What do you always tell people NOT to do when they’ve got a problem? Google it…

Ok, so we’re fast approaching the 6 months’ mark of being a parent, and just like I did back in January, I wanted to give you all an update as to how things as a new parent have been going…

Before I start though, myself and my partner did something which I’m not going to say we regret, but my God the timing couldn’t have been worse. A couple of months after Emilia was born, we decided to extend the family again... 

Before the big reveal, let me bring you back up to speed with the current family members - there’s myself, Marilyn (my partner), Emilia (our daughter) and Winter (our Bengal cat who actually believes she’s a fully grown Bengal tiger). 

There's the 3 of us, the others were also on holiday, just not with us....

Now to anyone, that’s already a handful. Emilia’s just starting to roll around, she’s teething, we found out she has an allergy to cow’s milk, and I can safely say she’s most certainly found her voice. On top of that, Winter’s a house cat… so the sofa has now turned into her item of choice to sharpen her nails, and she’s recently got into the habit of waking everyone up just as Emilia goes back off to sleep at 4am. Easy, huh?

Anyway, getting back on track to where I was at the beginning, we welcomed a new family member into the household. You’d expect something along the lines of a hamster or a rabbit, you know, something that isn’t going to cause even more mayhem. Oh no, how wrong you are, we don’t do things in halves. Meet Chip…the wildest, clumsiest, noisiest Miniature Dachshund you’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting. Albeit he’s extremely cute, but it’s probably the biggest understatement of the century when I say that he’s hard work.  

Why I hear you screaming at your computer screen. Who in the right mind would get a puppy two months after Emilia was born? There's logic behind it, or at least we thought there was. As I said, Winter is wild… so, as everyone does when you’ve got a problem, we googled it... 

‘Google search bar: How do you calm a Bengal house cat down?’

And there it was, the answer to all our problems, you get a dog which in return calms the cat down.

What do you always tell people NOT to do when they’ve got a problem? Google it…

But we did, and now there are five of us… In all honesty, she actually has calmed down, that’s probably down to the fact there’s a puppy running round bouncing off everything in sight, including her. 

Would I change anything? Not at all… Granted, it wasn’t the best timing, but you live and you learn, and he’s now just as much of a family member as the rest of the clan. Would Winter change anything? Probably, she had her chance though.

Now, seeing as I’ve already taken up a couple of minutes of your time, I won’t keep you for too much longer, even if you could read about my life all day… Here’s a little bit about how things have gone as a first time parent over the last 6 months.

It’s amazing. Watching someone that you brought into this world (not physically, that was Marilyn, but I helped) learn and grow day on day is the best feeling in the world. To think in a matter of months she’s gone from not being able to hold her head up, to rolling around, laughing, smiling and most impressively, growing her first 2 teeth is astonishing. 

I revealed my top tips in my last article about how to balance both my personal and working life, and I still very much stand by what I said:

1)    Having a routine - I need one more than ever now there’s someone else to look after. My routine has stayed the same, just with added responsibilities now there’s someone else to attend to.

2)    Planning ahead - This is the easy one. I’m guaranteed to walk into my kitchen in the morning and find a puddle in the middle of the floor. So what do I do? I plan ahead. For work and for when I’m at home.

3)    My final tip was to enjoy every moment of it, and I can assure you we’re enjoying every single second of it. 

There you have it, the Rollercoaster of the last 6 months summed up into a couple of paragraphs. Before I say bye, please spare a thought for my partner who’s housebound looking after what we call ‘the Zoo’.. She’s just about staying sane. 

Bye for now.