In Dreams Awake

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.

(Henry David Thoreau)

Tuesday 23 February 2016

All Worth It

 Izzy has taken over the world.

 Well, my bit of it, anyway. She screams unless she can sleep next to my wife, in our bed, which means Daddy has to go sleep on the air mattress so he doesn't roll on her by accident. I like the air mattress, but it doesn't mean I sleep uninterrupted, because Caz wakes me when she needs help in the night. Izzy then sleeps all day while I'm at work, the lazy pest, so is rested and ready for another grizzle-fest that evening.

 A man can grow weary of it all, but then Izzy goes and does this


or something like it, and I'm reduced to an adoring wimp again.

 Meanwhile, I returned to my shop after two weeks Paternity Leave to find the rails half empty, not much stock sorted and bags of unsorted donations piled every which way. Some were even in the shop, which means I couldn't open as it's a Health and Safety risk. Today, my third day back, I finally caught up... more or less. I'm worn out and I've hardly started back.

 But look at that photo. All worth it, eh?

Monday 8 February 2016

Yikes!


Not waiting anymore. Isabella Lucia arrived just before midnight on February 4th, at a touch under 6lb. She's utterly gorgeous. I'm in awe of my wife, who dealt with the birth so well and has managed since on a teacup of sleep a night, because Izzy won't rest unless she's being held by Mummy.

Daddy's a bit tired too, but I feel a tad reticent about saying so. A punch on the nose often offends y'know.

Since the birth, Caz and I have realised a number of things. One is that we should have practised putting the stroller/car seat combo together more often. We've learned that Daddy sleeping on the edge of the bed does not work, because it ends up with Daddy shouting "Yikes!" just before he hits the floor. And we've also learned that a single child can have more wriggly bits than you'd expect to find in a box of worms. Getting a sleep suit on that little Houdini is hard.

But she's healthy, and all her bits are where they should be. She's strong too. A fetch round the nose from an irate Izzy has quite an impact.

Of course, the rest of my life has fallen away a bit. I'm off work for a fortnight, and have written a total of 450 words in four days - and those on the night Caz and Izzy were kept in hospital and I was too wired to sleep. I'm just glad I played the Vice Captain's Cup in the pool league the day before Izzy came. Well, the day she came, in fact - I won the title, and the final ran until 12.30am on the day she was born. Quite a day, eh?

So that's all for this blog. I'd like to think of witty or clever things to say, but I'm too tired, and anyway all the things I feel are trite. Like knowing my daughter is the beautifullest little girl in the world.

Trite. But a bit true.