Fall finally came to Arkansas. The weather has cooled off, and this past week has been amazing. The mornings bring that cool fall crispy air, but the sun comes out and warms the day. As I sit at my desk I imagine myself playing golf, tennis or just walking around outside with a sweatshirt on. Unfortunately work has been extremely busy lately. Every day I feel like I am behind on everything. There are always 50 unread emails in my inbox and 5 voice messages on my phone. I have been staying late to catch up. By the time I get home I just want to turn on the tv and zone out. Somehow this last Wednesday afternoon a switch got flipped. Thursday and Friday were back to a manageable level of work. I was keeping up with my email, and I was even able to work ahead on a few things. I am not sure what happened, but this return to a "normal" level of work made the days quite tolerable; even enjoyable. I have no clue what it will be like when I go back on Monday, but I am hoping things don't get crazy again.
Today I took advantage of the no work and great weather and got out on my bike. It has been over a month since I rode last. A while back I got super-motivated to ride, but that fire quickly burned out. I haven't had any desire to pedal the miles away lately, but today I forced myself to get out there. I just did a quick 18 miles, but it pretty much killed me. I am sure I will be sore tomorrow, so I don't plan on making it two days in a row. I am going to try to get in as much riding as I can before it gets too cold. I don't know how committed I will be, but for now I will say I'll try my best.
There hasn't been much else going on. Amanda is still doing well. She has started to feel some discomfort, but I don't think it has been too bad. There have been a few nights where she's had trouble sleeping. I am sure that will only get worse. I feel bad for her. She has always been the type that can lay down and be asleep in 2 minutes. She can still fall asleep really fast, she just wakes up a lot more.
It is crazy to see her belly grow. It is starting to look like it would be uncomfortable. She is still working 4 days a week, and I am sure it is no fun being for her to be on her feet that long. She has been cutting her hours back some, but she still ends up working really long days. I have been able to feel the baby kick quite a bit. It is amazing. It is really starting to sink in that she will be here in a little more than 3 months. I can't wait to meet her!
People at work tell me that I am going to be a good dad. I am not sure what they are basing that on, but I want to believe them. I'm not sure I display any fatherly attributes on the job, but I do try to have a lot of patience and keep things in perspective. Sometimes I fail at that, but I am still working on it. When the baby gets here I am sure there will be some tough days and some sleepless nights. I won't lie, I am not looking forward to those parts, but the good stuff will far outweigh the bad. In just a few months I am sure my coworkers will find out just how impatient and testy I can be when I'm tired.
