Full time Dad, GSOH, requires sleep, coffee and occasional feeding. Apply within

Just read over my last blog which I posted 3 days before Charlie Brown eventually arrived and I can't believe how long ago that seems! My beautiful Son, Charles Edward Bayliss, was born after a 26 hour labour, on Wednesday February 23rd at 18.40pm weighing a whopping 8lb 6oz. 3 1/2 weeks later, he's an even more whopping 9lb 13 1/2oz and seems to be growing day by day! Considering 3 days ago he was 9lb 6oz, that gives some clue what a hungry little monster he actually is. Poor old Shell is working overtime feeding him and he still wants more. That's what happens when you're born with the Bayliss appetite! I won't bore you with details of the birth, mainly because it was Shell who suffered it all and I'm not going to invade her privacy, but it was the longest, most stressful 36 hours of my life. Add another 1000% on to that and I suspect you've got something close to what Shell was feeling. Still, after a 3 day stay in hospital, they both finally came home to England beating France in the 6 Nations and a massive fry up which although might not have been the healthiest option in the world, was far better than anything the NHS could provide for us
I never kidded myself about how hard it was going to be, but no one quite explains just how much hard work and effort it actually is. If we hadn't got 3 months off together and one of us had to go back to work after 2 weeks, it would have been a nightmare! My hat is doffed to all those single and working parents out there. Sometimes, like now, Charlie is fast asleep and the whole world seems to be made out of chocolate loveliness and you feel like bursting out into song at every available opportunity. Other times, usually between 1am-5am, he's feeding every hour, screaming because he's got colic and trapped wind and you feel like you're on the set of the Exorcist! Plans are made and have to be changed as we now know that even if we've made a plan, Charlie hasn't read it and will do his own thing anyway, you're constantly wondering whether you're doing anything wrong and then just as he seems to be settling into a routine and lulling us into a false sense of security, Charlie decides he's bored with it and will do something different. Bless him! Would I change him for anything? Of course not. Despite the sleepless nights, the screaming, the fact that all my clothes smell of baby sick, he's my Son. My wonderful, gorgeous, precious son. And despite the fact that he's slept through the 6 Nations, most of the Cricket World Cup and the Living Daylights, I don't begrudge him any of it. In fact, if I could spend my entire life, sleeping, eating and playing on a baby gym, I'd be there like a shot!