1thing.co.uk

Before you have children none of your friends with children ever mentions sleep depravation or how you’ll crave 5 minutes on your own so that you can close your eyes.

In our house sleep has been one of those long lost memories.  You know the ones that I mean.  It’s a bit like your favorite moment as a child.  Way back in the dim and distant that brings a smile to your face.

With Rose, our first, I did most of the nights.  At the time I was contracting at Deutsche Bank and was lucky enough to be able to sneak off to the toilets for an hours kip during the day.  Top tip for anyone who does this dont use the toilet roll as a cushion.  It leaves a funny print on your face that everyone asks about!

This time round though my wife’s not been so lucky as my work has kept me very busy and I’ve seen very little of my bed as a result.  Which means she’s done most of the nights.

The plan last night was that when I finished work at 1am I would feed Violet and then sneak into bed, fingers crossed she wouldn’t wake until the morning. 

6.30am my wife gets up having had a full nights sleep ready to put the flags out as she thought we’d broken the milestone of first night straight through.

I didn’t say anything for at least half an hour!

They’re the most important three words that any father can hear and my day started with them.

Like most fathers I’m often out of the house before my children are awake and I dont get to see them until I get home from work and this morning was meant to be no different. The daily routine of alarm call at 05:00, breakfast, coffee, shave, check email, make sandwiches, leave by 06:00 suffered a 10 minute delay as I’m still getting used to the alarm on my Blackberry Pearl. 

Fortunately it meant that I was still here when my eldest crawled into bed with my wife at 6am and so I managed to sneak in and give her a kiss goodbye and just as I was about to walk out of the bedroom she pipes up “I love you dad”.

What more could you want?

Except of course to get a coudle at the end of my day as I dream feed my youngest before I turn in for the night, well what’s left of it.

Anyway, we’re off to a flying start, I know I missed the first 14 days but the first is “I love you dad” at 06:00.  What will tomorrow bring