Two Worlds

It was an upstairs, downstairs kind of day.

Today was the second day of the first floor hardwood floor installation project. Yesterday, we moved furniture, purchased supplies, and removed shoemold from all the baseboards. Today we fixed a lot of squeaks in the old floor-cum-subfloor and did a lot of planning and layout.

That was the downstairs portion of my day.

The upstairs portion of my day was time spent with the Monkey. He misses his mama, and when I'm working downstairs on the floor, he misses his daddy too. The Monkey Mama and I have worked hard to provide him with a comfortable, reassuring, safe, healthy, and loving environment. He's got it pretty good, and disruptions are unnerving.

But here is the thing: Oma (my mom) was fantastic. She got him down for naps. She fed him solids. She fed him bottles. She engaged with him for play. There was even a diaper or two.

Of course, I was upstairs some of the time, and I gave him some of the feedings. I spent time with the Monkey when he was crying, or for play breaks, or just to see him smile at me. I was working pretty hard at keeping things going, checking in, and all that.

And then downstairs, my dad was working away. Neither of us put in a full 8 hours on the job, but there was lots of heavy lifting and kneepad-intensive positions. (You ever see guys on road crews who are just standing around? If you are working with your back, you just don't last if you don't get your rest.)

Doing both jobs, even with help, has plum wore me out. And it looks like Texas just won a tight Rose Bowl. So I'm going to bed.