The Adventure Continues...

In the late nineties I took a couple of years off from driving trucks, and got a job working as a "Utility Man" in a manufacturing plant making fifty-five gallon oil drums.

I was one of about three people in the whole plant who was qualified to run every piece of equipment there, so if the Welder Operator didn't show up for work, I ran the Welder that day. If the Paint Booth Operator laid out, I ran the Paint Booth.

If everyone showed up, I worked on the loading dock loading trucks.

There was a rollerstrip that came off of the end of the assembly line conveyor belt, and I and one other man would get into the trailer and pick the drums up by hand, and stack them in the trailer, three high, and four across.

A 53' van trailer holds 318 fifty-five gallon drums, and we would load four or five trailers per day.

And at the end of a whole week of that, I was not as tired as I have been these last few days.

We brought the Baby home on Friday Afternoon, and my Mom and Dad, my Wife's Dad, My Wife's Aunt Betty, and my Brother-in-law were all waiting for us when we got here.

They cooked and cleaned, they brought us stuff, they changed diapers, rocked, burped, dressed and undressed the Baby, and offered advice, tricks and tips, and congratulations. (Which was great!)

And then they went home.

And Caleb woke up.

And nobody has slept since... Not here, anyway.

No, I'm exagerating... We sleep in fifteen or twenty minute stretches, two or three times in a given twenty-four hour period, so it isn't like we aren't getting ANY sleep...

And he is a pretty easy baby. If he's crying, check his diaper... No, scratch that. Don't waste time checking it, just go change it. It's dirty.

If he's still crying, make sure he's fed and burped, then swaddle him, give him a pacifier and rock him.

Piece of cake.

But the more tired I get, the more I begin to second guess that formula... (Could he be too hot/cold?... Is it too noisy/quiet/bright/dark in here?... Does he want his Mama/Grandma/Uncle/Aunt/Nurse?... Does he need Tylenol/Benadryl/Vaseline/Desitin Cream/Morphine/Heroin?)

But I'm overthinking it.

Diaper, fed, burp, swaddle, pacifier, rock, sleep.

Every time.

If only his Mama were so easy to take care of...