SAHD Week: Day 1

For the first time since Kaylani was born, I'll be playing the role of a SAHD, or a stay at home dad. I am in the middle of switching jobs (goodbye Rosetta agency/consulting life...hellooooo Johnson & Johnson brand marketing!) and we had decided that it'd be best if I took a week off in between for a few reasons. First of all, I've never really done it before. I've switched jobs 3 times now, and each time I've gone right into the next one. Second of all, I wanted to spend some more time with Kaylani and Mommy. Sure I spend most nights and every weekend with them, but I've never seen her daily/weekly routine at home. And lastly, we've got a ton of stuff to do around the house, and getting things done at night or on the weekend just doesn't happen.

Here's how day 1 shook out. Kaylani woke up around 6:45am (as usual), but hung out in her crib playing by herself until around 7:30am. At 7:30am, I played the role of hero and got my favorite morning hug. Next, she nursed, then sat in the bathroom as I showered. So far, nothing different than when I was working. After the shower, we played for a little bit until breakfast was ready (REAL Quaker Oats oatmeal instead of her baby oatmeal), and then ate, and played some more. Then came the first challenge of the day.

The hardest part of Mommy's days are nap time. Sometimes they'll go well and she'll fall asleep quickly and stay asleep for at least an hour. Other times, like today, she'll cry for 40 minutes and not actually fall asleep. To be completely honest, I wasn't around for the first 30 minutes because I had to drop off some stuff to wrap up my job, but when I came home, we called it quits. Instead of trying to get her to nap, we packed her up and headed for the mall to get some errands done. Thankfully, she slept for 30 minutes. Unfortunately, 30 minutes wasn't enough.

After a quick lunch at the food court (where Kaylani ripped pieces of bread up and threw 2 out of every 3 on the floor instead of eating them), we walked around and did some shopping. For 3 hours, we walked and for the most part, Kaylani was well behaved. She didn't nap like we had hoped, but she only freaked out towards the end. We couldn't really blame her since we were in the damn Verizon store for an hour waiting for them to set up our phones (we both got new Blackberry Tours because they were buy one, get one free). Then, she freaked out because she wanted to play with our phones, but we all know that Blackberries are not for babies.

After another trip to the food court so Kaylani could eat a snack and nurse, we headed home. Thankfully, Kaylani passed out again, and unfortunately, it was only for 30 minutes again. At home, we let her run free finally, but since she had only slept an hour on the day, she was more about crawling/climbing/clinging to us. Around 6pm, it was time for dinner, bathtime, and finally, bedtime.

All in all, day 1 was pretty much as I expected it. It was rough at times, it was long, but it was still great to spend the entire day with Kaylani (and Mommy). Day 2 brings on Daddy's first Gymboree class! Hopefully naptime will go a bit better so she's rested up for class. If it doesn't, at least Mommy will be glad that I got to experience just a taste of her life. Either way, it's just a glimpse, and already I'm extremely appreciative of Mommy for everything she does for us. I never thought I could be more appreciative, but this week might just prove me wrong. We'll see!