After Bedtime
We are settling into the routine of the new year. My wife's parents were here for Christmas and stayed until the middle of January, which kept things a little unsettled as we spent a lot of our free time visiting with them, but now that they have left we are in a new rhythm. My billable hours requirement for bonus eligibility resets every year on January 1, and while I was ahead of schedule in December and comfortably taking some time off, I'm more focused now on getting in at least 8 hours a day of billable time (or more if I can, to bank for later). My wife is working full time too, and our son takes all of our attention when we aren't working, until we put him to bed for the night at around 8pm. I am still reluctant to leave him alone much, so I spend an hour or two after his bedtime sitting with him and passing the time on my computer, and that's about the only time I have for myself right now. He wakes up by around 7am and I'm on baby duty between then and when our nanny arrives and work begins; she is the only reason this whole arrangement works.
Aside from all of that, the main thing keeping me busy is house projects. There is a long "to do" list that never seems to get shorter. The latest is that a wind storm blew over part of the perimeter fence around our back yard, so I'm arranging for fencing companies to give us estimates on replacing that section and some other posts that have rotted. I'm also trying to find a landscape architect to help remodel our back yard more generally. There is currently an expansive wooden deck and a pond with some nice water plants and a few goldfish (we had an egret here eating them the other day!), but the deck is old and falling apart, and the pond leaks to the point that the water company inquired about it, and we are thinking that it would be worthwhile, if we stay in this house long enough, to invest a bit in making our back yard more upscale and enticing. We will see how much it would cost, but we might even put in a small pool where the pond currently is.
The other thing that's new in my life is that I've been enjoying sampling some non-alcoholic beers. I didn't drink much before, at least in my adult life, but I stopped entirely at my wife's request during her pregnancy, for camaraderie. She is still not drinking while she is nursing, but we now occasionally share a kombucha, and I was getting ads on Facebook for non-alcoholic spirits and beers, so I decided to try some. There are actually a number of non-alcoholic IPAs available online from Brewdog that I like quite a bit, and I've read about a few other companies offering non-alcoholic craft beer online that I might try. It's nice to be able to enjoy the flavor without the stupefying effects or lingering malaise that drinking alcohol causes. They technically have trace alcohol, but less than 0.5%, according to the label. It might be just enough to have a calming effect on me, given that I have very low alcohol tolerance these days, but it's not enough to impair, even if I decide to have two in a sitting. I will be ordering more.