I’m half-Irish. My wife is almost 100%. My daughter is our good luck charm. My son looks like he just got off the boat from Ireland. St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday our family looks always looks forward to.
Here’s a look at how my celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day have changed since having kids:
THEN – Slept in till noon.
NOW – We were all up, and at my parent’s house in the AM. The kids were hanging out with their cousins, and everybody was ready for a nap by noon.
THEN – Meet up with some friends, and pre-game all afternoon.
NOW – Acting, like an adult, I prepared all of my tax paperwork for the meeting with my accountant on Sunday. I was doing this from 3PM-7PM. I did drink a Guinness, though, while in tax mode.
THEN – Dinner at the pub. Corned beef and hash, perhaps?
NOW – My daughter kept saying “hot dogs.” So…we boiled some hot dogs.
THEN – Pub Crawl from 10PM-whenever
NOW – My wife and went to bed at 10PM, thinking how blessed we are with our kiddos.
THEN – Myself or somebody I knew would be vomiting by about 2AM.
NOW – At 10:05PM, our daughter started screaming after she threw up all over her crib.
THEN – That drunk friend may have taken a shower or bath to sober up.
NOW – My wife gave our daughter a bath, while I threw all of the bed wear in the laundry. We had an hour of cleanup/attempting to calm our baby down.
THEN – We would have attempted to comfort our emotional friend who had too much to drink.
NOW – My wife and I attempted to comfort our screaming baby, while calling the doctor to see if we should be heading to urgent care.
THEN – I would have crashed wherever is comfortable… couch, floor, etc.
NOW – My wife and I took turns sleeping on the floor in our daughter’s room.
THEN – I would have waken up at 5AM, with a headache.
NOW – I woke up at 5AM, with my baby calling for me. Sure, I had a slight headache from no sleep, but as my daughter fell back asleep on my chest everything was perfect in the world.