“I can’t believe this!”

Jim looked up at the exasperated shout Pam had let out from the couch. He cocked an eyebrow at her while gently bouncing Cece in his arms.

“What’s up?”

Angrily Pam slammed the lid of her laptop closed and buried her head in her hands. “The daycare emailed. Turns out there was a mistake in the paperwork. Cece’s spot won’t open up for another two weeks!”

“Please tell me you’re joking!” Jim started walking towards where Pam was sitting.

“Nope.” She thrust a hand the computer. “Look for yourself. I mean what the hell? The night before we’re supposed to be able to get her in is when they spring this on us?”

“Hey, I believe you,” Jim said as he sat down next to her.

“What are we going to do?” Pam looked up, anger blazing in her eyes. “You’re out of FMLA leave. Since only one of us has been working, we don’t have the money to hire a nanny even if we could find one this late in the game.”

“Here, take the Kiddo.” Jim handed Cece over to Pam and opened the computer. He read the email from the daycare and felt his eyebrows furrow just as deeply as Pam’s had. “Yeah, a real dick move there.”

“This sucks,” Pam pouted.

“No argument here,” Jim agreed. He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees while cradling his chin in his hands.

Eeyore hopped over and stood up on his hind legs to sniff the air at their feet. Taking a deep breath, Jim leaned down and scratched the rabbit between his ears. Eeyore dropped back to all fours and started lightly grinding his teeth and made a purring type sound. The bunny closed his eyes in contentment as Jim slid off the couch to start stroking Eeyore’s soft fur.

“How many weeks of maternity leave have you actually used?” Jim asked

Pam blew her lips as she considered Jim’s question. “Maybe seven,” she replied. “After your accident we needed one of us getting back to work.”

“Right,” He twisted around and grabbed the computer from off the couch. He quickly pulled up the Saber corporate website and logged into his HR account. He started navigating through pages of execuspeak until he found what he was looking for. The company sick time and personal leave policies.

“Hey hon, take a look at this.” Jim highlighted a portion of the page he was looking at and held the laptop up for Pam to read.

Shifting Cece in her arms, Pam looked at the webpage skeptically. The more she read, the more the frustration drained from her face. “You think that will work?”

“Only one way to find out.” Jim was already pulling out his phone and punching in Toby’s number.

A half hour later both Jim and Pam were feeling decidedly more relaxed. “Thanks again for getting Pam the rest of her maternity leave. Especially for doing all of this on a Sunday evening,” Jim said towards his phone that he’d put on speaker so Pam could also hear.

“It’s my job,” Toby replied. “Besides it’ll probably get under Gabe’s skin a little, but I don’t mind so much.”

“We really appreciate this Toby,” Pam chimed in.

“Yeah, no problem. Take care and we’ll see you when you get back for real this time.”

Jim ended the call and leaned back against the couch. “I was scared there for a second. With the rumors of how much of a work-a-holic Jo can be I thought there was a good chance he’d say no.”

“Me too,” Pam admitted. “It’ll be nice to have the rest of my maternity leave though.”

“Yeah, still seems like twelve weeks is too short a time for a new mother though.”

Pam was about to reply when Cece started to fuss. “Hey, hey, shhhh,” Pam started to soothe Cece.

Jim checked his watch. “Time for her last feeding of the evening?”

“Yeah,” Pam said as she patted at her breasts. “Good thing too. I’m feeling full.”

“I’ll get your pillow.” Jim stood up and walked across the room to retrieve the wrap around pillow Pam used to help support Cece while she fed.

“Thanks honey,” Pam smiled at her husband as she got her daughter settled in front of her.

“No problem.” Jim smiled back and started walking towards the kitchen. “I’ll get your pump set up too for when she’s done eating.”

“You are just simply the best.” Pam’s smile stayed on her face as Jim assembled the parts for her breast pump and set them down on the couch next to her.

“You deserve it,” Jim said lovingly and leaned down to brush some hair off her face before sweetly kissing his wife.

He let out a relieved sigh as he sat down next to Pam. Eeyore had hopped into the center of the room. The rabbit looked around with his nose twitching before flopping to the side in a show of bunny contentment. A grin formed on Jim’s face as he pulled the computer over once more and started to type.

Journals of a Stay-at-home-Dad. Day 13. This will be my last Journal entry as Stay-at-home-Dad. Tomorrow marks an important occasion for the expedition. One I've been looking forward to and at the same time a bit hesitant about. The reason for that is that tomorrow I transition to being Working Dad. The last two weeks have been two of the best weeks of my life. Spending time with Small Human and watching her play and smile all day has been a true joy. All expedition goals have been met. Small Human and Small Rabbit continue to thrive. The domicile has not burned down. The current expedition may be drawing to a close, but the adventure with Working Wife, Small Human, and Small Rabbit will continue.

It was the work of a moment to publish the post on his Wall. Jim set the computer aside once more. He draped an arm over Pam’s shoulders. The grin on his face stayed in place as he sat quietly with his family.