A Long Day

Yesterday felt like an interminably long day.  Not that it wasn't a good day, which it was, it just seemed to go on forever and drain me of most if not all of my energy.  Yesterday was the first of my two days at home with our son on any given week.  With our son being more active now, it seems to take more energy on my part when I am watching him.  The morning is never that bad.  After breakfast and after my wife left for work, we did our normal routine, retreat to the living room floor and proceed with the rolling and the continuous attempt at crawling.  Before we even got to the floor I already saw the tiredness creeping into our son's face, his eyes becoming a little glassy and his smile diminishing, leaving him with a blank stare a good portion of the time.  There were still little bouts of energy being expelled so I knew that he didn't have too much floor time in him.  That's where we retreated however for about ten minutes before it was time for his morning nap.  He went down fairly easily and slept for almost two hours.  There was no down time for me with diapers that needed washing and some minor cleaning that needed to be done.  By the time he woke up, I had finished and before his morning snack we got a little more floor time in.  Well, after eating, we ventured out to go see his great grandparents.  They were ecstatic to see him and he was on his best behavior while there.  They both got a chance to hold him before he was ready for more floor action.  We were there for almost two hours and during that time he ate his lunch and proceeded to fall asleep during the process in my arms.  I managed to transfer him to the floor where he luckily stayed asleep for about 45 minutes. 

Well, that was the end of his naps on my watch.  When we got back home, we tried to play on the floor a little more to no avail, he was just too tired and verging on hunger again.  So I decided to try a nap for a little bit.  That didn't go over so well.  So time to feed again.  And from the time of feeding till my wife got home from work, he needed to be held and walked around.  He was simply too tired to do much of anything else.  We tried playing on the floor, but frustration at not being able to crawl cut short our time there and the only thing he seemed capable of handling was walking around the yard, exploring the plants, and of course going out front to check on the construction of a new water main down our street.  He loves to stare at the big trucks and anything that rumbles by our house.  When my wife got home, I then got ready for work.  Once I made sure that she was all set for the afternoon stint, I hopped in my van and headed off.  I wasn't at work for that long, but with work being half hour away, I didn't end up making it home till about 7.  So there was my day yesterday.  Exciting, right?  Well, it is exciting being with our son all day, it just gets tiring after a while, especially the early afternoon where he just got over tired and needed to be held.  Naps weren't going over well yesterday and in order to keep him from totally losing it, I needed to put in extra effort.   Couple that extra effort with going to work in the late afternoon and you have a serious recipe for exhaustion.   I suppose I could have done some stuff around the house when I got home, there was just no desire on my part to do so. 

Luckily most days are not as tiring as yesterday.  At least our son sleeps through the night and affords us the opportunity to get enough rest for ourselves, but the days watching him can drain us.  Its just his constant activity that ends up taking its toll on us.  Don't get me wrong, I love to watch him struggle to crawl, study new faces and new objects, and talk and laugh in his non-verbal way, but I never realized how tiring it can be.  Its not even like the day seemed to drag on, in fact it flew by (except for the last half our or so).  I couldn't believe how quickly the time went.  But I guess that is the sign of being truly busy and active.  I know some people love babies and wish they could keep them there forever.  Not me.  I love our son, but I am glad he is only a baby once in his life.  So now, as I wish to go back to sleep for another hour or two, I am preparing myself for another wonderful day with our son.  I love every minute, I will just need to make a little extra coffee during the day to keep me going.  Coffee it seems, is the lifeline of parents, a necessity for getting through the day and doing it all again the next.  Maybe I should buy stock in coffee.  It seems to keep on going up in price and with the amount that I am going through I could probably make some serious money.  So maybe not, but its a thought.  In any case, its time to wake the little man up and get him started on another day.  Can't wait, seriously!