Night-duty

After my wife conceived our 3rd child, my wife looked quite tired in the mornings. By evening after work, she was often irritable. I never really bothered to lend a hand as she was very efficient in ferrying our 3+ yr old girl (Clarissa) to Montessori and the 1+yr old girl (Christa) to a baby sitter just 200m from our home. Finally, it struck me that maybe I would benefit from assisting her by doing the night-duty.

What did the night-duty entail? "Elementary my dear husband", my wife said. "Just wake up when our little girl cries in the middle of the night. Find her milk bottle, make sure it's washed, make 7-8 ounces of milk with warm water, make sure it's well mixed, and stick it in her mouth and you will be fine".

It was tough initially. I had to make sure I was awake, search for the lights, stumble upon a few toys left by my children, clean the bottles, test the water temperature, wash-off the excess milk-powder spilled on the edges of the bottle, stumble back to the room and look for Christa's mouth without dripping the milk all over. It took me 1 week to get used to the whole routine.

The returns were:-
1. At least now my younger child knows that I am there for a purpose
2. She actually asks for me and cries less
3. I learn to wake up instinctively by the stimulus of her cry
4. I've lost some weight
5. I see more smiles and get more hugs from mummy and Christa

The possible complications:-
1. Clarissa started to feel left out and wants more attention
2. Mummy doesnt get enough attention and I have to do some of the day-duties too!
3. Christa actually comes around the bed to my side and tugs my hand to get me off the bed on other occassions.