So you know how in TV shows when there is something grandiose or incredibly naive said by a main character, then it hard cuts to when it comes back to haunt them? This is sort of like that, without the haunting.
Here's a quick recap of the gap:
16th October - Move home to prepare for Baby
22nd October - Start work for Virgin Australia as Pit Crew
2nd November - found out that our "daughter" was really our "son" (mistook his man parts for Umbilical cord! Atta boy!)
10th February - Got engaged!
4th March - Harrison! Surprise! (More on this later) Also, Bye Virgin!
18th March - New Job (Yay at the time - boo right now haha)
2014 - Harrison Walks, Harrison Talks, HARRISON LEARNS HOW TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES
October 5 - I meet Destiny
November 13- I Explore Draenor
November 24 - First flight in two years - aerobatics. And it wasn't all it was meant to be.
December 26 - I explore Revolutionary France with a guy called Arno
Seriously have just been nose to the grindstone building a little life for my little family. Aside from highlights, I have not been up to much. I add in the games at the end because I do want to talk about them, though much has already been said.
First of all the biggest change in my life - Harrison.
My last day at Virgin Australia was also to be my last day of being a "Kidult" (adult who really isn't haha), although at the time, I didn't know it. As I kissed Blondie (As my Fiance will be known from now on here) goodbye, worried about her expanding belly and Braxton Hicks (fake contraction pains) and headed off for an 8 hour bag room shift. Bag Room is how your bags get from the conveyor belt at check in to the plane. It is thoroughly boring. After an uneventful morning, I trudge in to the lunch room for my break and check my phone. Blondie is in hospital, but I shouldn't worry it is just a precaution.
DON'T WORRY? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!
The rest of the shift was a mixture of saying my goodbyes to some of the crew that I got to know and worrying about how Blondie was going. 4pm rocks around and I am escorted out of the security controlled area (having turned in my clearance badge). I check my phone. Blondie is in labour, I need to hurry or I might miss it.
HOW IN 4 HOURS DID IT GO FROM A "PRECAUTION" TO FULL BLOWN LABOUR?!?
Harrison was born at 0115hrs weighing a tiny 2.83kgs (6lb3oz) and I had the absolute privilege of being able to deliver my son. For all men who are squeamish about the thought of not only watching the business end of a baby being born, but catching them and cutting the cord - don't be. It is the single most amazing thing I have done and probably will ever do. No words can ever describe the pure joy that holding your firstborn for the first time.
Harrison was supposed to be born in April, he was 5 weeks early and so had to stay in hospital for a week so he could be monitored and fed through a tube. Once we got him home, learning to wake up to the sound of a crying baby is much easier than I previously thought. You become so attuned to the noises they make that the minute they hiccup, you burst awake and dash to their side to make sure they are ok. Super scary for a first time parent. As I had two weeks off in between jobs, Blondie and I managed to work around 4 hour sleep cycles. Feed Harrison, 2 hours later, feed again. In those two weeks, I managed to watch Dragon Ball Z from Raditz to Frieza. All the while nursing this little human back to sleep with a bottle (expressed milk, not formula). For the next 9 months, we watched him become aware of his surroundings, interact with them and finally move around. By December, he was walking assisted against walls/couches. By February, he was just walking.
It is amazing how quickly it all happens. It is more amazing how fast they learn after that. Since he began walking, we had to make sure we latched more drawers closed, bought a baby gate to keep him out of other areas. He learned to manipulate objects - pressing buttons, sliding doors, throwing items, riding his scooter - at an insane pace. He turned 1 in March and kept learning and learning, faster than anything. At 1 year and 10 months, he can operate a touch screen smart device ("Hi, who is this? Emergency? Oh god, our toddler got a mobile and called you, I am SO, SO SORRY PLEASE DON'T ARREST ME"), understand that the baby latches on kitchen drawers keep them closed so he can use the handles to climb up to reach the counter ("HARRISON WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?!"), hold a pen correctly, play basic games on phones/Nintendo DS, knows that spacebar makes daddy's guy jump in WoW (Here Harrison, have your own (not connected) keyboard), knows the mouse makes everything work (NO YOU CAN'T WATCH "TOOT TOOT" FOR THE FIFTIETH TIME ON DADDY'S COMPUTER), you drive the car by steering the wheel, the chorus to Lego Movie "everything is awesome" (mostly) and a million other things that you see and think - wait you couldn't do that yesterday.
In short - he has turned my life upside-down, taught me why my own mother was so worried about me growing up (its scary how much you love a child and would do anything for them), made me wonder at the intelligence of babies, made me tired, made laugh, made me cry ("NOT DADDY'S BALLS (OW)") - and I love it. Even after a crappy day at work, having a little one man fan club run at you shouting "DADDY!" when you get home, never fails to put a smile on your face.
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