Just the Two of Us

Eamon is helping me to write this. He's sitting on my lap, and only needs minimal help keeping himself upright. He's watching the letters appear on the computer and holding onto my wrist. Now he's trying to help press the keys.

It's an Eamon and Mommy day...just like Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were Eamon and Mommy days. Daddy has flown the coop, at least until Thursday, on a Civil War extravaganza with a group of teachers from somewhere far away (Aaron has told me several times, but I get all his groups mixed up. Is this the group from New Mexico? The group from San Diego? The group from Texas? Eh...they're all warm places with little rainfall, and geoggers was never my strong suit.)

That makes 6 days. Six days of Eamon and Mommy, and 6 nights of will he sleep through the night? Probably, but what if he doesn't? What have I learned from these six days?

I have mad respect for single mothers.

Eamon is a great baby. He's an easy baby. He goes to sleep around 9 PM and stays there until about 6 AM. If he wakes up at all, it's for his pacifier, but I don't think he'll use that much longer because he has discovered his thumb and boy is that just so yummy. He's usually very well-mannered, and only cries when he's really upset. You fix whatever he's upset about, and he goes back to being a happy, content little guy. BUT, imagine if he weren't. Imagine if he were a little more high maintenance, or a screamer. How do those mothers do it?

And, of course, we're not doing it entirely alone. My parents have been a big help, and when Aaron's parents get here on Thursday, I know that they'll help too. The worst part was Saturday. I'd had a cold all week, and didn't get a lot of sleep Friday night (not due to Eamon, who slept like a rock, but due to a mini-crisis that turned out to be nothing really from Eamon's out-of-town father), then on Saturday I had to spend most of the day at an Odyssey of the Mind competition with some of my students. I came home an achy, snotty, exhausted mess. Luckily, I have wonderful parents who took Eamon and me in for the night. They told me to go to bed (which I did around 7PM), and then they got up with him in the morning so that I could sleep in. With their help over the weekend, I got better quickly.

Now Eamon and I are back at our house for the evening. He doesn't like to be put down in the afternoons or evenings, so I'm glad that he's learning to sit up enough to sit on my lap while I type. This will at least allow me to do some important things like schoolwork and check friends' Facebook statuses while he sucks on my hands (I think he has confused them for his hands). I'm really realizing just how much work Aaron contributes to this family, however, as I try to figure out how to do laundry while holding a baby, or do dishes while holding a baby, or feed the dog while holding a baby. I just need another pair of arms. Unfortunately, that pair of arms won't be home for another 2 nights.

We miss you, Daddy!