We’re into a routine, these days. Eli feeds every three-to-four hours during the day, during which we have to wake him for his feeds. At night we let him sleep, and he’ll go anywhere from five to seven hours from start of feed to start of the next. The sleep is wonderful, and we’re making the most of it while it lasts – because it may very well disappear! Random and totally surprising fact: I get more sleep now each night than I did in the year leading up to Eli being born. Anywhere from 8-10 hours. Go figure.

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The remainder of his umbilical fell of the other day. Changing him is now infinitely easier with one less appendage to position correctly in or above the nappy. Also, he now has a belly button, not something hidden under a yellow clip. All good news. Changing, on the other hand, can be hazardous. Not for me, more for the amount of nappies we go through. He’s got this amazing ability to hold off on filling a nappy until just after I’ve put a fresh one on him. Clever, clever boy.

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Zahli is adapting as perfectly as could ever be expected. She loves her little brother, and will race into a room if she hasn’t seen him for a while, find where he is, jump up (if he’s on the couch with Beth) to give him a quick sniff, then happy curl up or continue playing. Other times I’ll find her racing from room to room trying to gauge where he is; when he’s found, she’s happy. She just wants to know where he is. She’s also taking to curling up on the spare bed in his room while I’m in there settling him or changing him – something she never used to do. She wouldn’t even go in that room before he was born, even if we were in there sorting things out.

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Beth is a super woman. While I always knew this, people after people are telling her so. Apparently a lot of women take a lot longer to recover from a caesar/emergency caesar, and the fact that before Eli’s even two weeks old, she’s been up, out, shopping, visiting, attending birthday picnics is some amazing feat. I always knew I had a good wife!

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I’ve realised that now I’m a dad, I’m eventually going to have to confront one of my deepest fears about parenthood. Thankfully it’s not going to rear it’s ugly  head for quite a number of years, but it’s no longer something that may happen – it’s bound to, now. Without even having the discussion, I know the responsibility is going to fall to me, even though I’m not looking forward to it any more than Beth is. But I’ll have to take it on, I guess. As much as I can.

Maths homework help is going to seriously suck.