Another first

I feel very guilty. I've made my baby sick.

I had a flu, which became a cold after a few days, and is currently just a cough. I was pretty sure it was all passed but it mustn't have been as our lovely Rebecca had a runny nose last night and a little bit of a temperature. It is the first time she has been sick.

She is such a little trooper though - still full of smiles and laughter, but she did wake her Mummy every hour during the night with crying. I got the easy side of the scale - I'd work today, and also didn't want to pass anything else on to her.

We used a few things which I am noting because they may help other parents -

First off, the obvious one: calpol. That was before I got to the chemist and just worked with the temperature.

There was also from the same crew, calpol nasal spray, which has done wonders but I have to say I am a chicken when ti comes to sticking things up a babes nose so have had to bow to my stronger willed wife.

Next is karvol capsules. This is a decongestant vapour which I got in capsules. You break one over a muslin square -well, actually it was one of my old socks (clean!) in our case - and leave it somewhere near enough to where the baby will be sleeping.

The last one is as important, but very hard to find in the shops: stick a couple of books under the mattress so that she is slightly raised, allowing her sinuses to drain more easily.

So far so good - about 22 hours in and she is in good form, coughing a little but other than that no running nose and eating her food.

First Fathers Day!

Today was my first Fathers day.

As always when I won't see him I rang my own father. He is a great father, and it got me thinking about this new role I have assumed for Rebecca. I am thinking back to the role my father played in my growing up, not to mention my adult life.
As a child Dad was always there to ask questions of, always the arbitrator of fights, the ultimate voice in all things - be it who won a game, what time we can wrangle to stay up till, or the all important pocket money negotiations. Those are the things I remember, that and his smile. What isn't a memory exactly, but is far more important is the security of knowing Dad is always there if something goes wrong. Like mum Dad will always be on my side, but Dads have an authority of force, a might, a presence that is as permanent as a mountain.

Big boots to fill. I hope I can somehow manage to provide Rebecca the same role model, protector and Dad.

We started our fathers day with a feed, a snooze, and then dressed in a 'cool' wine GAP outfit her Godmother gave her. Suitably dressed (Dad even wore a shirt for the occasion) we drove to town and parking at one end walked the length of Main Street to the shops and bought a few items for the dinner. There is a huge warm proud feeling in my chest as walk along, and it isn't just the end of the flu. I felt like I was ten feet tall - I'm Dad and this is my amazing daughter.
I don't know why I felt it more yesterday than other days, but I did. I think it was realising that I'm a Daddy now, and I'm not doing too bad at it either. It is one thing being a father day to day, it's another realising you are that father and love it.

We played together most of the rest of the day, and I ended my day with a coffee in the 'Worlds Best Dad' mug which Rebecca had given me. A great day.

Sitting up

Rebecca has been sitting up for ages. She will even stand up, when being held by her hands, for quite awhile. It is fantastic - if I hold two fingers out to her - one from each hand - she will grab them and pull herself up. If I hold them high she stands, or low she will sit. What a girl!

The new step this week is she is sitting up of her own accord - with no help at all. For the last few days when we go into her in the mornings (well, first day for me was today - see my post about being sick) she is sitting there in her sleep-bag playing with her bunny toys.

The down side is she falls over a bit more and hits her head off the railings. I know that even that is part of her learning experience but I'd be some bad sort of Dad if I didn't want to run in and cuddle her ever time she does it.

Have you got time to be ill darling?

We are truly blessed. Our little lady hasn't been sick at all.

The only time so far we've had even a smidgen of health trouble was after some of her shots. She got a fever for a few hours which went down with some calpol (Gods gift to parents of sick kids!).

I think a lot of it is down to lack of contact with too many other people. We're not hermits but I work from home and my wife is a SAHM so we don't bring home a workplace full of germs and illnesses every day.

The problem which I am just realising now (as I have the flu and a sore throat) is what do we do if we are both sick? I suffered through my days work and am off to bed with some medication and water. My wife told me as I headed up that she is feeling a little worse for wear too.

So the race is on for me to get well before she gets sick. And both of us praying we don't pass it on to the little lady. How are you meant to handle two sick parents and a sick child? And how on earth do single parents cope with more than one sick child when sick themselves?

I know we will cope, and really hope our little lady doesn't catch it too. I know she has lots of sicknesses to get through in life, and that they will all build up her defences. I just don't know how I'll cope with seeing her unwell and not being able to stop it for her.

Time flies

I mentioned in my last post that you have no time when you become a parent, which is true.

But the other side of the coin is time goes by too darn fast. My little baby is only just over 7 months old but in ways I feel like she is packing her bags to move out. She is less dependant on us day by day and I can't help hearing a voice at the back of my mind saying "Stay this young forever!".

At this point I feel we have shared a lifetime together already. Every day brings something new.

Last night I was doing our usual nighttime routine - wash, change, change into pyjamas , read a book (Well, I read, she chews), have a bottle and most of the time get her into her cot and off to sleep.
All went great and she was guzzling down her bottle (it was a hot day so probably part of it). She got to the end where that little sucking air sound lets me know to pull the bottle away. I pulled the bottle away and when I did that she raised her shoulders, gave a big sigh, leaned forward onto my knee and fell fast asleep.

Hard not to cry out of love at times like that. I hadn't the heart to move her to the cot for a good 10 minutes, but knew I had to as it was going to disturb her sleep.

Slow starting

I'm a Daddy.

My adorable daughter was born last October and now the following June I am getting around to starting this blog which I was thinking about over a year ago - well before she was born.

Thats the thing about parenting - you have no time. It's not a complaint, just an observation. I thought the pregnancy was a busy time but really it all starts when you head for the hospital.