First day back at work

Today was the first day I went back to the office since Abigail was born. This also meant it was the first day for Danielle to take care of the kids without my help. It was a day none of us were looking forward to.

It's amazing how different you feel sitting at a desk doing your work versus staying active taking care of two kids and various home projects. I'm just as tired in both cases. But sitting at a desk made me that much more aware of how utterly exhausted I am. Not sure how much coffee will help.

Danielle did okay and was at least able to take an hour long nap while Joshua and Abigail slept this afternoon. She's still exhausted mind you. But that was a plus.

Last night, I had a taste of the trials one might go through taking care of two young children. Danielle went to a baby shower for a woman in our church. We decided to leave Abigail with me. When she left, it was time to begin giving Joshua his bath and start the "going to bed" process. At the time, Abigail was sleeping. Of course, she woke up in the middle of Joshua's bath and eventually began wailing. Not your typical everyday wail...the ballistic, end of the world, I need something right now or I'll hyperventilate sort of wail. I know you're not supposed to leave a young child in the bath unattended, but I quickly went and got Abigail (who was in her crib in the bedroom, not the bassinet) and held her while Joshua played in the bath for a minute or two. Once she was being held, she was fine. But I had to finish with Joshua. So, I put her in the bassinet. A minute later, she began her "end of the world" wails. I went over to her and it smelled like she dropped a bomb. So, I quickly finished Joshua's bath, dried him, picked him up with one arm, went over to the bassinet and picked her up with the other arm, placed her in the crib in the bedroom and put a diaper on Joshua - I wasn't about to let him roam around without a diaper and create little pee spots everywhere...yeah, I know where my priorities are.

Now, I went to check Abigail's diaper. Clean...at least from #2 which means she had really bad gas *sigh*. Changed her diaper nonetheless and swaddled her which really helped to calm her down - Miracle Blankets are awesome! Joshua in the meantime started having his own mini-tantrum. Wasn't a whole lot I could do because I was trying to calm Abigail down. So, now I have two crying kids *sigh*. Once Abigail was wrapped and calm, I could focus on Joshua and get him to bed. Eventually, Abigail went to sleep, Joshua was asleep and I had about 30-45 minutes of quiet before she was awake and was time for her to be fed. But that was thankfully uneventful. I even got to watch the Antiques Roadshow.

This again gave myself (and I know Danielle concurs) a renewed appreciation for single parents and stay at home moms. I don't know how you can do it on your own.