I’ve been up for hours as the rest of my family slumbers away.  I was unable to get back to sleep after a 4:30am diaper change for our newborn.  My wife had no such problems, but the little noises that babies make as they try to get themselves to sleep just kill me some nights.  So, I came downstairs and decided to write.  That was hours and one big brain crap ago.  A little time surfing to the end of the Internet and playing the Wii loosened my brain up just enough to scratch out this post.

It really has been fun to be home for the past three-and-a-half weeks for paternity leave and to celebrate the holidays.  Our newborn is doing really well and we’ve gotten a chance to welcome a number of our friends at the house.  It hasn’t been without its frustrations, though, as I’m probably in the lower quartile for patience on a good day, and that drops significantly when I get sleep deprived.  Combine the new baby with our daughter hitting her stride in her terrible twos, and there have been headaches and frustration on a daily basis.  Should I have gone back to work a little earlier? Nope, I’ve had as many or more great moments each day where I realize how lucky I am to have the family that I am blessed with.  Do I want to delay my return to work on Monday? Nope, as that would be pushing fate with my aforementioned patience; I need the work environment for sanity’s sake sometimes.

I need to write more about the baby and the toddler, Christmas, and the new year, but my brain needs to work its way back to stringing semi-coherent thoughts together. With any luck, the work week will get me there and this blog will pick up steam again.