This weekend was a good one with; sun, friends, family and of course the fact it was a bank holiday. We were invited to a pub crawl to celebrate our twin friends birthday and of course accepted. When it’s 27 degrees and you have an 11 week old, the prospect of pushing a pram equipped with enough gear to trek the Himalayas might not seem like an appealing afternoon out, but when there’s beer involved it’s difficult to say no. For anyone that’s read any of my earlier blogs, you’ll know Meg and I have tried to keep our lives as normal and as sociable as possible, Ivy does what we do. Sure, she determines a lot of our activity but we never want to become parents ruled by an 11 week year old! So a few things I took away from this weekend:
– Prepare in advance. A well packed bag means you’re prepared for all situations, feeds, poonami’s, changing etc. Spend time on what you’re taking then you don’t need to make a mad dash home and interrupt your day.
– Arriving at parties is very different now. priorities of finding the nearest drink have now become where can we set up shop and make sure Ivy is happy… then get a drink
– Times are changing. Friends are getting pregnant and arriving with a pram isn’t quite as unusual as I thought people would find it.I expected horrified faces from those we didn’t know that well.
– You can still have a drink!. I know there are parents out there that will read something like this and think ‘how irresponsible!’ – Looking after a baby requires attention and care, we know that We ducked out the party early, but we still had a great time and drinks along the way.
– Babies needs to socialise too! Like any baby, a changing environment works Ivy’s senses, and a bit of attention feeds just that. And trust me did she get attention. Seeing her smile and being introduced to our friends was awesome.
– Our friends and family are the best. I knew this already, but weekends like this are a massive reminder that we’re surrounded by ridiculous support! Everyone wants to be involved, wants to help, still treats us like their mates and not the “new parents”.
– We’re making her friends broody. simple as that… I think there might be some more babies in our group within the next 12 months
Ivy makes us do more these days, we make a conscious effort to get out the house, we don’t just laze around and I want her to grow up in an environment like Meg and I did with friends, family and great memories. And that’s exactly what we’re doing :).
Dad in Training 