Like Father Like...

Long weekend ahead beckons. It's been seven weeks but I'm finally getting back onto a golf course on Bank Holiday Monday. Both of them are off to the oestopaths on Saturday for further alignment treatments.

Anyway jumping backwards, heres a couple of the questions we were asked:

Q: 3 or 4 wheeler?
A: Both, buy a new one you'll use most of the time round shops (4 wheels), buy second hand 3 wheeler for off roading from NCT sale

Q: Sex?
A: No energy yet (sad I know)

Q: What is the one thing you could not do without?
A: No one thing but ocean music for getting him to sleep is high up there, as are muslim towels, baby wipes and plenty of patience

Q: How were Baby Blues?
A: Only had one day of tears for her, not as bad as expected but yes she did cry for no reason at all

Q: Can you do anything during the day, such as write a letter?
A: Only if the two of you are there and one takes the baby or if you get a day sleeper, otherwise you'll spend the time clearing up and preparing whilst he's asleep.

Q: Would you do it again
A: Absolutely

We were invited to be guest speakers at the latest NCT class by our old teacher. I remember us meeting a young couple with their new baby six weeks before we were due. They looked so cool, calm and collected that we scarcly believed it. So thats the image we went for.

Was a great opportunity to scare the living daylights out of everyone but when you arrive and all these expectant faces and bumps stare out at you, all those thoughts vanish.

He was on good form for 30mins and as we spoke about crying, whinging, nappies, breastfeeding, gadgets etc everyone assumed we had an angel baby. Then he decided to fill his nappy.

Them:
'Please show us how you change a nappy'
Me:
'Your kidding, right'
Teacher:
'If you don't mind its the one thing they have all asked to see'
Me:
'You're sure you're sure?'
Them:
'Yes'

So I had to demonstrate a nappy change on a screaming baby. Now theres something I never thought I'd be doing, ever. Hell I almost felt professional as I raised him chicken leg style and cleaned him up, all done in under two minutes, practise makes perfect.

We tried to answer all their questions but who knows if we did a good enough job, made a mental not of all of them and will put them up in tomorrows post with our answers.

Amazingly no-one asked about the labour and birth, I'm sure our teacher must have told them not to, she knew too well that our story would have had them running for cover.

The dummy is working a charm. He'll suck away when he's on edge and then fall asleep. I cant believe it took us so long to take the gamble now. The latching on is still working, she even thinks his sucking is stronger now, so maybe its helping rather than hindering.

We are into our sixth week now. Apparently there can be major shifts in behavioural patterns after six weeks. Maybe it's started already, he's sleeping more during the day and guzzling way above his normal quota of breast milk and formula. He's also started to make some lovely baby type noises too, the kind everyone goes 'aaaw' when they hear them.

Tonight we are taking him back to meet the next NCT class, to tell them what its like for first six weeks of baby's life. Preparing them for what they might expect. I think all I can say is expect anything and everything and then just go with it.

Dummy. She went to a dentist on Friday, £400 almost. Incredibly expensive, unbelievable really, all for a bridge. Now here's the rub. When your pregnant and for a year afterwards the government will subsidise your dental fees but only if you can find an NHS dentist. Could we find one, could we heck. They dont exist, they just seem to have upped and vanished, gone to Mexico probably.

Now she had a chat with the dentist about our little man needing a comforter and us trying to train him to suck his thumb. NO! Don't do it, she yelled. Get a dummy as it's better for their teeth coming through as thumbs and fingers can cause all sorts of havoc to teeth. I suppose I should of known that needing braces as I did when I was a kid.

The reason we hadn't bought one yet was breastfeeding, as we were lead to believe it would affect his latching on. Well we bit the dummy and bought one on Saturday and what a difference already, he slept like a baby. Only time will tell for the latching on...

Well it's finally arrived. Walking in the door to be greeted by a little mini version of the Michelin man. He had his cotton nappies on.

She has always intended to use the terry syle nappies over the disposable as she thought he'd be more comfortable in them and they are better for the environment. Up till now, we've considered it too much to attempt this change, but today was the day.

I'm trying not to get hung up on the potential mess and I realise that before the days of disposables everyone had nappies like these. I know why disposables are used, they are just so easy. I've now got to learn a little origami to put these new ones on. But she's invested a little under £200 in a full set, that theoretically should save us way above that amount in the cost of disposables over his nappy filling years.

So into the world of soft cotton, flushable liners and recycling we head.

Couple of days behind. He's growing out of control. Weighed in at 11lb 9oz yesterday. It's getting so he can only just fit in our family crib. He's got a few inches either way to go yet but it's never going to last the six months we initially expected.

She doesn't want him to go in the other room yet so we'll just have to see how long he lasts before his legs are hanging out the sides. He takes after his Dad by the way, I've never managed to fit in a bed yet.

Managed a day in town on Tuesday, went to an expo, caught up with some friends and sat in the sunshine into the early evening. I miss London's atmosphere but not it's grime that again found its way under my fingernails, it cant be healthy living there.

Went on first real family outing over the weekend, nothing overly adventurous just spent the day shopping, browsing and wandering the sunny streets of Guildford.

