Tour of Doody

Well my two-week tour of doody has come to a close and there are a few things I have learned as Mr. Mom:

1. The smartest thing you can do is keep your diaper bag stocked and ready at all times.

Heather, being the organizing guru that she is, clued me into the first one. You have to think of the diaper bag as your home-away-from-home. Your changing table in a purse, if you will. All you have to do is think about what would happen if you are in the middle of Target and your baby drops the big one. Are you prepared? If you have a properly stocked diaper bag, you are. So, re-stocking the bag when you get home will only help you in the long run.

2. Eating lunch with one hand is a parental skill.

Being home alone with a munchkin, you learn quickly to leave real-world time behind and follow the baby clock. The problem with the baby clock is that there are no numbers and no hands. BUT, there is an alarm. When she wakes up crying, you wake up (crying is optional). When she wants to eat, you feed her. When she sleeps, you do laundry, dishes, pick up and eat if you get the chance. Most likely, your lunch is a one-handed affair and you learn right away to try and avoid foods that drip. Because it is guaranteed you will have the princess in one hand and your sandwich in the other. During my next paternity leave, I plan to experiment with adult-sized bottles. I’m sure some sort of blender-created meal will be tested.

3. I will miss my little girl, immensely while I am back at work.

I have had a great two weeks. Really. In the past 14 days, Finley has not only continued her string of getting up only once in the middle of the night, but we had two nights in a row where she slept eight hours straight. I became the master of one-handed baby bathing and, according to Heather, I was even able to coordinate girls clothing appropriately. But even with those major accomplishments under my belt I feel like I’m going to miss out on a whole bunch of other new things. She has changed so much in the past two weeks. Her eyes are becoming more blue, rather than the standard-issue newborn black. Her hair is lighter and we’re noticing a bit of red, so it looks like she’ll be a strawberry blonde. She’s holding her neck up very well and the smiles are becoming more and more prevalent and hopefully not as gas-related as before.

I know I’ll miss her new little noises. Little coos and giggles that are SO cute. I’ll miss the way her little legs kick all over the place when I’m trying to change her, as if she’s trying to run away. And I’ll miss the little sigh she makes when she’s settling down in my arms. But what I think I will miss the most is the way she looks at me right before I pick her up. It’s a look in her eyes that says “I’m safe. This guy is going to take care of me.”

I know her mama will take good care of her and I will see her at the end of every day, but it doesn’t mean my heart won’t skip a beat when I’m at work and I think about what she’s doing right now. I guess that’s something I’ll have to get used to for the rest of my life.