Even the bad times are good

Parenting can be tough.  I learnt this early on, when a blizzard hit our town in the UK and I had to stay home from work.  I arrived home having taken an hour and a half to cover the 25 mile journey.  My poor wife was frazzled.  The boy wouldn’t sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time so she was unable to shower or cook as he would start screaming more or less straight away.  So I arrived home and promptly started cooking, washing up, doing housework, and looking after our little boy so she could sleep.

The next day the conditions got worse as the snow settled and froze, meaning that driving conditions are just awful.  So I stayed home, working thanks to remote access, doing more housework, and looking after our son so my wife could sleep.  Being able to work from home would normally be a good thing, but not when I have at least three different jobs to do.

The thing is, when I went to change Sam’s nappy, feeling intensely stressed and tired and harassed (in short, like a new parent), he stopped screaming, gulped, looked straight into my eyes, and gripped my finger with his tiny little hand.  You wouldn’t believe how clear and blue his eyes look when he does that.  He lay there, gazing up at me, silent as a lamb, just taking it all in.

See what I mean?  Even the bad times are good.