1st Time DaddyMy own experience of becoming a first time parent

Our little boy has just turned 6 months, and he spent his first night in his own room last night.

Until now, he has been sleeping in our bedroom, first in his Moses basket, then his crib and now his cot. Well, actually he has slept in our bed a lot of the time too! He has always been within a couple feet from us. We could lie in the silence and hear him breathing, hear him rustling around. But no more, now he has hit the big “6 month” (I say that ilk he has just turned 40!) he is now in his own room.

To be honest, he could have gone in his room much sooner. The room has been decorated (space theme) and ready for weeks, even months. He sleeps really good as well, so we could have put him through no problem, but we have been selfish and kept him in our room for a bit longer. He’s just so damn cute. If you are too having a baby soon and want some tips, read this Harry and megan, news, royals posts.

He was up once for a feed. My wife always gets up in the middle of the night to see to him. I feel bad about that and I try to help out at the weekend, but during the week I have work and I need to sleep. That sounds harsh, and if he is upset and crying a lot I do get up to help, but generally I stay in bed. The tradeoff is a lot of the time I leave for work while My wife has a long lie in, so I guess it evens itself out.

He did so well sleeping all night in his room. We have a baby monitor with a camera so we can see him as well as hear him. It is fantastic and I wouldn’t be without one of these now. It’s made the “big move” a lot easier, to be able to see him, see he is ok and also so we know when his eyes are open if he is lying still.

We have just returned from our first family holiday, and it’s been amazing.

Apart from the first two weeks paternity when our son was born 6 months ago, and the Christmas break, this was the first time I’ve spent a lot of quality time with our son. I do enjoy my work and we need the money now more than ever, but it does mean I miss out on a lot of time spent with the little guy. I do get the weekends and nights with him, but I guess I’m just being greedy by wanting more!

Anyway, our holiday wasn’t anywhere exotic, just along my wife’s brother who lives about 200 miles away from us. We have an estate car and needed every inch of space to get all his stuff packed away. His favourite toy just now is his Jumperoo so that had to come with us as well. He loves that thing, I highly recommend you get one if your baby likes to bounce!

The only dampner on the holiday was we all got ill. And at different times too, so during the whole 10 days there was always one of us that was ill. Our son was first hit, then me, then my wife. Still, it was great to get away from it all.

The best part for me was having day after day to spend with my son. I don’t take for granted how lucky I am to be able to do that, and love every moment of it.

It was certainly a different holiday to what I’m used to. Beer was replaced by milk bottles, going out to restaurants or going to the cinema was replaced with eating in and watching films on TV but it was fantastic. It was also good spending time with my wife’s brother who is the proudest Uncle imaginable. He spoilt the little guy rotten with new clothes and toys. As he lives so far away it’s good to have some quality time with him.

Our next trip is in June when we are back to the same place for a family wedding. My wife has already been looking for little suits to buy. Something tells me he is going to be the star of the show!

I would say 6 months is a great time to go on a family holiday. I wouldn’t like to fly any great distance, but if you can drive somewhere it’s the perfect time as he is taking notice of everything, can sit and play with his toys and amuse himself.

Tell me about your first family holiday below…

Today we visited the dentist for the first time. It felt a bit strange going there as our son has no teeth yet, but they are keen to see new babies around 6 months old so we went along.

Before we could be seen, we had to register our son. This involved filling out a form, which I assume is a standard New Patient form they hand out to anyone regardless of age. I had to laugh when it asked if he has ever served in the Army. Emm, no.

It’s actually quite good timing for us going to the dentist, as we think his first tooth isn’t far away. He has been showing signs of teething for a few months now, since before Christmas, but last night it seemed to kick up a gear. He was up a couple of times in the night with the pain and has been restless all morning. I even thought I felt a tooth but after the dentist checked it was just the little bit of gum in the top middle of his gums (there’s probably a medical name for it, but I don’t know it).

The dentist appointment was really just a chance for us to meet the dentist, who gave us some advice about brushing, what food and drink is ok, what to avoid, etc. Basically all the stuff you learnt as a kid. One part that I hadn’t heard before was that teeth can defend itself against 3-4 sugar attacks a day. Any more than that is when the real problems start.

Children’s teeth can handle 3 sugar “attacks” a day, whereas adults can handle 4. What this means is if you eat/drink all your sugary things in no more than 3/4 sittings per day it isn’t as bad for you as if you eat some sugary stuff regularly throughout the day. For example if you have a bag of sweets, it’s better for your teeth if you eat the whole bag in one go than to graze and eat them gradually throughout the day. Of course, the best option for your teeth would be to avoid sugary treats, and you still of course need to brush and floss, but this is something I’ve never heard of before so I thought I would share it.

So, back to baby teeth. The general advise was to wait until we see the tooth appear then start brushing it right away. We see the dentist again at 12 months, so hopefully he will have a mouth full of teeth by then!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you have a great festive, filled with friends, family and good times!

I love my job. I’m lucky enough to get paid for a job I enjoy, and I don’t take for granted the fact that I do not dread Monday mornings. That said, I’m gutted to have to go back to work today.

First day back from paternity leave has been tough. This morning I honestly had a lump in my throat as I left my wife and 2 week old son in bed while I went to work. But, I suppose someone has to pay for the nappies, clothes, toys and everything else that a baby needs.

After being in hospital for 4 days, we have returned home today.

I’m absolutely delighted to announce the birth of my baby boy!

The due date is here, but the baby hasn’t arrived yet.

Tonight was the first of our antenatal classes. There are 4 weekly classes, followed by another 4 weeks of Hypnobirthing classes.

Just a quick update to say I felt baby kick for the first time this morning!