I made a comment to family that a photo of my son, our dog, and baby A was joyful for around two seconds — until the dog jumped off the couch and woke up the baby, who started to cry. A joyful two seconds is apt for how the last six weeks have been, with a lot of joy interrupted often with a lot of crying.
I think my favorite thing I wrote about baby A included an off-hand thought that I didn’t like the language of good and bad babies; they’re people, small but their own, and also dependent on us. Anyhow, this is a lead up to say that baby A happens to cry. Sometimes it’s a lot, sometimes not. Sometimes it’s easy to roll with, and other times it’s not. She’s baby A. Joy comes in two second intervals.
I forgot how involved the first few months with baby are. It’s non-stop, with the easy time being when our son is at school, when we manically clean and try to catch up on all the parts of life unrelated to kiddos. My six weeks of paid parental leave (which is a gift) ends tomorrow. I feel not ready to go back yet, wanting to spend two more joyful seconds with baby A (and her sweet mom, too).
