The other day I came to work with my undershirt on backwards.
I regularly come to work with stains on my dress shirts and dried baby formula stuck to my hands.
I am daddy. I am dirty. I am disgusting.
Mornings are tougher with a baby. Hell, life is tougher with a baby. But mornings are particularly bad because you are going on less sleep than normal and trying to get a whole other person ready for their day. I’m half zombie, half Tazmanian Devil, if that is even possible.
I am waking up earlier than ever and still getting to work late.
Sydney is now falling asleep about 9 p.m. We have struggled mightily to get her into a sleeping routine. This earlier bed time is nice because we have time to ourselves before bed, but it means that her night-time wake ups start earlier. You can usually count on one at about 2 a.m. and another in between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. So, when 6:40 comes and it is time for daddy’s shower, he is prying his eyelids open with a tire iron.
Then the sprint begins.
Shower. Shave. Brush the teeth. Dress. Wake Sydney. Change Sydney’s diaper. Dress Sydney. Start the car to warm up. Put Sydney’s bag together. Wash Sydney’s bottles and pack her formula for her day in child care. Pack my lunch. Feed Sydney her morning bottle. Gather my lunch bag, work bag, Sydney’s bag and Sydney into the car and drive to child care for drop off. Drive to work.
If all goes well, I am there at 8:15. Only 15 minutes late.
Oh how I long for those care-free days when I could watch the first 20 minutes of the Today Show, hop in the shower after the first break and still be to work by.…8:15.
How do you veteran parents do it? I can’t imagine adding another kid in the mix or trying to prepare some sort of hot breakfast.
I guess I should feel lucky. My wife helps me. And, I haven’t yet had her throw up on me so that I have to change clothes. Nor is she cranky pants and fighting me in the morning. She’s generally pretty happy.
Things could definitely be worse. Remind me of that the next time you see me walking around with my shirt on backwards.
Some solutions to help you:
ReplyDelete1. Shower, shave and pack your lunch the night before.
2. Move to a part of the country where you don't have to warm up your car.
3. Adopt a teenager. Have the teenager take care of Sydney in the morning.
4. Run away with me to some Caribbean island. We can be like Tom Cruise and that British guy in the movie "Cocktail" and bartend at some beach cabana. (For the record, I'm the Tom Cruise of this duo).