Holiday Dreaming

When every experience is a first, life is exciting and wonderful. Life as a parent is exactly that. Every milestone reached, every new discovery, every proud achievement makes all the sleepless nights and life sacrifices worth it. 

There are the firsts that you document, writing down information in a book that will sit on a shelf for years to come, only to be looked at when your child has a child to compare notes. 

There are the firsts that you would rather forget, the first nappy explosion in a public place or the first time you instinctively catch a projectile vomit in your bare hands to protect the flooring.

There are the firsts that only you and your other mum friends can relate to, the first irrational sleep deprived meltdown, ranting about an unpacked dishwasher or an unmade bed.

Then there are those magical firsts. The ones that warm your heart. The ones that are really special that you will treasure forever.

Last week we had one of those moments, one of my favourite firsts to date. We packed our child up along with way too much luggage and had our first family holiday. Just the three of us. A holiday that I had booked when I was craving sun and hating the winter, when I was sick of my husband being at work most nights and at uni most days, when all I needed was time as a family, no interuptions, it was a holiday that I had booked out of purely selfish notions. 

The logistics of going on holiday with a small child did not hit me until about two days before we left.  We had previously holidayed with my family when Leo was only six weeks old, a six week old on a nine hour car trip is easy, sleep, feed, drive, repeat. A nine hour drive with a ten month old however, not so easy. Sleeps are shorter and the idea of sitting still in one place for a prolonged period of time is not well accepted. 

With the car packed baby and all we hit the road early and with the help of an extremely appropriately themed teddy bear cafe, the trip, bar the slightly sore ears as we drove over the mountains, was relatively painless.

Once again our child had amazed us, we had reached our destination and that, in itself, was an achievement. 

We had been to the beach with Leo when he was tiny, dipped him in the water to reveal a high pitched squeal of surprise. When he was six weeks old he laid in the tent like a doll, one of us sitting next to him, watching the waves crash from a distance. Now, as we carried Leo down the steps to our familiar beach the excitement was palpable, our little boy wriggled with curiousity as he heard the crashing of the waves on the sand. His face was filled with joy when he saw the water and our 'beach babe' was born. 

The beach, this beach in particular, is my happy place. The place I think of when I am having a bad day, or where I imagine I am when I am pushing myself to work hard during exercise. My happy place was made happier by Leo. 

The way he laughed as the waves rolled in and grasped at the sand, examining the small grains as they rolled through his fingers, the salty air brushing his skin. When we decided to go home for the day, Leo fought us, itching to have more time to explore the sand. Leo didn't know it but we were planning on taking him swimming the next day.

The next day was the hottest of our trip, a beautiful day, perfect for swimming. Leo was yet to wear his new bathers, a purchase I had made a few weeks before, so we dressed him up to look the part and took him down to the kiddies beach. 

Another special first. Despite the water being cooler than any bath he had ever taken, Leo loved it. The mysterious water splashing against his legs, the small shells hidden like curious jewels in the sand, Leo played and examined, taking it all in. 

We are so lucky to witness the discovery of new things. Some times we forget how lucky we are and how momentous these occasions are, our children grow up so quickly it seems like every day there is a new first. Whether it's good or bad, adorable or disgusting, I appreciate and cherish every first as I know I won't get these special moments with Leo forever. 

I will always cherish our first family holiday, smile when I think about Leo in the water and laugh with my husband when we reminisce of lunch with the teddy bears and Leo laughing at the waves. We are lucky to be heading back to my happy place in 13 weeks. In 13 weeks we get to witness Leo discover the beach all over again, as a no doubt, fully fledged toddler. We have a lifetime of firsts ahead of us and I am excited.

Nappy Changing 101

Around the time of five and a half months Leo decided that he had had enough of laying still, peacefully watching as we calmly changed his nappy. He decided that this quiet time was the perfect time to make a break for it, catch us unaware, escape. Now, four and a half months later we are still fighting the same fight and most days I only just win the battle.

Due to my apparently very weak muscles and my son's incredibly strong ones the hardest part of my day has become changing his nappy. I have even gone so far as to examine his tiny thighs, holding them in my hands, checking that his anatomy is that of a normal human boy and not some strange, freakishly strong Wolverine like character. Depending how you look at it, fortunately for me, they are just normal human legs, his strength and determination to move has just preceded my ability to hold him down. 

Back at six months I thought it was hard, in hindsight I should've known things would only get tougher. So, like any good modern parent, I googled it. My time as a new parent has had me type some stupid questions into Google but this had to be one of the stupidest, 'What to do when baby won't stay still for nappy change?' Good old google had two answers; a) learn how to change nappy in different positions, and b) move quicker. Yep, brilliant, thanks google, once again helping desperate parents all over the globe with your very in depth and informative advice. So there we were, six months in and still unsure how to change a nappy effectively. I longed for the early days, the easy days when changing a nappy meant moving with extra care out of fear for breaking our precious child, not moving as quickly as possible so he didn't have time to jump off the change table. I thought the safest option would be to move off the change table and on to the floor, surely the floor would be easier, right? Wrong. I quickly learnt that the floor is baby level, not parent level, perfect for games and escaping. So after a back breaking week of floor nappy changing we moved back to the change table and that is where we have stayed. 

Obviously days go by and multiple nappies have been changed, it is, unfortunately, one of the less glamorous parts of parenthood. Usually a successful change means nappy is on and all parties involved come out of it without wearing anything that they aren't supposed to. Now, I am no expert but I do believe, ten months in, I have learnt a thing or two more than what google braved to tell me. So although I still fight Leo at most changes here are my top tips for making life a little easier during the dreaded change time.

1. Kitchen utensils work wonders of distraction.

Most change times, we make sure to bypass via the kitchen drawers, grabbing something for Leo to play with. Something that he preferably hasn't seen before to examine closely while he is stripped and changed. Avoiding all things sharp and scary of course.

2. Sing, off key, at all times.

Sing as loud and as terribly as you can. I am a pro at this, actually I'm surprised that our neighbours have never called the police to report the strange small animal death sounds coming from next door. But I have found the more unusual the better. The element of shock and surprise works wonders.

3. Four hands are better than two.

Like many things in life and parenting, teamwork is always the easiest option if possible. When we are both home, nappy changes are always a two man job, one at the business end doing the dirty work and one at the top end causing major distraction.

4. Change it up. 

OK so I may have been a bit harsh on google before, sorry google. This is a stretch on the 'different positions' answer. Leo gets bored of staring at the same old square of roof while he gets changed, so, on my adventurous days we do changes in every room of the house and when it's nice we brave it and go outside. This is only successful 40% of the time, it is still baby level and it is still, unfortunately, back breaking.

5. Get them when they're tired.

Simple, sleepy baby usually can't be bothered fighting as much as alert baby can be. 

6. Let it all hang out.

Do you really have to go anywhere anyway? Naked time is always fun, and the perfect opportunity for future embarrassing 21st photos, so go pants free. Just be ready with ample supplies to clean any accidents, towels, face washers and baby wipes are all fantastic.

There you have it. As you can see my list is not very long, like I said nappy time for me still is the hardest part of my day. Some days all the utensils and terrible singing in the world couldn't stop Leo from trying to roll and run away, his little growing body continues to prove to me how hard I need to hit the gym.

So until the days of nappies are over and we enter the next phase of toilet training, we will keep trying new tips and tricks to make change time less of a battle..and hope that the neighbours buy some earplugs in the mean time!