364 Days Old

(Draft written on 3rd Jan 2012)

It's quite weird to think that Daisy will be a year old tomorrow.. Weirder still to think that a year ago we were preparing to go into hospital to have her without any knowledge of how awesome she would turn out to be.. Luckily, we got a good egg, I can't say how she'll turn out to be in ten years time, but as long as she keeps smiling and attempting to play (hit) my guitar thats ok by me.

I kind of realised pretty quickly that there was little point in trying to instil my music tastes etc on Daisy at this point, first of all, well she quite rightly doesn't care, and secondly she's already her own person. I know quite obviously that me and Jen still have to do most things for her but it's frightening how quickly children show flashes of independence, for instance, she knows that she would much rather play with my mobile phone and keys than any of the plethora of plastic toys at her disposal. Basically anything that she's not allowed to play with she wants and anywhere she's not allowed to go, she wants to explore, I believe this to be a common trait in the little people...

I certainly share Daisy's enthusiasm for banging on stuff, she finds no end of amusement simply bashing her fists down on anything and everything, which obviously means she will be a drummer.

Anyway.. lil' lady, life wouldn't be half as much fun without you

So I am a dad... Awesome!

So its now 12 days since our beautiful Daisy Lullaby Violet Bodnarchuk was born... and yes, updating the blog has taken on a lower priority, but i hope to fill in the gaps during the next few days as theres a lot to tell.

Currently Daisy is lay on my chest clutching my 'Back to the Future' T-Shirt whislt we watch a Metallica DVD on TV in my thin hope that one day I can take my daughter to her first rock concert without her kicking and screaming.

I've never really been that fussed about holding babies before but I can't put Daisy down, she is cuter than cute stuff and so chilled its an absolute pleasure to be around her (fortunately).

The day she was born was obviously an emotional day, the birth went well and was carried out early in the morning and I was a proud Dad up to about 200 photos by lunchtime. Its mad how quick a 'C' section is, i think the actual surgery took 7 minutes, they don't hang around! That made life easier as the operating theatre is quite clearly somewhere you don't want to hang out in for too long, but we have a couple of friends Mikey and Karen who work there and helped with the op so this made it all a lot more comfortable and Daisy was out to the music of The Nolans 'I'm in the mood for Dancing' before we knew it.

My hopes for that day were for a healthy baby, a healthy mum, good pictures and to change a nappy and they all got ticked off on the 4th which was awesome.; Changing nappies is so easy, i cant believe i thought it would be an issue before, i did however say to Daisy that there is a very select list of peoples nappies that i'm willing to change, and she's it; but yeah, basic.

Daisy has been sleeping for England since she was born which has been a gentle introduction to our daughter, she is gradually getting more and more aware and awake each day and even had a little play with Mr Panda and Mum yesterday which was a joy to watch.

...Well Metallica are on to Master of Puppets and Daisy is still fast asleep which boosts my hopes for sub-concious influence, we'll see. Jen fancies curry tonight which made my eyes light up brighter than the mini-missus and i think my belly is calling for it quite soon.... so the champagne is in the fridge, family life is everything and more than i hoped it would be and life pretty much rocks right now. Thanks to everyone for their lovely messages, cards and advice! the three of us look forward to seeing everyone very soon.

Damn i'm looking forward to that champagne :)

Twas the night before baby and all through the house...

....Me and Jen are both stirring and excited about tomorrow :) We've had a good day, it's been very chilled and even went out on a date tonight! Get in. It was really nice to get out and have a nice dinner at our favorite adopted restaurant and chat about non-baby stuff before tomorrows life changing events unfold...
So the bags at the door all packed... the cameras are charged and all's left to do i think is sleep? Up at 6:45 tomorrow and in the hospital for 8... hoping that we'll get 'baby'd up' fairly early on in the day but its all a waiting game... still we realise how fortunate we are to know what day our baby will be born on.. it's allowed us to prepare practically and mentally which has been a real luxury.

Anyway, wish us luck and keep us in your thoughts tomorrow!

Cheers

(Nearly) Daddy Bodders :)

The day after tomorrow..

So... The day after tomorrow we're going to be parents, Mummy and Daddy in fact.. Woahhhhh, freaky man.

Anyway, the planets are all aligned and the 3 wise men have visited with gifts of gold, frankincense and baby-grows.. Fair play to Mary giving birth to Jesus in a stable, I wonder where she plugged in her egg room temperature regulator.. I guess Joseph ran an extension out from the main building or something. In fact I'm surprised that some celebrity hasn't tried recreating the Nativity scene for the birth of their child, although getting around the health and safety implications to get a donkey into the hospital would be fairly tricky.

Ive been looking at photobox online and getting quite excited about making loads of family photo books with the baby.. And my lovely missus has given me the green light to get a spangly new camera which will be really handy for tracking the little lady's progress.. 

So keep an eye out for lots of Facebook baby albums and keep an eye on the blog, as the next couple of weeks are going to be when the party really starts!

Enter Sandman..

5 days to go... The timelord is in full swing at the moment. It really does feel like an upturned hourglass and the sand is going like the clappers, it feels like I should be practicing some ancient Chinese meditation in mental preparation... or polishing off the liquor cabinet. 

Speaking of booze, Jenny has been extraordinarily kind in allowing me to keep having quite a few beers here and there throughout the pregnancy, but it's the wine that I feel incredibly guilty having a glass of in front of her.. It's like telling a child they can't have a bag of sweets and then eating the whole lot in front of them; saying that, I'm very much looking forward to returning the favour in a few months time and playing the role of a very willing baby sitter / taxi driver.

It's my last day at work tomorrow until the 24th January, which is very cool. I'm looking forward to a bit of a break and getting down with family life 2011, bring it on baby!

6 days to go (Cue ominous music..)

I remember the precise moment that the pregnancy really kicked in, and made us rethink our pace of life; it was strangely coincidental because it was in the same place that a few months earlier the realisation had come to us that the stomach aches and the sick feeling had gone on a little too long for the cause to be food poisoning.
 
It was at a gig at the Thekla when we suddenly realised the temperature, the slippery floor, the amount of people around crashing into each other, and the noise that you don’t really normally think that much about under normal circumstances. We took a seat at the back and had a lovely evening but there was a realisation that things were going to be a bit different from now on.
 
Jen has coped with pregnancy amazingly well, and I must pay enormous credit to her.. because babies are heavy. Organising pillows to sleep is a carefully angled system, sitting is uncomfortable and even if you get comfy you have a little one practicing football skills from within. (I tell you now, she will play for England Ladies one day, she has a hell of a right foot volley on her.)…. We have found the two keys for a happy pregnancy are humour and chocolate.
 
We have our final hospital appointment later on before the big day which will be quite strange. The care and attention that we have been given has been nothing short of amazing, and huge credit to the health service for hiring such caring and professional individuals – you rock.

I'm a dinosaur....hear me roar!

Well it took me about 4 hours until i couldn't resist any longer and set to work on the dinosaur kit i got for Christmas. There's something very satisfying about making something and sitting back looking at the finished product. Especially when its a freakin' dinosaur!

Christmas day was great this year, a lot of fun and lovely presents, Jenny bought me lots of awesome gifts including Slayer and Metallica DVD's that i can only assume are intended for me to watch with the baby as a sort of early musical education.. Sounds like a plan. Christmas TV was pretty dire though, there were a couple of highlights like the Royle family and Little Britain dudes airport thingy, but in fairness it was nice to stick the 'best fantastic songs of Christmas ever in the world 102nd edition' on the CD player and relax and enjoy good food, good company and good wine.

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas, back to more baby focussed blogging tomorrow.... 9 days to go!