Going out is more akin to an expedition now. Gone are the days when you just checked back pocket for wallet and car keys. Now we have bags galore. A bag for his spare clothes, a bag for his milk (expressed) and formula with all the changing needs taken care of in a handy hidden compartment. Then there's the pram (sorry, child travel system) and finally the car seat.

It's unbelievable how something so small commands so much. I need a feng shui expert to look at my car loading technique just so I can see out the back window.

And how much of it do we use, hardly anything at all. Just in case, the new maxim of the new parent.

Got home to find the grass had been cut and a new clothes line put in and a hotly contested bill had been re-adjusted. All thanks to my father-in-law. Having retired parents and in-laws can make all the difference.

Come Sunday I'll return the favour with a beer and barbecue after we build his new water garden. It's a simple life at the moment but sometimes the best things in life are the simplest.

Well the little fella is working through the family. It's getting to be a running joke that he saves up his worst possible nappies for the times when his grandparents, aunts and uncles are over to see him.

They sit drinking tea, dunking biscuits generally cooing over him, when he starts to cry, they pick him up and walk him round and still he cries.

'I've just fed him' she says innocently

A slight pause and they reply 'Maybe it's a nappy, I'll go and check it for you'.

And so it begins. The initial noises as they tickle his belly, tweak his nose and generally ooh and ahh over him and then the rip of velcro followed by silence.

'Jesus' their voice echoes downstairs.

'You ok?' we innocently ask.

'Oh yes, I'm fine, but...Jesus'.

When they return, they slump in the chair and pass him across. Him all smiles, them ashen. His collection ever grows as the war stories pass across the generations. Who'd have thought they would find so much joy in discussing who's had his worst nappy to date.

Strange night. Was woken up as usual by the low wimpering noise around 3am only to focus my bleary eyes and realise it was her making the noise not him. It's been sometime since she last had the contractions of the uterus going back to normal but it came again last night with avengance.

It's very disconcerting to see them both upset, even if by popping a bottle in ones mouth is the easy cure, though I suppose popping a pill from another bottle for her is just as easy.

I think he realised it was me with him in the early hours so he decided to stay awake with me. I'm lucky he's such a good listener.

Everything has to be done in double time. I feel like a sketch from Benny Hill, legs rushing round faster and faster, yet still trying not to creak that bloody loose floorboard.

Finally had an hour to print out some photos of him for friends and family, been waiting since he was born. This is the only problem with digital cameras, you have to find the time to print everything yourself and then of course all the adjustments and tweaking to make the perfect picture, it all adds up. He gave me an hour and Benny Hill like I managed to get a print for our wall and a few for the grandparents.

Putting him on the wall (as a picture of course) makes the house seem even more like a home now.

Lots to catch up on. Tongue tie went very well, a tiny snip and suddenly his tongues up and running, a tad grouchy for a day or so but is sucking away great guns now. Cranial osteopath had second session with him. Basically, sometimes when a baby does not travel down the birth canal the shape of their head does not spring back to where it should be. In essence being kooked up inside Mum for nine months the little un can get squashed and natures way of unsquashing is via the birth canal, so if you dont go down there you may need an extra bit of help in springing back. What the osteopath does is encourage the body to realise something needs attention and by doing so the bodies natural healing mechanism kicks in. It's a very soft barely there movement of her hand upon his head and face, the cynical would say they dont move at all so what on earth are they doing.

Well we have seen the difference as indeed he has sprung back into shape very quickly and seems happier to boot. He had a habit of sleeping head turned left now we often find him on either side throughout the night, so it must be working.

7pm. Remember 7pm should you have a baby. It seems that 7pm is kick off time. Luckily it's exactly the same time I get in from work. It's not just our baby, all our NCT group say 7pm is the worst time. You have been warned.

Last night I popped my little finger in his mouth and watched him suck on it and fall fast asleep. He looked so content that life suddenly felt easy. Grabbing chances as we must we fell asleep too and were rewarded with our longest snooze to date.

Today though I'm expecting carnage. The poor little man is going to Southampton to have a small tongue tie looked at. Apparently they are very common, have no worrying effect other than possibly affecting some speech range in later years but more importantly at present they can affect how well your baby can breast feed. The tongue is needed to massage the nipple to produce the milk and if it's a little tied it cant reach far enough onto the nipple to do the job properly. They'll assess this and if required in a couple of seconds do a small snip on the membrane holding the tongue down.

The doctor involved has written that he believes a baby should always be able to poke it's tongue out at it's parents. I'm inclined to agree.

Tomorrow - cranial oestopathy!

Just got back from a bank holiday weekend. Four day week beckons. Had our reunion with the NCT group on Saturday, saw the seven other babies, all much bigger than ours, thats what you get for being late. Everyone seemed to have moved to a second stage already as we still struggled on with no sleep and no clue.

They all had the same worries and bags under their eyes though, which was comforting.

Went for long river walk on Sunday, proudly pushing him in his four wheels down the gravel pathway, dropping the odd hint about three wheelers as we went.

He didnt sleep at all on Sunday night, so a dead day on Monday, weather was awful anyway. He smiled a lot though and even started to play with his mobile, reaching up for the hanging donkey, catching her hair instead and having to be prised apart, he's got some grip - looking good for my golf prodegy.

Hardly slept on Monday night either, this boys not human, drove to work in a daze, still in it.