Our 14 year old son Andrew is a 5'8" 170 lb high school hockey goalie.......but way before that, he was a 21 inch , 7.5 lb baby boy... the first in our family. A few weeks before he was born, my wife Shannon and I went to a parenting class at George Washington University Hospital, given by a nurse who gave us parents-to-be the straight scoop.....on sleep. She said "you sleep when the baby sleeps" I wish I knew how valuable that advice was because when we brought Andrew home, life seemed to get in the way, at least for me.

I had just started anchoring a morning news program in Washington, DC and would get home around 1-pm. Shannon had returned to work, so it was just me and Andrew home in the afternoons. We had the best time together, but whenever Andrew dropped off for a nap, I couldn't resist trying to get one chore done, before sleeping myself. What always happened though was the chore took more time than I counted on... I slept less than I wanted to...so when Andrew woke up, I was already tired. I found myself less engaged than I wanted to be because I was fatigued. This went on for a few weeks until I had a moment of discovery. What was I running myself into the ground to do? fix a light in the basement?, pay a bill? clean the kitchen? Was any of that worth not being there 100% for our new son... the answer was obvious, and after that I slept when Andrew slept and happily sat with him as he rolled around on his playmat, a wonderful time I realized wasn't going to last forever. and Mr Type-A was glad to go to PLAN b