Parental Leave Week 4 Wrap Up

I am now 1/3 of my way through my parental leave. It is almost crazy for me to think that I have now spent about a month at home. Week four all and all went smoother. I still felt an unpleasant disconnect from work, but less so. We had a few long nights, but not as many. And the daycare was in full swing but I have found that I have finally got into the rhythm of it.


Here are a few highlights of the past week;

Meghan went to the Monday morning women's bible study. This was a nice for her to have some social time out of the house. She came back feeling tired and a little drained, but she was able to talk freely with the women there about things she was feeling and struggling with.

On Thursday I went out for coffee with Nolan. Nolan is the senior pastor at the church I work for. We caught up a little on office life, but for the most part we just chatted. Getting out of the house and talking with someone who was neither a toddler nor member of my family was great.

Also on Thursday for the first time in a month we had (most of) our small group meet at our house. In case that is a term you are unfamiliar with a small group is a group of people say 8-12 that gets together to talk, eat, drink coffee, study the bible, and pray together. March was just awful for getting together and it was nice that we were able gather.

Friday I was honoured to be featured as a 4L Dad on Brandon The Duncan. If you are interested feel free to check out the interview.

The weekend was a busy one. We headed off to visit Meghan's mother who was throwing us a baby shower. This was our first big trip as a family of four. It was a little nerve wracking, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to stuff everything we needed for a weekend in the car. I knew the switch from packing for 2 to packing for 3 almost killed me. As it turns out moving form 3 to 4 is not that big of a deal. The packing went fine.

The trip it self went well too. Simeon played most of the way with this search and find book, and Ariella slept. That is until the last 45 minutes or so. At that point Ariella had slept enough and wanted to get up. She started to cry. Simeon being the parrot toddler he is copied her. Thinking to myself that the rest of the drive will be hellish with a baby crying and a toddler playing 'cry', I was beginning to wonder just how long of a walk it would be from where we were. That is when I had a rare stroke of genius. I asked Simeon to copy Daddy, and the two of us begin to 'shhh' Ariella as I rocked her car seat. Our father and son duo soothing team worked. Ariella remained calm as long as we soothed for the rest of the drive.

The weekend at my mother in laws was a good one. It was nice to have three adults to two children. It made me reflect on cultures that tend to have three generations under one roof. I know I got more rest this weekend than I have in a while. I wonder why we segment our families so?

The shower was also nice. It was the first shower I ever was invited too. They tend to be a female event but this one was open to both men and women. Trisha did a great job putting everything together, lots of food, fun games and the place was decorated nicely. All and all a good time.

To top everything off, once we arrived home, put Simeon to bed and after Ariella was well nursed and asleep Meghan and I enjoyed a glass of wine before we crawled into bed. The first in just shy of a year.

I learned two things the other day.
1 Simeon will find my coffee wherever I set it down.
2 Meghan will take pictures of him drinking it, instead of stopping him.