March 29, 2018 

Today is day 2 with spending time with my nephew. 

He gets to me later and later every time. I am not sure that my sister is really interested in going to work anymore. When I first started to care for him he was with me at 7:45 in the morning. I would wake up and set things up before he came. A month later she was waking me up. I figured I could sleep more since she was taking longer. Now I’m back to waiting around at 8 in morning wondering when my sister will drop of the baby. 

But no time is wasted laying around. It allows me the opportunity to get my day started. I know eventually I will take a nap so it helps to get up and start some writing. 

Around 9am my nephew finishes his bottle immediately going to sleep. As I watched him wonder off in to dream land, my fingers continued to work. An hour later I decide to take a short nap. I did not want to sleep to much but enough to get reenergized. When I woke up I knew my nephew would be following right behind me. It was time to wash his bottles.  

The TV turned on and bottle in hand. I make myself Quaker instant oatmeal. I pulled up a kitchen chair, took a seat, and read a book as I ate. 

Again, energized with no concern for a nap my nephew plays on. Around 2:30pm he gets really fussy. His bottle is due in about 45 minutes but his eyes are weighing on him. I have two options, risk giving him a bottle and wasting it or help him sleep. I went with sleep because that is what he wanted, he just did not want to do it alone. So for 30 minutes I held him, still awake. Then I laid him down to try rocking, did not work. New thought, water. I filled a bottle with 2 ounces of water hoping this would sooth him. Bingo! 5 minutes later out like a rock. 

While he slept I was able to was a load of clothes. There was definitely a shortage of cloth that I need to replace. Around 6 I pass my mother the baton, my nephew, so I could get ready to leave. Last week I bought a belt without trying it on because it was the smart thing to do. Nope. Today’s plan was to return or exchange it for another belt my size. That did not happen. 

My girlfriend and her mother cooked me dinner. It would be very rude of me not eat so the belt will be saved for another day. They actually made one of my favorite meals, fried tuna fish with white rice. I was so happy because I had not eaten since breakfast. I did not want to wake the cranky baby from his sleep just to make myself something to eat. 

After I ate the three of us – girlfriend, her mother, and I – went to the market to pick up fish. Tomorrow is Good Friday so they are preparing for a family feast.  Back at the house and in front of the TV. Step Brothers, Next Friday, and Naked and Afraid!