Daddy Goes Back to Work

Sometimes in life, you just miss the bus, and in the case of paid paternity leave that was the case for this working dad. I was able to take a week of virtually no contact with work (paternity leave) and then a few more days of pseudo-work where I would check in intermittently but really wasn't doing much besides an occasional email and surfing the web with the appearance of work. The bus that I missed, even though I was running for the bus stop, was the month-long paternity leave that Microsoft offers. Why would that matter you may ask? Well, Microsoft purchased our company and has incorported us into their world domination plans...but we don't get their benefits until January at the earliest. I am hoping a well placed call to Microsoft HR and a threat of monopoly charges might get me the retro-active benefits I am looking for... :)

Jen gets the joy of staying home with Jake until the end of January and she has been a trooper about getting up to appease our little guy. I wake up every time he cries and occasionally try to calm him down without any food, but most of the time he is looking for mom and for services that I am unable to render. Knowing all of this, Jen has spared me too many lengthy periods in the middle of the night where I get up and tend to Jake. She has absorbed that hit with grace and I hope is getting her rest during the day while I am at work and Alyssa is at school.

Jake seems to be enjoying what the doctors dubbed "tummy-time" although he almost always spits up milk when he is plopped on his front side. He spends time trying to raise his head looking like a toppled bobble-head doll that someone has bumped while his arms and legs move in spasmodic fits and starts as though he is battling the air in an attempt to move. My goal is to get him crawling by Christmas but Jen seems to think that is unreasonable. I say, set your goals high... :)