Riley: Mom!

Me: Riley, stop calling your mom.  She’s resting.

Riley: Oh, I was just pretending with Olivia.  We’re playing.

Me: Well, you’re standing in the middle of the hallway outside our bedroom, you might wake mommy up.

Mom (groggily waking up): Girls…everything ok?

Riley: Daddy!  Mommy’s awake, she’s calling us!  (at which point they proceed to enter our room)

Me (to myself): great…

As I write this, I’m hiding out in my office enjoying the rare moment of solitude afforded me on this lazy Saturday afternoon.  The girls, long past their naptime are playing down the hall in their room, or coming in here every 2 minutes asking me for something random (the last time it was marbles).  Samantha meanwhile is/was taking a nap. She’s been extra tired lately dealing with the rigors of morning sickness and the first trimester of pregnancy.  Just over an hour ago, I was elbow deep in poop and lysol, my youngest daughter is working through some kind of virus, that I can only hope is almost at it’s conclusion because it’s terrorized our household now for about a week.  Such is the plight of this somewhat sleepy dad.

I was on the phone talking with my 2 closest friends earlier today in the midst of clean-up, trying to explain to them the magic currently happening, they didn’t quite get it (neither are married, no kids…).  But, while reminiscing about the good ol’ glory days together, one friend reminded me how good I do have it, despite the messy moments.  Yeah, he’s right.  .

It’s been an interesting past few weeks.  My wife and I are experiencing tremendous change, both on the family and career front.  Soon, we’ll be moving into our new home, welcoming a third child into our lives, and both of us are poised to enter the next phase of our careers.  They say that in your 20s, your focus is on finding yourself.  In your 30s, you start to settle down and build a foundation for the rest of your life.  Your 40s and 50s are when you really start to build something special.  I think we’re a few steps ahead of that plan, but it all seems to be coming together at once now.  Wild ride nonetheless, but definitely worth the price of admission.

SDW3