Back to Work

Today is the last day of my two month paternity leave. Yeah, I neglected to post about going on paternity leave, or about anything that's happened while I was on paternity leave, or for that matter about anything that's happened since Eleanor was born. Clearly I'm a bad blogger.

In any event, things have been happening, I've just been a bit distracted. Eleanor is now 5 months old, she's progressed from being a little lump of baby to a small person with likes and dislikes who is quite annoyed that she can't effectively move around on her own yet. She's actually rolling over on demand for a while now, but she's still a little ways off from being able to crawl, which infuriates her to no end. On the bright side though, she's now able to play with things, she loves her exersaucer and it's really cute to see her interacting with all the toys built into it, and she'll happily amuse herself for quite some time trying to chew on her blue whale bath toy (apparently it's just cooler than the orca or hammerhead bath toys).

It's been interesting being at home with the kid for the past few months. You really do get a better sense of the ongoing progress she's making, every now and then Joanna will comment about something or other that Eleanor is doing, and I'm like "yeah, she's been doing that for a few days now". You don't necessarily notice to the extent that you'd comment on whatever the new accomplishment was, but you definitely see it all happening, which is cool. On the other hand, it's a thankless, tedious job in many ways. Eleanor's smile can light up a room, and she hands it out often these days, but there's still the incredibly frustrating parts of the day where she's whiny and doesn't want to nap, or is bored with the house and doesn't realize that it's snowing and we can't go someplace, or just really wants to be entertained by someone other than whoever has been with her all day, which tends to happen about an hour or so before Joanna gets home.

I'm incredibly glad to have had the chance to take this time off to be with the kid, but I'm also looking forward to getting back into the swing of my job. While I'll miss getting to spend this much time with the kid, it'll be nice to talk to people during the day who can actually talk back, and needless to say it'll be good to get back to working on all the things I put on hold when I went on leave. I'm pretty out of the loop at work at this point, so it'll be interesting to see what has happened to the projects I was working on. It'll also be nice to have my commute back. It may seem strange to say it, but that train ride is really just built in time to myself, and I miss it.

Anyway, the napping child appears to have awoken, so that must mean it's time for another bottle. The endless cycle continues ;-)

Syndicated 2010-01-08 14:45:47 from Garrett

Eleanor Jane Rooney

Last Thursday at 5:17 AM, after roughly 53 hours of labor my lovely and very tired wife Joanna gave birth to Eleanor Jane Rooney. She's remarkably adorable, and after one tiring but awesome week we've decided we'll probably keep her ;-)

Syndicated 2009-08-06 13:16:14 from Garrett

Eleanor Jane Rooney

Last Thursday at 5:17 AM, after roughly 53 hours of labor my lovely and very tired wife Joanna gave birth to Eleanor Jane Rooney. She's remarkably adorable, and after one tiring but awesome week we've decided we'll probably keep her ;-)

Syndicated 2009-08-06 13:14:52 from Garrett

Counting down...

Joanna pointed out this morning that she went in to labor as early as my Mom did when she had me, it would happen sometime around today.

Guess I better finish up work on that nursery...

Syndicated 2009-06-12 13:23:42 from Garrett

Book Review: Home Game, by Michael Lewis

First, I should make a small confession. I'll read anything Michael Lewis writes. It started with Moneyball, but it's only gotten worse from there. From books to magazine articles, sports writing to the inner workings of wall street, the format or topic just doesn't matter. If he writes it, I'll read it. So, it's no surprise that when I saw that he was coming out with a book about fatherhood (something I'm about to become much more experienced in), I just had to pick it up.

The book is short, just 192 pages, and is generally a quick read. It's composed of a series of short chapters about the time around the birth of each of Lewis' children. The stories are amusing, and the writing is up to his usual high standards. I laughed out loud several times while reading the book, as did my wife. There are a few things you should be aware of going in to it though.

First, this is largely material that's been recycled from the "Dad Again" series of articles he published on Slate just after the birth of his second and third children. It's not entirely old material, there are some new bits, but lets be clear, the vast majority of this is already available online.

Second, this is a parenting memoir, not a parenting how to book. This book isn't going to answer any questions about how to raise your kids. It is going to amuse you with stories of Lewis helping to raise his though, and for me that was more than enough.

So, if you're at all interested in some well written and highly amusing stories about Michael Lewis' experience as a new father, check this one out, either on Slate or in dead tree form. You'll be glad you did.

Syndicated 2009-05-28 01:39:33 from Garrett