Calm before the storm?

Ok, I'm getting seriously behind in my blogging habits and I apologise. Lots been going on lately, mostly at work. However, I don't want to become an illustration of "Cats in the Cradle" so I need to get a better handle on work items so that I'm around more.

Over the summer... actually, right around the time Zach was born, I was succesful in a job competition. In the federal government each job (in theory) is competed for. Sometimes this is good, sometimes it is a royal pain. A job competition (stop me if you've heard it before) involves several steps of evaluation like a written exam, an interview, perhaps another kind of test, reference checks etc... it takes forever. In this case, it took exactly 12 months and 5 days from when the deadline for applications was. Anyway, long story short, I won one of the 5 positions. Coincidentally, I also got a new director at the same time... he started while I was off for a couple of weeks when Zach was born. He has a different approach and pace than I was accustomed to and also came from outside our department. So, getting used to him and a new level has taken some getting used to. Feels like I've always got tons of work to do, no staff to do it, and everything is due yesterday.

This has caused me to be later than previous at getting home... tired when I am there... all time that I could be doing the daddy-thing instead of just weekends (when I'm tired from work as well).

Our little buddy has been remarkably good lately... particularly at the sleeping thing. Most of the last week, with a couple of exceptions, he's slept from 8pm until at least 5am... once until 7am... and yes, we did go in to make sure he was still breathing. He's incredibly alert much of the time and holds his neck up better now... so much so that he's now making use of the Bumbo that was purchased for him. And yes, the feature that gets most commented on is the hair... it sticks straight up and he's got a lot of it. People ask if we've given him a haircut yet but, sadly, no. It's widely entertaining as it'll stick straight up, about 10 minutes after it's washed.

As I said, he's been really good lately, which now makes me a bit nervous... is this the calm before the storm? Are we about to face some horrible stretch of devil child? We've been lucky in that he's healthy, happy, plays with things... sits up in the aforementioned chair...

Now, if he could help daddy with the mountain of snow Ottawa just got hit with in the last few days, I might start reducing those groundings we gave him for waking us up frequently...