Father's Day and other catch-up rambling

Turns out having a sick baby is way more time consuming than having a baby who is not sick.

Yep, Cayden has the second cold of his short little life, and this one is much tougher on all of us than his first sniffles were.

Father's Day had its ups and downs, largely because of the sick baby in our house. Cayden was so uncomfortable Saturday night he just. couldn't. sleep. alone. Daddy seemed to be the only one who could calm the bugger and lull him into dreamland, so he spent much of the night like this.

Suffices to say no one got a good night's rest, and we all kind of dragged through our first Father's Day as a family.

But Brian recognized the sweet irony of the situation: he was the only one who could comfort his sick son on the eve of the day set aside for celebrating fathers. And it was wonderful to watch him hold, coddle, stroke and whisper to his needy little boy. This boy is certainly lucky to have this daddy. And this Mama is unbelievably grateful for her partner in live, love and family.

As I wrote in Brian's Father's Day card from me, I knew when I fell in love with him nearly 15 years ago that he would be a great dad. And I love that he has proven me right every day for the past eleven months, continuing to exceed all my hopes and dreams for who he would be as a daddy.

Our Daddy was thrilled to receive two cards on Father's Day, plus a WonderPets storybook to read with Chicken (Daddy is a real fan of the show) and a 20" x 30" print of the picture he's wanted ever since he saw it in on my camera in Canada, framed in his office. This photo balances the office perfectly, as it faces the fall foliage pictures we took at the cottage a few years ago, which are mounted on the opposite wall.

And then we hosted a wonderful dinner with both our dads and siblings. So it was a good day, despite the exhaustion and tuned-up nerves.

After two nights spent downstairs on the floor, we've all returned to the upstairs bedrooms, and night-time sleep and naps have improved markedly over the last day or two. But the sniffles have not.

And I'm talking gross sniffles. Sniffles that started out innocuously as clear, watery dribbles above Cayden's top lip have now turned into an impressively persistent supply of gelatinous snot and coagulated greenish-yellow boogers. And he hates both the saline solution that disolves all that crap and the booger-sucker that would relieve some of his discomfort, if only he would allow me to use them in tandem.

Thankfully, Daddy was still tonight when I literally wrestled Cayden to the ground, pinning his arms at his sides with my knees and restraining his head from thrashing about with one arm while I saline sprayed, then booger sucked his nostrils with the other hand at bedtime. It wasn't a pretty sight.

Oh, but his baby coughs are pitifully cute.

So what else?

Cayden has perfected his "lemme outta jail" look. I know I'm biased, but really: can you get much cuter than this?

And he finally figured out how to open a cabinet or two. Although he's still working on opening cabinets and doors without conking himself in the head or face.

And we're preparing for a Daddy-less weekend, as Brian packs for a much-deserved long-weekend with college friends. Last Sunday he was exhausted after staying up all night with the baby, and this Sunday he'll be exhausted after staying up all night with the boys. But both kinds of exhaustion are worth it, in completely different ways.