A day in the Life of the Daddy

There are really very few things that I wake up early to do. Every 6-7 years I'll wake up early to go fishing or kill something with my older brother. At least once a year my terribly inconsiderate father will make a 7:30 a.m. tee time, and I'll put up with it, just to spend that quality time with him. Both of these circumstances I will complain constantly. I am a night owl and firmly believe there is very little worth waking up early for. I have found one of those things, and it comes in the form of probably the cutest little girl that has ever graced the planet Earth... and I know some cute girls, so that is really saying something! I almost look forward to 5:00 a.m. coming around and am disappointed when Avery sleeps straight through. When I hold her in my arms, I am absolutely melted. Everything else in life seems almost monotone. I discuss how the last Bears game went and how Mike Martz should run the ball more, and she responds in squeeks and grunts, which by the way, I much prefer to Nichole's groans and eye rolls.
Then, I have to shuffle off to work. I still love my job and I have good students, but I sure look forward to 2:30 more than I ever have in the past, and when it rolls around, I don't have any problem leaving the stack of papers to grade on the desk and hitting the road.
When I walk through the door Nikki, being the good Mom that she is, has Avery all fed and wide awake to go straight back into Dad's arms. Nikki then tries to do all the things she hasn't gotten done in the day, while I hang out with Avery.
On the weekends, as Nikki stated in her last post, that is dual parenting nights. It really surprises me the whole gray area that sleep has become. There are times when I am rocking Avery in the rocking chair and it occurs to me, that I have no idea when I got there or how long I've been there. Or other times when I think I am rocking her and wake in my bed with Avery over in her wing sound asleep in the bassinet.
In case you aren't grabbing how much I enjoy hanging out with this girl I can give a frame of reference. I enjoy... yes enjoy changing her. Yes, I will wipe shitty ass just to spend the time with her. Even her cries are cute. Sometimes she gets a little la-la-la sound that gives a good laugh. Ten minutes ago I was holding her and she was crying and smiling at the same time. Speaking of crying, I am starting to decode this fairly well. Odds are there are only three things she wants if she is crying: #1; the boob, #2; poop, or #3; she wants to play. #3 is by far my favorite. #1 I can't really do anything about (although sometimes Avery thinks my bicep is a boob), #2 although, as stated before, it can be a pleasant exchange it is still ass-wiping. So playing is easily the best. This is a fairly new development. There are times when you are holding her or snuggling right in and she decides that she is done with that. I hold on to her and she stands right up, holds her head up really well, and smiles at me. I'm thinking she is gonna skip right by that whole crawling thing and start walking. I hope a little of this wears off so I don't end up over-babying this kid.

TGIF...

A few weeks ago I had no idea what day of the week it was nor did I care. Boy how that changed once Mark went back to work! I think I look forward to the weekends more now than I did when I was working. Friday and Saturday nights mean I get a little more sleep because I have somebody to share Avery duty with. Saturday and Sunday afternoons mean I can shower before noon (doesn't mean I do) and get stuff done around the house. Every other day of the week I have the best intentions of eating and showering at decent times and crossing one thing off my list of things to do, but it doesn't usually happen. It's amazing how quickly time flies when all you do is feed, burp, change, rock, and repeat!

Here are some other things that have changed in the past couple of weeks. We are starting to learn Avery's routine (or lack thereof). For example, we know now that if she stays awake all day that doesn't mean she'll sleep all night. In fact, it means just the opposite because she'll try to stay awake all night too making her overly tired and fussy. She no longer likes to nap in her cradle or bouncer. I used to be able to put her into one or the other when she fell asleep so I could get a couple things done (like eating or showering). Now, for whatever reason, she wakes up crying the moment I put her down. So, my choice is to either let her cry, which means she won't sleep (remember: no sleep during the day = no sleep at night), or let her sleep on me, which means I won't get anything done. She's become a much more messy baby. She used to wear the same outfit all day long, but now she goes through a couple changes of clothes because of slobber, spit up, or blow outs. For you lucky ones who don't know what a blow out is, it's when the poo leaks (or explodes) from the diaper. We have 11 diaper covers and she's had so many blow outs lately that I've had to wash them every couple of days.

The good news is that not all of the changes are bad. For example, at night we can now put her in her basinett while she's awake and she will fall asleep on her own. She's also becoming much more aware of her surroundings so she'll focus on something for awhile or grab for the animals hanging above her changing table. And she's starting to become more vocal. I guess being able to see these changes makes it all worthwhile.