Did You See Where My 2 Weeks Went?

So somewhere between bringing Aiden home and arriving at work this morning two weeks have evaporated in a haze of day trips around town, afternoon naps, baths, snuggles, interrupted sleep, grandma A's departure (she will be GREATLY missed) and our first thunderstorm in Doha in 2 years! In lieu of sharing each incredibly detailed moment I'll pause to recap some lessons we've learned along the way. I (Brandon) will start with concepts for Fatherhood 101 (aka Sleep Hoggers Anonymous), and let Sheri tackle Motherhood 101 (aka Superwoman Training) when she has collected her thoughts.

What to expect from Fatherhood 101 (1st two weeks):

1. Your child is an incredible source of joy but a continuous drain on your emotional and physical energy (the magnitude of which makes running a marathon seem trivial)

2. Fortunately, your wife is an incredible source of strength and energy who apparently requires no sleep at all to maintain her motherly duties, were it not for her occasional slurred speech or midsentence 'nap', you might not know she only gets 3 hours of broken sleep a night

3. For dad, who currently reaps the benefits of a breastfeeding program that allows him to return to sleep during feeds - 8 hours of sleep obtained in 2 hour intervals is equivalent to 4 hours of traditional sleep (at best)... causing me to still deal with significant gaps in productivity at work. Thankfully my team has been great throughout, even laughing 'with me' when I slur my speech or forget about a meeting in my fatherhood stupor

4. Physical interaction with urine and feces becomes common place; you measure greatness within the family in terms of 'diaper changing heroics', which at times provides outburts of comic relief that would have previously been fits of sanitization (Aiden isn't shy about spraying folks, including our friend Cassie and pretty much every doctor he meets)

5. Grandma's are great tools to have around the house, which made it hard to put Grandma A back on a plane this weekend and wave goodbye to our extra set of hands (and extra hot, extra long showers!). The only silver lining is that I can now safely walk around the house in boxers during midnight trips to the kitchen.

6. You can almost set your watch by our little guy's 'emotional states'... we know he's awake and active most in the morning (10am), that he eats about every 1.5-2.5 hours, usually 1.5 hours when we plan on 2.5 hours and vice versa. He can survive trips to the mall, including the occasional introduction to a friend we bump into

7. A month ago my alarm clock had to be set on LOUD to avoid the infamous 'sleep thru'... now the slightest little grunt or whimper from the Moses basket has me tossing and turning (and has Sheri standing by for the night feeds). I don't think either of us had an appreciation for how much noise this little guy can produce, most of it incredibly cute during the day - some of it quite frustrating at night. We know the answer is to shift him to the big bed in the nursery, but as any parent can tell you that transition is a difficult one... especially since the only material difference at first is the white noise of a baby monitor and having to get up and walk into another room to investigate all the noises!

8. We have the best friends and family, who have been so supportive. I'll apologize now for any return call/text we haven't yet made, we hope to settle into a 'pseudo-routine' that will allow us to more efficiently contact the outside world. Until then know that we appreciate all that you've done and that you will do in the years to come.

Now for the real reason you check the blog (new photos & a short video on Flickr):