With the media awash with baby news in recent months, we finally met little Prince George last week. Swaddled up to his mother, tiny pink hands grasping at the air, he was the perfect photo op for the world's journalists gathered outside the London hospital.
Watching the young royal couple with their small bundle of joy, I was transported eight months back in time to when our own little prince made an appearance.
I could see the pride at becoming new parents etched all over Will and Kate's dignified faces, the sense of achievement fused with massive relief. Nine months of worry and stress behind them and now the fun begins.
Yep. Now the real fun begins, my regal friends.
It's a boy. Photo credit: Mike Styer (Flickr Creative Commons)
Adventures in parenting
As Wills carried his infant son in the baby carrier, I sensed other emotions pass over his princely face. When he muttered to the gathered media that his newborn son had an impressive pair of lungs, it was confirmed. I'd felt those emotions before in babyland.
Uncertainty. Nervousness. Unadulterated terror.
All too familiar emotions reminding me of the moment we strapped our son into his car seat, started up the car, turned to each other and realised it was just us, this baby, and a whole new life not as we'd ever known it.
Milk vomit, overfilled nappies and bright green poo waiting for us at the end of that short car ride home.
All a bit of a blur
I don't remember much from those early days and weeks.
No sleep, no real routine, and an existence no bigger than our one-storey home. Elliot was a cute newborn but he didn't do much. He was a pretty baby to look at but he mainly slept, fed and deposited. He wasn't high on the entertainment stakes.
Communication consisted of slipping a bottle of milk into his mouth at every opportunity. Interaction was a bounce or two on my lap. And our only mission was the quest for that elusive belch.
But something changed at six months.
The joy of fatherhood
We grew in confidence and Elliot grew as a person.
Those early weeks and months, an absolute blur, passed quickly and our little boy became a sweet delight. He plays, he talks, he rolls (but he thankfully doesn't yet walk). He is everything I hoped he would be with my wife's best characteristics in abundance.
And I'm so very grateful that I get to spend the lion's share of my day around him.
Rather than spend thirty minutes with him in the morning and maybe an hour at night if I'm lucky enough to get home on time, I have quality, unencumbered time with him throughout the day. I work from home and this life choice allows me to spend quality time around him.I
It hasn't been straightforward, juggling a nanny with my workload and sometimes having to take myself out of the house to avoid distraction. But as a freelancer and business writer, I've found ways of working that allow me to balance paid work with my infant son's needs. I write early in the morning then take him out for a stroll later in the day. I care for him in the early evening, catching up on work later that night.
I fight the temptation to head back into the city for greater income or perceived job success and I prove to myself and others that you can work from home, you can have a meaningful career, and you can spend every precious moment with the people that you love.
For me, this is the true definition of success.
Have you made changes to your working world or life to spend more time around those you love? How do you make it work? What is your idea of real success? Let me know in the comments below.
Editor's note: A few weeks ago, I put a callout for contributors to ISOALLO and the response was extraordinary. Thank you to everyone who expressed an interest in writing here on this site and, if you haven't heard from me yet, you will do soon, I promise.
Following the callout and over the coming weeks and months, I'll be introducing a range of new writers to you. Writers and bloggers like me who've been searching for a different kind of life - some with success, others still searching. I'll be asking them to show you what a life less ordinary means to them and how they're living it. I hope you're able to interact with them and share what you believe can make this life extraordinary. Look out for new posts on ISOALLO every Monday and Thursday.
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