this would be a good thing. I could listen to music, watch TV or even an entire movie without interruption. I could sleep in. I COULD SLEEP PERIOD.

Note: Sleeping is way underrated. Most mornings I wake up and realize that there isn't enough coffee in the world to help me. I would have slept more in 2007 had I realized the effect sleep deprivation has on a human being. It's unreal. You know how teenagers always think they know everything? Well they got this one right. As I teenager I slept a lot therefore I was brilliant. Now I don't sleep much and I have CRS like never before.

I had the enitre world at my feet. Anything was fair game. SO...What do you think I did? I watched TV? Not really. I watched a movie? I attempted but fell asleep all three times. I'm not joking about sleep. WAY UNDERRATED. Lavish dinners? Not unless you count chunky soup during Top Chef as fine dining. Bars? Yes actually, one bar with Uncles Drew and Mike to see the Bob Schneider show. Which was amazing and we got the recording of the show on CD.

Here we are during the show...

And here's a really crappy picture from my cell phone of Bob Schneider when we met him after the show. But this was THE only fun I had in the last week. Even March Madness felt a little lacking.

I spent my time working around the house. I think I was nesting. I'm not kidding. I nested. I am ok with officially being a parent. I'm not ok with officially becoming old. I went to Lowe's. In Dublin. I went to Smith & Hawken. Since when is it okay for someone to sell garden crap for those prices?!?! Pots should not cost as much as my iPod. I missed the trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond but I'll be damned if it didn't cross my mind while sifting through the 236 catalogs, coupons, inserts and mailers they sent in the last week. I cleaned. I ironed. I did dishes. I hung pictures. I vacuumed. But mostly I waited. I waited every day to hear from my wife and my son. It was quiet around the house without them. And I hated it. I hated that eerie, deafening quiet. There were no baby noises, Mommy noises. No family noises. I will also tell you that playing with infant toys in order to try to get a fix.....it didn't work. Baby Einstein sucks without the baby. I was disconnected. The only thing that worked was hearing them on the phone. Hearing the little voice and his Mom interacting with him and trying to talk to me over spotty cell phone reception. Note: Thank you AT&T. Apparently you work "all around the world" except for in my house. Keep up the good work. As good as Bob was, and he was AWESOME, he can't hold a candle to J and his Mom. That is music to my ears.

So I waited then as I am waiting now, to hear their voices. To know that they are safe. To know that they are coming home. Maybe then I can get some sleep.