So as things are starting to get back to normal and people are getting back to work (Kelly included) my new job as a ‘stay at home dad’ has begun!
When I decided to leave my job as a full time radio presenter I joked that being a stay at home dad was going to be easy, all I'd have to do is watch TV, keep an eye on Holly and change a few nappies...
How wrong I was... It’s a lot harder than I thought, especially now that Holly can crawl around and climb on stuff!
For all the stay at home dads out there with more than one child, I salute you because for me having just one to look after is quite challenging!
For those of you that watch my Instagram stories and see me playing with Holly all the time (all the fun stuff) I thought I’d write a quick blog about what my day actually entails...
Holly usually wakes up at 06:30, she’s a brilliant sleeper to be honest and can sleep up to 12 hours. I’ve been told that’s pretty good, so I can’t really complain at the early start when she sleeps all night long, but if I’m honest, I would prefer a couple of extra hours sleep in the morning!
So we’ll get up, come down stairs and I’ll usually put Masha and the Bear on to distract her whilst I make her some milk up. This always works because she LOVES Masha! I’ll then feed her, change her nappy and put a nice new baby grow or dress on for the day ahead.
After that, we'll literally just play for as long as she’s awake, she’s got so many toys to choose from so it never gets boring, I’ve got to admit that I also enjoy playing with her toys...
At about 11am she’ll start to get a bit sleepy and start to kick off so I know this is the point where she either wants more milk or just a cuddle to help her get to sleep. I’ll never understand why babies can’t just get themselves to sleep, I mean as a grown man if I’m tired, I’ll go to sleep but as a baby, ohhhh no... The more tired they get, the more they kick off!
JUST GO TO SLEEP!
So I call this whole process the 'getting to sleep process'... I’ll have her head on my shoulder and I'll walk laps of the house which for some unknown reason sends her to sleep... If you’re going to follow this process, always have a wall mirror handy so you can see when they've fallen asleep!
When she finally does go to sleep, it’s an easy transition up the stairs and into her cot bed.
She’ll sleep for about 2-3 hours from this point and depending on the day, I’ll take the time to record a radio show, write a blog or play fifa (or if Kelly asks, do some house work).
She’ll usually wake up around 2/3pm and then it starts all over again, I’ll make her some milk, bring her back down stairs, put cartoons on and feed her the milk.
Then it’s play time again and sometimes there’s a stinky nappy to change as well... I'm not going to lie, I still heave quite a lot during this process! I’m not usually that bothered by bad smells but a babies dirty nappy is one of the worst.
Kelly finishes work around 5/6pm and she’ll spend some time with Holly or cook the dinner.
We’ll try to have dinner all together, with Holly at the table, then have some more play time and chill out for a bit before the bedtime routine begins.
This starts with bath time, which Holly seems to really enjoy. We can’t actually have a bath unless the bath time dance is completed first... This consists of holding her naked in the air and dancing around the bathroom singing ‘it’s the bath time dance, it’s the bath time dance’
Then after bath time, it’s feed time, story time and bed time and like I mentioned earlier, Holly will usually sleep right though the night until about 06:30.
Once she’s asleep, we whizz around the house re-setting everything ready to start over again in the morning. We’ll also wash and sterilise milk bottles, put all the toys away, clean the play matts, put the laundry on and the dishwasher on etc etc.
Then ideally we'll chill out together and watch a film before bed but more often than not we just crash straight into bed.
So it’s easy right?!
to be fair it is an awesome job being a stay at home dad, I really thought I’d miss work and presenting a daily radio show but I actually don’t... Don’t get me wrong I loved my job and BFBS was like a family to me but spending every day with Holly, paying with her, watching her smile and watching her grow up is the most incredible thing ever!
Plus I’m still getting to do radio on the side from my own home studio where I can do as much or as little as I’d like to and that for me is perfect. I really do have the best of both worlds!