Nearly two and a half years later and I am writing this blog again. Only this time I am writing it from a completely different perspective.
Our first baby, Sorcha, arrived in March 2011. She is a perfectly healthy little girl and was a great baby. She is now very much a toddler with her own mind, ideas and opinions. She lets us know what she wants, what she wants to wear, what she wants to eat and for all of the above what she does not want.
She is the best thing that ever happened to our lives. The joy she brings us is unparalleled and the love unconditional.
There are moments when I don’t feel this way of course. When we are both exhausted after being woken during the night and then again very early in the morning. When we have been working hard all day, when no one has had a nap and we are all just a bit fractious and Sorcha just says no to nearly everything. Luckily we know the things she will say yes to and luckily for her she has the cheekiest smile I have ever seen on anyone, which gets her out of endless amounts of trouble.
In my last blog post I mentioned that lack of sleep was my biggest fear. My fear has proven to be right. Our daughter has a nap most days, even now, but we parents are not that smart and it catches up on you. I think we were both fine for the first three months as we had reserves from pre-baby days. It is the long term effects and having used up all your sleep reserves that get to you and make some days feel gritty. It can even cause arguments over who is getting up early to look after your baby early in the morning. Then there are the days that you wake up first and are looking forward to them waking up so you can see the sheer joy and happiness in their eyes simply from you being there and giving them a good morning snuggle.
Then of course, I think possibly because of the lack of sleep and the fact that your not thinking straight, you decide to try for another baby. You discuss it and think it will be a good idea for baby number one to have a playmate and grow up with a sibling. From my perspective this has meant more work for me as I now have to look after our daughter those times that my wife is just too exhausted from growing baby number two. Let me be clear, I do not mind doing this at all. My wife works very hard, both in the office and at home. We both do. It just means that your team mate that you were tagging to tackle your Durcell bunny toddler is now flagging a bit and you have to pick up the slack. If you have a spare five minutes you might even get a chance to make your darling wife a cup of tea or some other treat like that. My wife takes the time to do little treats for me as well. It’s how you know your on the same team. The toddler has not divided and conquered you, yet.