What I'm Doing Now - A Meme

I've never taken part in a bloggers meme before and didn't really know what one was until I got involved in this one via 'A Mothers Ramblings'. A meme is basically the equivalent to chain mail, where content is passed on in a chain to hopefully keep it alive. The difference in the blogging world though, is that when content is forwarded on, instead of being a direct copy it gets adapted to suit the person sending it. It's just the theme that stays the same... the template. This particular meme appealed to me because it's completely different to what has been going on in my blogging space lately. My corner of the internet is solely focused on me as a Dad, my family life and the evolving lives of my child(ren). But this blogging meme will give you a small insight into me... me as an individual and not just me as a Dad. Why you'd want to know that, I don't know but I feel like rambling all the same...

Reading - Funnily enough, for someone who enjoys writing, I'm not really into books too much and I'm not reading anything at the minute. I read the news via mobile apps everyday; I read about other peoples drama on Facebook and I scour Twitter looking for other blogs that interest me but I'm not reading an actual book at the minute. Of course, I read to Clayton every night before bed and we pretty much always include 'Polar Bear, Polar Bear' in out literary routine.

Listening To - Music is a huge part of my life simply because I hate silence. For me silence is the loudest noise there is and if the TV isn't on then music usually is. My wife has been obsessed with the new Ed Sheeran album and has been playing it on repeat before I even get the chance to select my own playlist, so that's been the dominant sound on the airwaves at home. I don't like music to be left on repeat, but his new release is a solid one and I've been enjoying it. When I get to be in charge of my own listening choices though (usually only when I shower) I've been enjoying Coldplay, Ellie Goulding and All About She.

Laughing At - It's impossible to have an inquisitive, cheeky, hyper active one year old son taking up most of your time and not find yourself laughing at him. Sometimes I don't even know why and I don't think he does either but we will literally just chuckle at each other. I laugh when we play games, when he shocks himself and I can't help but laugh when he tosses all his unwanted food to the floor (even though it encourages him). Having children around keeps your heart young and despite the stresses and hard work the laughter that comes with being in their company is a great tonic.

Swooning Over - Oh boy. My heavily pregnant wife is due any day now and is mightily hormonal so I run the risk of poking the bear and being victim to all kinds of abuse here but I have to tell you that I am massively crushing on Rachel Khoo. Rachel Khoo is the star of her own TV series where she combines art, travel and cooking. Anyone that knows me will tell you that art, travel and cooking are 3 of my biggest passions and she had me won over without using her looks, smile, giggle or style. All those things are just a bonus, along with her tweeting me back the one and only time I've sent a tweet her way. I love it when famous people take the time to respond.

Planning - I'm usually pretty organised and actually enjoy planning but I've put it on hold out of frustration for the time being. I had plenty of things planned for the summer but the fact that baby girl has held on a few weeks longer than we were told to expect has meant that pretty much all those plans have been put on hold. The fact that she could come any day now and could have done for the last 4 weeks according to our midwifery team has made it impossible to plan even a day in advance. 

Eating Lots Of - Fruit. My fruit intake has shot up massively over the last month. I've been on a berry eating spree that would rival Yogi Bear in preparing to hibernate. Our fridge has been well stocked with strawberries, blueberries and raspberries and I actually now can't remember the last biscuit, chocolate or non-fruit dessert I even ate!

Feeling - Waiting for a baby that we were told to expect a month ago is an emotional nightmare. I'm feeling irritated, anxious and frustrated. I know that these feelings will soon be replace, but seriously... When?!

Discovering - We've been discovering new places all the time as a family lately. We only moved to the area in January and now the nicer weather has been making regular appearances, we've been able to explore a little more. We've discovered a whole bunch of farm shops, tea rooms, a petting farm, parks and hidden gems in the form of eateries. We have always been a couple that likes to spend a lot of time together and experience things together and that's transferred into our family life since becoming parents. I think and hope that as the children grow, that the strong core we are creating will help us bond and stay close as a family.

Wearing - The warmer weather has seen me ditch the hi-tops and reach for the shorts and boat shoes combo on a regular basis and I love those rare occasions when we can wear holiday clothes in our own country. 

Cooking - I love to cook and I love to eat even more... I'm a huge foodie! That being said however, I have a wardrobe larger than any other male I know and I don't like not fitting into it. Since Clayton was born, fitness and healthy eating got pushed to the side and I've stacked on a bunch of unwanted pounds. It's all to easy to reach for sugar and junk food when you're sleep deprived. With baby number 2 on the way, I started to panic that the same would happen again and a bunch of unwanted pounds might become an unmanageable amount of unwanted pounds. I'm now almost 4 weeks into a 10 week challenge I set myself when I eat clean and train dirty and I've been working really hard. Cooking though has been a lot less fun as a result. I cook things for my wife (I'm the main cook in the household) but then try and forget about them and just eat a bunch of leaves for the most part. Last week I did treat myself though and cooked a bit of a seafood feast... prawns, bass, cod and clams were all on show.

Wondering - What do you think I'm wondering? I'm wondering when our baby girl is going to make an appearance. Being fashionably late is so 1990's!

Trying Out - I've been trying out yoga. My workout routine usually consists of swinging a kettlebell, rowing, hitting a heavy punch bag or high intensity interval circuit training. I've been adding some basic yoga into my fitness schedule and have seen a lot of benefits. The improvement in my balance, core strength, flexibility and breathing techniques that have come as a result of yoga have seen me make improvements in stamina and intensity during my regular gym activity. I've also been a lot less stiff after any particularly tough workouts which I'm putting down to the amount of stretching I'm actually doing over the course of a week now. Yoga is overlooked by a lot of men in opinion. I feel I can say that already despite still being in the trying out stage.

So that's me lately and that's my first participation in a bloggers meme. Hopefully I don't kill the chain with my first effort and my attempt to keep the meme going will see me tag all of those featuring my Favourite Bloggers List.

Mummy Daddy Me

You Baby Me Mummy

Pink Oddy

Daddacool

This Mummy Loves