The Beactionary

The last half of 2017 wasn’t the best for the blog. I’m hoping 2018 is a bit more productive, and there has been so much to write about that has already been and gone!

I thought I’d use this first post to catch some important things before they slip away…

A bed of her own

Happy new year everyone!  You probably missed my last post (why not subscribe…ahem) on New Year’s Eve, as you were probably out having a good time being sociable. That, or you are also new parents, and New Year’s Eve passed you by in an alternative stupor – we pretty much forgot to actually say it to each other (thanks Lucy for the reminder!). There’s even the chance you decided it wasn’t worth all the fuss and went to bed early and missed it too. It was a list reflecting on a range of firsts for us as a family. I left one of those out somewhat deliberately in order to blog about it later.

Christmas day night was the last night Beatrice slept in the same room as us (for now- I’m not naive enough to think that she won’t be toddling in when she gets older!). She has been everpresent in her Moses basket since that Friday in July.

Before Beatrice was born, we were pondering which bits of parenting came down to common sense. This was one of them- when should she go to her cotbed? When she’s too big for the Moses basket (also see when should we swap out the carrycot in the travel system…?). As ever, I’m sure there are a million and one different theories for timing the big move, and all of them would be fine. For us, we loved having her there next to our bed. It was even one of the first things I blogged about. Granted, we’ve been incredibly lucky – she enjoys her sleep, and with both of us having time off during the summer, her sporadic sleeping hours at the start were definitely bearable. That said, I’ve almost certainly jinxed her (and our) sleep patterns with making this public knowledge…

What are the pros and cons of her new digs then?

Pros

1. I can read a book in bed at night – I’ve missed this a lot!
2. Getting up to go the loo in the night no longer requires the skills of a trained ninja
3. The nursery I decorated is being put to good use!
4. I can get changed with the light on in the mornings, meaning I look like a normal, everyday person and get things on the right way round. I think I spent every night in November putting my t-shirt on either inside out or back-to-front before getting into bed.
5. The value of our baby monitor increases every day…
6. Travelling gets potentially easier. The basket and stand take up a lot of room!

Cons (this is probably where it starts to sound soppy. I’m not apologising.)

1. The only noises we’ll probably hear from her in the night aren’t going to be the little whimpers and sighs we used to. It sounds ridiculous to be nostalgic about something that was only a couple of months ago, but we are! We’re fairly heavy sleepers, so we won’t hear those on the microphone.
2. I can’t sneak in so easily to give her a quick kiss goodbye before setting off to work. I daren’t even poke my head round the door for fear of waking her up. Her new room doesn’t have the familiar noises that our room would have had, so I’m worried that any additional noise might change things – Lucy probably goes in and sorts stuff every morning with her fast asleep in there though…
3. It means she’s growing up! The last couple of weeks have been a real chance to take stock of our memories so far as parents. There have been loads, and I don’t know how people coped without hordes of digital photos to help them in their efforts.

So, there you have it. Our little girl, who is completly unfazed by the whole thing, no longer shares a room with us. It makes me a little sad, but also proud that she feels comfortable and safe enough to sleep soundly in her own room.

 

 

2016 – Aka Day 169…

Happy new year everyone!

If I’ve done the maths right, today marks day 169 of our life as a trio. If I haven’t, then I’ll hang my head in shame!

What a journey so far, and it’s amazing to think that this time last year, we were starting to tell people that Beatrice was on the way. The last twelve months have been spent preparing and enjoying the change to our lives that she has brought to us.

This includes some of the following:

• the joy of seeing Beatrice’s ultrasound
• reading the baby books
• researching all the baby products
• buying all the baby products
• painting the nursery
• testing out the monitor on Leo
• antenatal classes
• my first cuddle
• my first nappy change
• our first night at home
• family visits
• my second, third and umpteenth nappies
• our first nights away
• starting a blog
• being an incredibly proud dad
• her first chuckle
• her first tears
• our first Christmas

I think that’s a great list, and cannot wait for all the firsts that 2017 will bring.

Thanks to all for following, and I’ll see you all in 2017 with news of Bea’s adventures into weaning, more ‘Dad Dancing’, some ‘Bedtime Reading’ and who knows what else?