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Planning ahead: 6 months with baby

5/6/2016

12 Comments

 
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Only a week to go before my parental leave (SPL) starts, so it's worth recalling what I plan to do with Little Bear during our special time together. I hate 'wasting time' and I love travelling, so what better way to spend my SPL than travelling with the Little Bear? When Charlotte was pregnant, I began to make some grand plans. This was gonna be a few months with my little guy, doing everything. 
He was going to be (and still will be) my little buddy, strapped to dad's chest on our adventures together. All I would need was milk, a change of baby clothes and a few nappies, and we'd be ready. Whilst travelling, I was thinking of picking up a new language,  seeing various friends spread across the country, and in between trips, carrying on with a part-time degree. He'll sleep loads of the day anyway...
The List:
- Travel: take Little Bear to Venice, Florence, Barcelona, the Fjords, Cornwall, Snowdonia and Lyon
- take him on a lads' weekend
- Exercise: go to the gym every other day (with baby in tow) and finally live up to the membership fee I pay
- DIY: long list of DIY jobs around the house
- Language: improve Swedish and French, and maybe pickup some Dutch (he can join in)
- Hobby: do some painting
- Food: learn to cook properly - so more than the 3 dishes I can do at the moment
- Study: do a degree

do 'the baby stuff'
1. teach him to crawl (maybe in one of the above places we're going to visit)
2. get him to start eating healthily
3. keep him ahead of his expected development
​4. teach him to say 'daddy's my favourite'
​Whilst being unable to think straight from having no sleep for the first two weeks after he was born, it only took me the third week to realise this list looks a little ambitious. But I prefer to be exhausted and doing stuff, rather than rested but bored, so I held out hope. When he was about a month old, it dawned on me that despite the 5/6 hours of sleep Little Bear was meant to have during the day, it wasn't 5/6 hours I was going to have to myself. For the last 2 months, most of those 5 hours were spent holding him whilst bouncing on the exercise ball (panacea to all crying) since he's been progressing through wind, colic, some early teething and now eczema. The list needed some editing.
When he was around 3 months old, my wife flew to Sweden for a family thing, giving me and the Little Bear our first long-weekend together alone. I knew it might be tough since we had shared caring for him when I wasn't at work, so I decided to take him to see some people out of London. Shortly after we stepped out the door, in quick succession: he started crying in the pushchair; it started raining; rain cover came out; dummy thrown to the floor; umbrella came out; second dummy rejected; slowing down meant we missed the bus; umbrella broke; spilled his milk everywhere whilst waiting for the next bus; still crying because foolish daddy was being too slow with the milk... So I now realise several mistakes were made here, but I quickly realised the list needed some further editing.
​Even when I found I'd have more SPL with him than I thought, expectations needed to come down. This is how it's looking now, with a few replacements in pink.
The List (v2):
- Travel: take him somewhere easy and probably nearby (let's be more realistic)
- take him on trips to the park
- Exercise: go to the gym... maybe
- use baby as exercise weight at home instead of going to the gym (success so far. And he gets heavier every week, the little fatty)
- DIY: try (and fail) to keep house tidy 
- Language: improve Swedish only (get real)
- Hobby: do some painting (I'm feeling this one wavering)
- Food: try to eat lunch everyday, despite baby (not as easy as you might think)
- Study: try to read a book
 
do 'the baby stuff'
1. teach him to crawl (at home)
2. get him to start eating (nice and simple. One step at a time)
​3. just keep him on track with his development (this is tough enough)
4. Not to bother: teach him to say 'daddy's my favourite'  
(way too ambitious. Mummy is clearly his favourite)
So just a little less ambitious now we've been parents for 5 months. The upside is that the more time I spend with him, the more I realise it's going to be far from boring. I just need to have a bit of a reality check on what we can get up to together starting from next week.
Petite Pudding
Monkey and Mouse

12 Comments
Fiona Cambouropoulos link
12/9/2016 09:53:45 am

A great look at expectations vs reality. Hang onto your goals though, with time and practice you'll do more than you think. I used to leave mine in the creche at the gym for an hour a morning, it made me a better parent the rest of the day. AS for parks and going out, essential for you both. #MarvMondays

Reply
Rachel Bustin link
14/9/2016 10:53:14 am

Love your goals! Especially the first list as it has Cornwall on it! Yay I live down here and it's an amazing place to bring kids down on holiday! Good luck with your lists.

Thanks for linking up to #EatSleepBlogRT

Reply
Dave
14/9/2016 04:16:38 pm

Love Cornwall. Maybe a family trip for next year!

Reply
Petite Pudding link
15/9/2016 08:00:15 pm

I love the first list - written when as an expectant Dad you had no idea what was about to hit you! The second list definitely sounds much more achievable! Cant wait to hear about your adventures together #EatSleepBlogRT

Reply
Kaye link
16/9/2016 09:47:28 pm

Love the version 2, definitely would be more realistic for us haha, though I'd love to be able to do the first! Thanks for linking up to #MarvMondays. xo

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Lauren (The Helpful Hiker) link
18/9/2016 09:09:54 pm

Love the ambition of the first list! I know it's a cliche but you really don't know how much your life will change. Looks like you're still doing more than ok :-) #whatevertheweather

Reply
Pattertravelers link
19/9/2016 05:10:33 am

Best laid plans! And the next time someone asks if they sleep thoroughbred night I'm going to chuck the dummy at their head....

Reply
Jenny Eaves link
20/9/2016 10:24:24 pm

Aww, love the comparison of the two lists! I had no idea how much work a baby would be until I had my eldest. I mean a baby just sleeps and eats right?!! Can easily do so much! Oh well, fast forward 5 years and I now know the hard work small people are! Thanks for linking up to #Whatevertheweather :)

Reply
John Adams link
17/8/2018 08:57:27 am

Yeah....I read that first list and thought it looked ambitious (to say the least!). Second list is a tad more realistic I'd say. Great aread and you might like the #spl post on my blog at the moment too. #thatfridaylinky

Reply
Han-Son link
17/8/2018 09:30:04 am

The list is a great idea. From bucket list to SPL list. Nice comparison between the 2. #thatfridaylinky

Reply
Nige link
18/8/2018 11:17:37 am

Haha! The first list is near on impossible good that the second one looks achievable good luck Thank you for linking to #Thatfridaylinky please come back next week

Reply
Dave
18/8/2018 06:20:16 pm

Cheers Nige!

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    I'm Dave, dad of Little Bear. Also known as 'Pappa' to the little man as we try and bring out his Swedish roots

    My wife and I are sharing the troubles and joys of bringing up Little Bear equally. This is about my half of the time being responsible for not breaking the baby

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