Day 18

I woke at 1:00 a.m. to a needy baby. A quick pacifier replacement solved the crying until 1:30 a.m., when a re-swaddle was needed. I woke again at 3:00 to a hungry baby. I fed him, a session lasting almost 45 minutes. I was whipped. I managed to get a few minutes of sleep but woke up again for my usual 5:00 a.m. coffee making rounds. Mom got up shortly after; we talked a bit but I was not feeling like conversation. She left for work and things progressed as normal.

At the (new modified time schedule) 10:00 a.m. feeding, lil’ man actually held the bottle for a short time; he is beginning to make coordinated hand movements! Afterwards, I made a call to some elderly old neighbors we had not seen in a while. They were up for a visit and lil’ man and I headed out to see them all. First stop was to Ms. Barbara – my old landlady. She only had a few minutes but she enjoyed seeing him, only the second time since he was born. We parted ways and I headed down the alley to see if some other old friends were around; they happened to be in their yard. We approached and found they were doing considerable landscape work, but we were invited in immediately. The lady of the house asked to hold lil’ man right away, whisked him off to a sitting area and sat overseeing the yard. I caught up with the man of the house a bit and, as usual, he imparted a bit of senior advice to me on several topics of interest. Their yard is comparable to a botanical garden and I used to visit it frequently with my puppy. We would chat and let the dogs all play together. I was an old fixture in that neighborhood and I had apparently been missed. We were extended a future invitation to visit at-will and then we headed out to see if an old librarian, in that area, was at work – Esther, an Irish librarian who had helped me through some difficult times. She was not there that day but we were invited back to story-time for children on Wednesday’s.  Exhausted, we headed home and I put lil’ man down, after a quick snack. I fell asleep. I am not sure when exactly when I lost consciousness but I awoke at 5:00 p.m. to a happy, contented baby boy who was simply looking about the room in comfort. Mom had texted she was on her way home from work. As a belated birthday gift, she offered to take us all out to a local Mexican ‘Seafood Shack’, where a mariachi band played on Thursdays. We arrived a ½ hour before the band began to play and enjoyed our meals. The band began to play and mom and I both watched in excitement as our lil’ man was introduced to (classic Mexican) live music. He watched in awe, although he occasionally gave me a look that said he was not too impressed or happy that he was still awake – it was past his usual naptime and the daily routine had been completely altered. We stayed for a few songs and then headed home. Mom addressed lil’ man’s needs and then mom and I had a few moments on the couch of together time. She said that this was the first day, since she had returned from her travels, that I was near normal. She was right, I had been exhausted by the continuous baby care, missed birthday due to the death of a family member and the absence of my wife. Today, after the nap, I was finally getting back to feeling some recovery and a little more like my self. I went to bed at 9:00 p.m. Mom followed quickly after.