Chronicle's Of A Stay At Home Dad

On March 5, 2011 at 5:41am my daughter was born. That event has triggered a whole host of other things. A rather large one is now I am on parental leave for 12 weeks. Two weeks ago I was franticly trying to get a number of loose ends tied up at work. I thought I had. But this first week of leave has suggested otherwise.


Admitted I am feeling a little overwhelmed right now. But oddly enough it is not having another baby that is making me feel overwhelmed. It's staying at home.

When my son was born I was going to school full time and working part time. I had little time for anything beyond work, school being a Dad and sleeping whenever the opportunity presented itself. At that time I knew my roles well. Now everything feels so up in the air. I am used to working.

I am rounding out my first week of leave this Saturday, and so far it feels a little more like working less, from home. Some things that I thought had been tied up were not, while other things that I had not anticipated have come up, and in general e-mails have just sort of been flying around this way and that way.

Not quite the first week of leave I was aiming for.

I am hoping next week will be better. That this week was just a little crazy because of work wrapping up, that things will smooth out going forward. I am hoping next week will be better, but I suspect it will not be. Next week the day care children come back.

They really are the reason I am on leave.

My wife runs an at home daycare. For her to take 12 weeks of leave would mean us not having her salary for 12 weeks. This was not something we could do. So I am at home.

I hope next week is better. I hope I can adjust to the next three months being a stay at home dad. I think it will be hard. I don't really vacation well. But than again, this is no vacation.

First Family Photo