Mr. Mom for a Month

By J -



So after 7 months on maternity leave, my wife is going back to work. To facilitate this transition, I'm taking off work for a month. That's right: I get to be Mr. Mom/Rice Daddy for 30 days, give or take.

Now this may seem like a vacation, but quite frankly these past few months, work has been my vacation from home. Don't get me wrong: I enjoy my time with my daughter, but a lot of that time is work and at this stage it’s very repetitive. My wife described it as being in a situation like Groundhog Day (the Bill Murray movie), but it’s compressed into a 4 hour cycle:

Baby wakes up,
feed baby,
burp baby,
play with baby,
change diaper,
put baby to sleep,
repeat.


You learn to spend your time wisely. Once you lay your baby down to sleep, you may only have a half hour window to whatever it is you need to do, and do it quietly so as not to wake her up.

Plus you really can't do too much of your own stuff, if your baby is a bit on the fussy side. You have to learn to do things while holding the baby. You have to learn how to multi-task. Women multi-task with no problem, but men are like dogs: easily distracted.




I hope to reach this level of multi-tasking in a month



A lot of people think the diapers and feedings are the tough part, but that's actually the easy stuff. It's the time in-between where you have to entertain your kid and keep her occupied that's really draining. The first 5 minutes of "Goo-goo, gaga" ain't so bad, but a whole day of it, day in and day out is a bit tiresome.

Comments

Mario said…
Do the best for them, man n_n.
August 16, 2010 at 10:37 PM
Diana Bleu-Smith said…
parenting is hard stuff! I applaud you though for not thinking it's the "wife's" job. Mine are special needs so i have a little extra added twist in our times inbetween. = )
August 17, 2010 at 3:59 AM
MojoRider said…
beautiful baby there, James. enjoy the time off. i'm sure it'll be meaningful that you spent the time with her like that sometime down the road when you get a chance to look back.
August 18, 2010 at 12:03 PM
J said…
yes parenting is hard stuff! One thing I find myself doing (which is good) is that I have to be a lot more communicative. I'm alway thinking out loud and letting my daughter what we're doing:

"OK, we're going for ride to the supermarket now."

"OK, I'm changing your diapie."

I've never really talked this much in my life, and yet it seems to come naturally. I enjoy the "conversations" that I have with my daughter.
August 18, 2010 at 1:22 PM
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