Things Change When You're a Parent

Before you become a parent you expect that life will change dramatically in many ways, but you're never quite certain exactly how it will play out. You hear pearls of wisdom and get bombarded with advice whether you want it or not as well as doing your own research and you come to a general conclusion of what aspects of life will change and how. I was the same. I fully expected the early days to be torturous, sleep deprived, body shockingly hell and that's pretty much how it played out. I knew that I'd find myself daydreaming and thinking that I'd take a good sleep over winning the lottery. That happened. I expected to become a lesser priority in my own house, my own mind even and knew that my bank balance would take a new direction. I was prepared to lose touch with my friends, see my social life become virtually non-existent, have less 'me' time, less 'us' time and be forced into being more responsible. I came to terms very early on with the fact that I didn't mind losing so much of the life I had become accustomed to because being a parent would throw so many new things my way and the amount to be gained was endless. But I have to draw the line somewhere! I might be a Dad, but I'm still a person. What I wasn't prepared for was to lose my basic privacy rights!

This week, one morning I was home alone with both children whilst my wife went on a rare child free shopping jaunt with a friend. I hadn't found time to get dressed or brush my teeth, but I was smiling because I'd successfully navigated the breakfast routine and got both little ones dressed and cleaned up. Our 2 month old daughter was sleeping, our 17 month old son was causing chaos as usual, and me? I needed desperately to use the toilet. I picked up our toddler and moved him to his play pen, surrounded by toys and fenced in. Contained. I was safe to take a quick bathroom pit stop. I'll spare you the details, but I was sat down doing my business and the bathroom door opens. In walks Clayton! My 17 month old child had overcome his fenced in environment, navigated the living room, gotten out of the door... walked by the staircase, along the hallway and opened another door to find me privately going about my business. Except it was no longer private and he looked mighty pleased with himself! Things just got real!