Day 107: Parental Leave Was Getting Too Easy

pl-daily

August has said so long. School is back. September is here in full force.

Parental leave? Well it has been getting a little easy. It has been getting a little boring. To be honest, why do stay-at-home parents complain so much?

Okay, that last part, not nice of me. I am kidding of course. Taking care of the kids all day is a lot of work for sure.

For me, as I enter the last month of my parental leave, I guess I needed something to amp up the challenge.

Charlie, our baby boy has been a wonderful roommate for so far and I would have to say, he is pretty manageable.

So what could we do as a family to really test my dad skills? What would be the next challenge for me before I head back to work?

Well how about our other son, the soon-to-be 4-year old, staying home full-time as well?

Yep, challenge accepted.

Why I Wanted To Take Paternity Leave

IMG_20130712_222259

A classic post from when I was staying home with one of my sons. Just one of the many parenting stories I share on this blog. Please enjoy.

As I enter the fifth month of my paternity leave, I wanted to answer a question that is pretty common when I tell people I chose to stay home with our baby boy.

The question, Why did you want to take paternity leave in the first place?

When I am asked this question, it always has this amazed and surprised tone to it. As if I was tricked into staying home with the baby.

Did I lose a bet? Did I draw the short straw? Or did my wife just really want to get the hell out of the house and back to work?

None of these were true.

Parental Leave Is Starting To Get That Sunday Night Feeling

day46-1
Don’t be confused, that’s not Charlie. I just like the photo. 

If you have ever worked the usual Monday to Friday grind, you know what it feels like on a Sunday night.

You are bummed the weekend is over.

You have a lot on your mind as you get ready for the new week.

You wish it would all just slow down a bit.

That is how my current run of parental leave is starting to feel.

Now before you start giving me grief about feeling bad that a 6-month run of being away from work is coming to an end, I get it.

I am a lucky guy to be experiencing this journey with my baby boy. I am not looking for sympathy. I am just starting to get that feeling that it is all starting to slip away, and at a very fast pace.

It seems like yesterday that is was April and I was just getting my feet wet.

With August coming to an end, everything is starting to feel like a Sunday night.

Day 90: Banana, Pizza, Avocodo, Yogurt And More

pl-daily
The PL stands for Parental Leave, which I am currently doing for six months.

Where did the week go? I realize it was a short week thanks to Natal Day, but I have to say, it flew by. Yesterday was Day 90 of my parental leave. Wow, 90 days. What a wild ride. I am almost forgetting what it is like to be in an office environment. I know I still have two months to go but lately it feels like the time is slipping away. Every day is starting to feel more and more like Sunday night. Oh well, I will stop complaining because there is still a lot of fun left. We have a few trips coming and August and September in Nova Scotia are usually the best months. Plus I get to spend it all with Charlie.

Fast And The Furious: A lot Changing For Charlie

charlie-crawl

Is time going faster than normal? Did we just not have our second baby? In only what seems like a blink of an eye, we celebrated our son’s 10-month anniversary on the weekend.

10 months!? It feels like we just brought him home.

Yep, Charlie is growing fast and furious and that means a lot of changing things up in the house.

He seems way ahead of the game when comparing him to his 3-year old brother, but when looking back at photos, the difference is not as great.

Yes, Charlie is doing most things quicker, but then again, he has someone to watch and learn from right?

Over the last few weeks, I have felt this speed in progress mostly because I have been doing a lot of things I did not do for our first son until much later.

Day 85: Standing In the Shadows Of No-Town

pl-daily
The PL stands for Parental Leave, which I am currently doing for six months.

Don’t worry family and friends who look forward to the PL Daily, I am trying my best here. It is just hard to get motivated to write every day. A lot has been happening this week, so if this turns into a week wrap up, don’t get all technical on me. Charlie is growing up faster than this blog can go. Every day he is adding something new and I am taking the time to just enjoy it rather than sharing it with you. What has he been doing that is so great? Well I will get to that later. The title of this post should give away two items that involves Charlie. With August hitting, it means I have two months left on my parental leave. Where did the time go? I mean, two months is still a long time, but it already feels like it is going to end in days. Better enjoy it while I can.

Day 85 was also Coolio’s 50th birthday and I would have to say my time with Charlie to date has been a fantastic voyage to say the least.

Day 82: You Should Not Let Your Baby Eat Chalk

pl-daily
The PL stands for Parental Leave, which I am currently doing for six months.

A new week, a new set of stories to tell from the PL. Today was Day 82 of parental leave and as I mentioned, I have been fighting a wall of some kind lately. But good news, so far things feel a lot better this week. Despite a day of rain and mundane weather, I had a lot of fun with both boys. But the one kid you would figure to sleep more did not. Yes, Charlie really was a fussy guy today and based on how easy it was to put him to bed just now, he was tired. He did not sleep much in the afternoon and Harrison did. Harrison slept for almost three hours. But I know the reason behind that. It was our late night of camping that had him ready to catch up on sleep. The day was full of crawling adventures, bike riding, new food trying and of course a little TV watching.

All in all, it was a pretty good day considering Mondays are usually tiring. I must be a parental leave expert by now.

Day 80: Parental Leave Is Starting to Crawl

pl-daily
The PL stands for Parental Leave, which I am currently doing for six months.

For those following the daily battles, you probably have noticed there has not been an update in a week. I will do a full blog post on it later, but I seem to have hit a parental leave wall. As I approach four months in, I feel fatigued from many thing, one of which is the daily blogging about it. Not to worry. I have been blogging long enough to know that I always bounce back after being recharged. The same can be said for the parenting. I am trying my best to add some new things each day and looking forward to more changes with the kids. But for now, the last few days of July, I am just coasting on the same old, same old. So thanks for being patient with me. A lot is happening. I just can’t be bothered to sit at the computer and rehash it.

Let’s try to start it all back up by looking at today, Day 80 on the PL.