The Wife

The alarm went off, I sat on the edge of the bed and went to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror, took a deep breath and said to myself: you can do this! And so began the Summer of Armando and ended the Spring of Alegna.

Going back to work was different this time around. With Lucas I was able to stay home for 8 months. Back then I was a Per-Diem interpreter and our lives were different. Now, I have a full time position and was only able to take 12 weeks off.

I was ready to leave and went to Lucas’s room and kissed him. It is hard to put him to bed, I think he suffers from constant fear of missing out (FOMO), however, once he falls asleep nothing wakes him up so mom’s kisses probably become part of his sweet dreams. Matias, on the other hand, has a lighter sleep and I guess the scent of mom close to him tells him that it is time to wake. I tried to soothe him back to sleep, but I was not able and Armando had to wake up.

I must confess that I enjoyed going back to work, but it was hard nonetheless. I had more than 1000 emails to go through, a ceiling tile had fallen on my desk while I was gone and people were excited to see pictures of Matias. I think I called and texted Armando too many times. Is he up yet? Did he drink his bottle? How was Lucas’s morning routine? Did you put Matias in his crib for his nap? These were some of the questions running through my mind and that I asked every single time I called and texted.

In the morning I was able to talk to Lucas on the phone on his way to daycare. In perfect Spanish he asked me: Mamá why weren’t you at home this morning? I said sweetie because I had to go back to work and after a short pause he asked but why? Well my love, mommy has a job.

Trying to be the perfect mom and having a successful career are hard things to accomplish. With certain pride in my voice I informed people that my husband was staying home for 8 weeks. Of course a part of me wants him to fail so I can gloat that I am perfect.

However, Armando did a great job during his first week (more like 3 days but who is keeping tabs?). I came home to an empty dishwasher, clean bottles and rice.

So Far I give him a B+

About the Poll

I also voted for Equus. I did not enjoy the thought of having to watch a movie about a horse serial killer. However, at night I ended up watching the end of it. The movie was a bit weird and after reading the Wikipedia article I realized the title rang a bell because Daniel Radcliffe was in the play in London.