Not even close.

Yesterday was Traci's first day back to work. Since her parents are in town, I took the easy route of tending to the need of my boys and pay the grandparents a visit. However, they will leave town in a week and I won't have much time (if any) for myself. So today I decided I will take on my two boys and ease my way back into the "Mr. Mom" mindset. Fortunately Joey enjoys sleeping in well past 7am, so that gives me enough time to get a few things done around the house in the morning. Since we all miss seeing mom around the house, we make sure to visit her during her morning break. It's only 10 minutes of a break, but at least it cuts the parent ratio to one-to-one.

At around 11:30 I had convinced myself that I would have a tear-free morning yet what was I thinking? I managed to place Joey to bed at 11 and Ben finally embraced the fact that he too was tired just half an hour later. Exciting don't you think? I could finally have breakfast! Just as I began reaching for the cereal, I learned I was not the only hungry individual in this household. I picked up Joey and began rocking him for 10 minutes until I figured one of us had eaten in the past two hours and that was not me. I knew Traci would arrive in the next 5 minutes so I placed the fountain of tears... I mean my son... in bed and said, "I'm hungry."

So, dad of the year award? Nope. Not even close. But I'm trying.