After a particularly rough night with the new born, Yoshi and I are sitting in the dining room eating breakfast. Vian is sleeping in the bedroom. Yoshi: Can you check on the baby? Me: Sure *Checked on him to make sure he’s still breathing* Me: He’s sleeping with the utmost satisfaction of someone who has stolen two people’s sleep. Yoshi: Haha. *tired and jittery laughter*

TL;DR: Last week of my leave ended with some epiphanies and personal growth. I still firmly believe I’d rather be a stay at home dad than a working dad. I’m glad to say that I bounced back from week 3 with great success. I finally broke through some mental barrier and felt a strange calm wash over me. I started controlling my emotions better. I still get angry when Sempi does something that I explicitly asked him not to do, but I don’t show that anger to him....

TL;DR: When life gets harder it’s because you’ve just leveled up. I certainly hope so because this week made the first week look like a walk in the park. Novelty of a new stay at home parent has worn off, reality has set in. I started the week with a lot of ambition. I thought I knew how to handle Sempi. So I voluntarily decided to level up my duties as a stay at home dad....

I now have a rhythm. Things seem to be getting easier. We’re one grandma down. We’re managing with just one grandma. :P I have a whole new appreciation for Portland parks and museums. You might remember that we spent an entire day (6 hours is an entire day in toddler time) at the Children’s museum last week. This week we spent an afternoon at OMSI. I took Yoshi’s e-bike and hitched the trailer....

tl;dr: It is hard and I’m struggling. But if I had a choice I’ll be a stay at home dad all the time. My company offers 4 weeks of fully paid paternity leave. I’m staying home to help out with the new baby. I thought I’d miss working and I did, for whole two days. I was checking my work email and clearing the accumulation, but after that I completely forgot about anything work related....