Adjusting to Parenting

Our little daughter is just over six months old now.  It only feels like yesterday that I brought her home with Mrs. S from Scunthorpe Hospital to settle in.  They have been filled with joy, laughter, worry, tears and intense learning.

Before little Miss S was born who is our first child, we were told by numerous people on various occasions that our lives would change and how difficult things would be.  It got to the point where I was getting sick of the doom and gloom that we were told by everyone.  We both knew we were heading into a new chapter of our lives which would be completely life changing, but as most new parents will say, you just cannot comprehend how much.  This was made worse by the horror stories relating to sleeping, mum and dad not eating proper meals for months and not getting much done round the house.  We just didn't know which way to turn.

However, I can safely say as I sit here at 28 weeks, that it hasn't been as bad as first thought.  I don't think I'll ever get over how fast things change when you first have a baby, and not just small changes neither!  From that point of view, the doom and gloomers were right.  We don't seem to have had problems to the extent that other people have had though.  We're lucky that she seems to sleep through most nights.  There have been a couple of times where Mrs. S has been up with her through the night, usually when she's not very well.  We've also managed to get proper meals, nearly all the time.

Where we have found it challenging is keeping on top of the household general running jobs like cleaning, washing, ironing, remembering important things like paying bills and peoples birthdays (well OK, I have, not Mrs. S).  We seem to go through phases of doing well with it which are swiftly followed by stuff piling up again.  Don't get me wrong, we haven't been without clean clothes, a meal on the table or not paid the credit card bill.  We just seemed to be up against it at times.

I'll admit here that I've found it more challenging than Mrs. S.  She has taken to motherhood like a natural, has managed to keep the house going and keep me in check at the same time!  I've struggled to juggle my home life with going to work, where things seem to be getting busier and busier.

Selfishly, I'm missing having the time for my hobbies such as listening to my music, listening to radio and my reading.  I do get a bit of listening in when I travel to and from work, but sadly little Miss S seems to prefer nursery rhymes to The Libertines or BBC 6 Music.  I will keep trying though as I would like her to get her music tastes from me.

I have also been worried about how we are coping financially and how we will cope over the next few years.  So far I'm happy to say that we've managed to stay in the black.  We are both natural savers who haven't previously had huge debts to deal with.  This has put us on the correct footing right from the start.  I just hope that we can keep it up through the next few years.  This might prove a challenge in the current financial climate.  Only time will tell.

The experiences I've shared above are undoubtedly nothing out of the ordinary for parents to new born children.  It probably has done me some good to sit, think about this blog entry and put it all into perspective.  Overall we've gone through a steep learning curve this last six months and managed to get through it.  I'd best buckle up though, as the ride from hereon in will no doubt be just has hectic, head scratching and fun.