Back to work tomorrow folks…
Yes six months have passed and I cannot believe it is time to return to the world of the working class. Man, let me tell you, the past six months have BLOWN by fast. Holy crap. It’s hard to believe that I have not worked in that long. So with that much time having passed, it’s time to look back on this past summer and see how it went.
Fact is, my six months off were pretty crappy. I would love to be able to say that it was a great six months off and I enjoyed every minute of it, but the truth is, it was not a very pleasant experience for me. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all bad, but mostly.
Fact is, I did get to spend the first six months of my daughter’s life with her. Problem was I very quickly learned the kind of issues new moms face with their kids. I had no idea about the sleepless nights and frustrations that mom’s go through when they have to deal with that day in and day out. Megan’s insistent crying became a real sore spot for me and I truly had to learn some major patience in order to be able to handle it right. Ironically now that I am going back to work she has gotten much better and has actually been a lot of fun to play with. Odd that it would start when I am going back to work.
It would have been perfectly fine had it not been for all of this cottage…. drama… that has plagued this house for the whole time I have been off. If I could go back to the start I would never have gotten involved. Recently it has put a major wedge between me and mom and I am currently not even on speaking terms with her. There has been so much “crap” to deal with regarding the cottage that it really just added to my stress in a way I never expected. Thankfully, once again ironic as well, now that I am going back to work, the cottage stuff is all over. I am hoping it truly is the end of it.
So what did I get out of my time off? Well, I learned to never mix money and family. I found out just how hard it is to raise a newborn and I have a huge amount of respect for all of you mom’s out there who have done it without help. Wow. I have no idea how women have the patience and I can even understand further how some people go off the edge. I don’t agree with it but I can see where the taking care of little ones could drive someone a little insane. I learned that going for a geocache every day for six months seemed like a good idea at the time but got old after about 4 months. I did however get my 180 consecutive days. It feels good to have accomplished that.
I guess I would say to any other dads out there that if you are thinking of taking leave from work to be with the newborn, be sure that you don’t have any other major stressers in your life because they simply amplify the irritability caused my the lack of sleep and excessive crying. I do think it’s worth it but you need to eliminate other stress factors to enjoy it the most. Plus, make sure you have some $$$ backup because you make less than half of your regular salary and trust me, it blows.
I also managed to get a few things done around the house. My office has remained somewhat stable and the basement is a hell of a lot cleaner than it was. Plus I made the cool door for the wood chute.
One of the big things on this time off was being able to take Tamara to Las Vegas. I wanted her to see Cirque du Soleil and she got to see the best show, with the best seats, in the best hotel in Vegas. I’ll be back for sure but next time we’ll be a bit more economical about it. I’ll be paying off this trip for a year I’m sure 🙂
Being my last day off, I asked for Tamara to give me some time in the house without the kids. I’m writing this with no one around and am enjoying my last few hours of solitude before I have to get up, go to work, and start the daily grind again. At least it will be more of a routine, and I’ll getmy regular paycheque back. Thank God. This EI stuff sucks.
