HD’s Musings

Holy cow, where did the time go?  I can’t quite believe that Elliott has already hit the six month mark and that it has been two months since I’ve updated my page.  Talk about a slacker…So what has been going on with me?  Well, first and foremost I love being a Dad.  As mentioned ad naseaum on this site, Elliott is just a joy and brings all sorts of fun and excitement to our lives.  My time with her is primarily divided between the morning hours before I go to work and the evenings after work.  In the morning, Elle is a spitfire.  She wakes up babbling with a smile on her face and once we get that first bottle in her, she’s ready to go!  The jumperoo is a common stop for her in the morning, or we can just put her on the floor and she’ll squeal and talk with us while spinning and crawling around our living room.

At night, she’s starting to wind down and Kari is usually ready for a break.  Her night routine is pretty well established.  After Kari and I eat dinner, there is some play time with Dad and then she gets cereal (or more recently, vegetables).  Bath time follows, with a bit more play time and one last bottle before heading to bed around 8:00.  Bedtime can be hit or miss.  Some nights, she’ll go right down with just a bit of rocking and cuddling, other nights she’s, shall we say, more difficult.  Dad can handle it until it gets to about a seven - then we call in Kari and her magic Mom touch to put her to sleep.  Now, I’m capable of getting her to go to sleep on those more raucous nights - don’t want you to think I’m some helpless Dad - but for everyone’s sanity, Kari’s touch can soothe much quicker on that rare night that Elle is a challenge.

Her development rate is still staggering and I have fun watching her crack the code on whatever her newest challenge is.  I’m of course convinced that she’s a budding genius, but that just might be fatherly pride talking…

It has been fascinating to look back at pictures of her from those first few months and see how much she has changed and how much we’ve been through.  Kari is still looking for work, but is staying on top of the job search and I’m confident that someone is going to give her a chance soon.  She’s so good at what she does that whoever finally snatches her up is going to get a superstar.

Work for me has been hectic.  Our scope of services with MillerCoors has caused some changes on our team at GMR, some good and some bad.  Fortunately, the good has been on the NASCAR team.  We’re now handling all things NASCAR so that means I get to work on Coors Light and its official sponsorship with NASCAR, along with Miller Lite’s sponsorship of the #2 car.  In the process of our team changes, I’ve been promoted to Account Supervisor, managing the day-to-day activation for both brands and working closely with Penske, NASCAR and the MillerCoors brand teams.  It’s a nice recognition of the work I’ve done and refreshing to be working on multiple brands after spending 2+ years focused solely on Miller Lite.

I’ve got a few other blog posts in the hopper so it won’t be another two months before the next one…

As Elliott has been in our lives for almost eight weeks now, I’ve been lucky enough to modify my work schedule so my travel has been greatly reduced with her arrival.  My job generally requires me to travel 1-2 weekends a month and that’s a lot for a father of a newborn.  I’ve got co-workers who have been going in my place, but duty calls and I need to head to Charlotte this weekend.  I fly out tomorrow morning at 6am and return Monday morning.  4+ days away from my little girl.  It’s going to be even harder than I thought it would be when I used to think about having to travel in the general sense.  I know it isn’t earth-shattering and I know a lot of parents have to travel even more than I do, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

Elliott is at an age where she’s changing so rapidly.  It is amazing to think of how she changes from day-to-day and how far she’s come in the past eight weeks.  Just in the past few days, she is starting to follow objects and people when they move.  She’s starting to reach out and try to grab her sheep “friends” on her swing’s mobile.  Hell - she’s wearing size 1 diapers now!

Things move at such a rapid pace, I hate missing even a day.  I know she’s in great hands with Kari and Elle will still give me her special little smile and laugh when I play with her, but I know she’s going to be different and a little bigger when I come home Monday.

Part of me thinks that I’ll get used to having to travel and I’m sure childhood development specialists will probably tell me that she’s too young to notice my absence.  But I don’t want to get used to it.  I want to feel a little pain when I have to go away so my return is all the better.

And I want to believe that she will miss me.  She’ll wonder why she hasn’t held onto her Dad’s thumbs while he tells her about the upcoming day.  She’ll wonder why Dad isn’t holding her hand while he feeds her a bottle early in the morning.  She’ll wonder why she hasn’t gotten to take a nap on her Dad’s chest for a few days.  Don’t worry - I’ll explain it all to her and she’ll understand.  She’ll know how much her Daddy loves her and he’ll be back home soon to show it.