OK, so Peter’s now 2 months old today (checks timer, yep, still working) and I thought that it was about time to start writing this blog again on a regular basis.

Tonight was going to be the first *proper* entry but I’ve just been up and down the stairs for the 5th time tonight (a very agitated and sleepless baby tonight) and to be honest, I can’t be bothered to write much.

So just to say, over the coming weeks I’ll be playing catch up with the last 2 months as well as telling you all the hilarious things Little P does on a daily basis (”…and then he just stared at me for hours. How brilliant is that?” etc).

It’s nice to be back and I hope there is still the odd reader out there.

Cheers, Ian.

Just a quick post to assure you all that I haven’t forgotten about this blog and that as soon as I get time to breath I will be back posting again… by my guess that should be sometime in 2023.

See you then…

As some of you may have noticed, I’ve made a few changes to this here blog (sorry, I forgot to warn you: This post is blogging about blogging!).

I have finally got around to coding up a replacement for the “Fatherhood Expected in” countdown timer. Yes, I now have a cumbersome and clunky “Fatherhood Maintained For” count, er, up timer. I’m happy to share the code, if anyone wants it. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Well, on the off chance that you want it, leave me a comment and I will mail it to you.

I’ve also changed the graphic in the page header. For the benefit of newcomers or those with very bad memories, before it showed a man and a pregnant women. Now it shows me and Little P. Before the colour combination work really well to pick out the man and the woman. Now it has a radioactive man holding a radioactive baby.

Some more work is needed, I think.

I’ll get round to doing a complete blog redesign so it doesn’t look quite so amateurish, I promise. Just as soon as Little P doesn’t need his nappy changing, a feed, winding etc…

Ooh, will it never end? Another shamelessly self promoting blog entry. Sorry.

Sinead from Breast Feeding Mum has been kind enough to admit to enjoying my Labour Day post so much she wanted to republish it on her very interesting and informative breast feeding site.

I was very humbled to be asked and only too pleased to agree. Thanks, Sinead.

Sadly, today was my first day back at work after two weeks paternity leave. More scarily (for her at least) it was Mrs C’s first day looking after Little P and Bernard by herself.

I wasn’t looking forward to going back as I had just got used to staying at home and sharing the responsibility of parenthood (i.e. I was just getting into the Jeremy Kyle Show). But I was also not looking forward to going back as I have a dead-end job that I take no real pleasure from, ho-hum.

Mrs C wasn’t looking forward to me going back because she’s worried about coping with a baby and the Tasmanian Devil by herself. This probably wouldn’t have had been too bad a week ago, Little P was sleeping soundly all day long giving Mrs C time to spend with Bernard. However, she’s taking some antibiotics at the moment and, thanks to the magic of biology, these are upsetting Little P’s stomach (or so says the Health Visitor). He now whiles away the hours screaming Marilyn Manson’s greatest hits - the noisy little beggar.

We both made it through though, just…

My day went fine. I spent the first 3 hours telling the same story 10 or 15 times. Fortunately it’s a good story so I didn’t mind. I then spent the rest of the day feeling half as if I had never been away (as is always the case when you come back from a “holiday”) and half as if I were going to fall asleep at my desk. I couldn’t really decide if this were because I was tired from Little P’s night feed or that my job is just that dull.

When I returned home, Mrs C looked absolutely knackered. She has very kindly decided that she will do all the nappy changes as well as the feed this week so I can get a bit more sleep. But after just one day, it seems to be taking it’s toll. Little P hadn’t settled all day, so Bernard hadn’t really had any attention and was on the edge of a destructive rampage. I held Peter to try to sooth him and for a while it worked. But he refused to be tricked into silence by a bit of gentle rocking and soon got back to the screaming.

We decided a walk was required.

The baby sling came into play and sent Little P off in under a minute. It seems to be up there with the pram and a trip in the car seat as excellent ways to get a baby to sleep. The walk did the trick for Bernard too and let him burn off some energy.

Will tomorrow be any better? I’m not sure but Mrs C finishes her course of antibiotics tomorrow, so maybe the day after that will see an improvement in Little P and consequently in her day. As for me, my days are always the same when I’m at work, regardless of how many antibiotics I take.

Well, after all the waiting I can hardly believe it but Little P, Mrs C and myself have all made it through a complete week!

In many way’s it’s flown by and in some others it’s dragged like hell. The night he was born was so very long, despite being born at 9:42 I didn’t get home until 1:30 and was then too excited to sleep. His first night at home was also a pretty long one but we survived.

We are all settling in to a (sort of) routine; feeding, sleeping, nappy changing, feeding… etc. We’ve got used to it quite quickly. I heard again today someone say “The first 6 weeks are the worst”, well, either we’ve been very lucky so far or something changes dramatically at 6 weeks (sleeping through the night maybe?) but apart from that first night, it hasn’t been too bad (is that tempting fate a little too much?).

We have that new parent anxiety, of course. We phoned up the hospital to ask if Little P’s stump should be so smelly, and panicked when he slept for most of yesterday (”His arms and legs are just so limp!”) but we’re slowly getting used to his behaviour and the associated noises.

But… it has only been a week and I’m not counting my chickens, more keeping my fingers crossed that the following weeks will be the same.