I think we’re very lucky living in the North East. We have the beautiful Northumberland Coast, we’re a short trip from the borders and the Lake District is only a couple of hours drive west. This weekend my wife and I had the opportunity to go and spend a childfree night in the Lake District. This was thanks to a voucher for a free nights stay following a horrendous trip last year where the B&B we stayed at was overrun…
Are you a fan of after school clubs or any other extra-curricular type activity? Based on my experience so far with my five year old daughter, I’d say I was a fan. I’ve always striven to bring new experiences to my daughter. To give her the opportunity to hopefully find something she could call a hobby. I’m by no means what some people would describe as a “pushy parent”. But I do want to give my daughter every opportunity to…
I’ve been having a bit of reflecting time recently and noticed that September was a bit of a strange month for me. I’ve experienced some good things and some not so good things. What better way to deal with this than in a blog post! THE HIGHS I like to think of myself as a fairly positive person so let’s first concentrate on what’s been good about September…. Just a really nice weekend The month started off great with the…
I’m quite partial to a tea room / café visit. It’s one of the things I’d imagine myself doing a lot if I were ever to be lucky enough to enjoy an early retirement. Today my wife and I had a day off together. After dropping our daughter off at school we searched for a good place to go and have brunch, which is my favourite meal time. Kaffeehaus Amadeus came up on a google search and wasn’t too far a…
Today my Daughter started year one. Meaning she’s been at her primary school a whole year. That’s crazy! She’s no longer a newbie. She’s mixing with the big kids in the school yard. She no longer has her own little self enclosed part of the school where kids and parents alike could mix in a nice comfy reception sized bubble. All day I’ve been finding myself both reflecting and looking forward to seeing what this new school year brings. Reception…
It’s Monday 20th August and tonight was my Daughters first stage 4 swimming lesson. Previously she’d been progressing well on her traditional Saturday morning stage 3 lesson. We were a little surprised, and of course delighted, when we were told she was ready to move up a stage. She’d only been in stage 3 a couple of months. The snap decisions that followed have been a source of great stress to me. Choosing a time slot. iBears stage…
I introduced Jelly nursery in a post last year and it’s still going strong. Whilst we don’t play it as often as we used to, it’s still a favourite with iBear and it’s also still giving me little insights into her school life. We have some new children in the class this year, all of them appearing around Christmas time….So in addition to the 7 kids already in attendance we now have Annabel, Rob and Robson. Say hello kids! During…
I became a parent for the first time just over five years ago and my life changed overnight. I became the one thing I’d wanted to be for as long as I can remember. A Dad. But, I also changed as a person too. My life began on that day. It happened a lot later than I originally thought. Becoming a Dad at 37 was 7 years ahead of the plan I had in my head growing up. But then life…
Today, July 6th 2018 marks 4 years since we miscarried our, would have been, second child. Emotions are high so I wanted to try and get my thoughts down on paper, so to speak. In an ideal world Two children was always the plan. Both my wife and I have one other sibling, as do our parents. So I guess that family unit was engrained on us from an early age. The plan changed somewhat when our first was born. People…
I don’t know how or why it happened. Recently I’ve had a couple of restless nights. My Hay Fever has been bothering me. My Daughter has been in a bit of an “emotional” state (read: Whiney or overtired!). I’ve been feeling a little down. Whatever it was, I really struggled to Dad today and it’s made me feel awful. It started with the usual early morning wake up call. iBear has been returning to her pre 6am rises of late. …