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Gareth Ellis
- May 31, 2020
- 2 min
Pandemic Positives: Staying Social
So, the news hit recently that people will be able to meet up in groups of six in gardens or outside spaces as of tomorrow. This is huge news for a lot of people who have been dying to meet up with friends and family and enjoy the sunshine together, while still obeying the government rules surrounding coronavirus. For me, I’ve been meeting up with friends, family, and work colleagues on a regular basis – through the magic of both Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and video calling. Team
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Gareth Ellis
- May 25, 2020
- 3 min
No, Rupert, No! Repeat
Since Emilia has arrived Rupert has been amazing. He beams when he sees her, he lays his head on her chest when he can, and he hasn’t had any regression in sleep (fingers crossed.) However, Emilia or not, there’s one thing I’m struggling with as Rupert has hit the 18-month milestone and that’s discipline – I’m not sure what method is going to work. At the moment he doesn’t seem to understand no, he’s too young to stay on any naughty step and there’s no way I’m laying a finger
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Gareth Ellis
- May 18, 2020
- 3 min
Two Under Two: Expectation v Reality
We have officially had two children for six days now, and I have to say it’s begun with mixed results – albeit most of them positive. Some of them are positive because of the baby Emilia has been so far, but a lot of them have been good because I expected them to be much worse. So, I wanted to run through a few of my expectations v reality moments that we’ve experienced thus far. Although I first want to caveat it with the explanation that these are personal to me and that th
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Gareth Ellis
- May 11, 2020
- 2 min
Double the babies, double the love
We’re literally just a handful of days before we potentially meet our new little prince or princess, and now I’m starting to worry. But these are different from the worries I had before Rupert was born. Then it was a fear of the unknown, scared that life was about to change beyond belief and terrified about whether I could be a good Dad. Days before Rupert was born I even questioned my own mortality – scared that one day I would leave him. However, this time around I’ve been
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Gareth Ellis
- May 7, 2020
- 3 min
No nod to the Dad Bod
I love almost everything associated with being a Dad, yet there’s one I just can’t bear to put my name to – the ‘Dad Bod.’ Everything else I naturally either assumed when that pregnancy test was positive for the first time, or I already did. For example, I’ve been telling Dad jokes for the best part of 20 years. My humour can be pretty dark at times, childish a LOT of the time, but is also full of cheesy ‘jokes’ that would make even my own Dad cringe. Something else I’ve alwa
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Gareth Ellis
- May 4, 2020
- 2 min
Tidy v Clean
When it comes to owning a home, you want it to be clean and tidy. When you add in a child you’ll take it just being clean. J is a stickler for keeping the house tidy. She’ll wash and wipe up and clean the kitchen sides after every single meal, whereas I prefer (most days) to just do the bare minimum and then have a proper clean up at the end of the day. However, since having Rupert I’ve certainly come around to Jess’ way of thinking and I want to keep the house both clean and
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Gareth Ellis
- Mar 28, 2020
- 3 min
Isolation Frustration
Just recently Coronavirus has kept people (well most people) locked up in their homes to help slow, and hopefully stop, the spread of the virus. This for many, including J and I, means that Rupert’s nursery has closed, leaving us with a 16 month at home while we try to work. *I must at first add a caveat to this that I have currently been signed off work for a couple of weeks with stress, so I am free to look after Rupert while Jess works from home – however soon I’ll be back
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Gareth Ellis
- Feb 25, 2020
- 3 min
Don’t just give up on Lent
Today (Tuesday) is one of my favourite days – not because of its position in the week (it’s far too close to Monday) but because it’s Shrove Tuesday – PANCAKE DAY! Now I know what you’re thinking, you shouldn’t have just one day for pancakes. However, this is a day when you can heap melted mars bar and ice cream on a pancake and not feel guilty. What comes tomorrow though excites me almost as much (almost.) Lent is a religious festival that is supposed to represent Jesus’ sac
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Gareth Ellis
- Sep 10, 2019
- 3 min
Teamwork makes the Dream Work
I’m a very lucky man. I’ve currently been with Jess for just over seven years (married for two) and we have a beautiful son together. We live in a lovely home and have wonderful family, even those watching over us. But I’d be lying if I didn’t think that sometimes having a son can put a serious strain on your relationship. Now before I go into this I have to say that I am as happy with Jess now as I ever have been, this is not a ‘Dear Jane’ blog for her. But sleep deprivation
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Gareth Ellis
- Dec 17, 2018
- 2 min
Where does the time go?
It sounds like a cliché but time really is the most precious commodity we have. At the start of each day we all get 24 hours and we can choose to spend them however we want. Except the thing I’ve learned as a parent is that time seems to go so much quicker. One minute you’re getting up to start the day, the next minute you’re getting back into bed and you’ve achieved the sum total of sod all. In the last two weeks we’ve been home from hospital, Jess and I have planned to make
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Gareth Ellis
- Aug 8, 2018
- 2 min
Decorating the Nursery: Part 1
So recently J and I have been decorating the nursery and this weekend we made some amazing progress in little man’s room. However, before I get to that I want to tell you all about the journey we took to get to that point. When you think of decorating your baby’s room you think it will be so easy and that you’ll settle on a colour scheme before naturally and easily getting on with it. I did anyway, I thought it would be as simple as looking at paint, buying it, then coming ho
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Gareth Ellis
- Dec 22, 2017
- 2 min
Blogmas 2017 Day 10 – Luckier than you think
Sitting at home right now I can’t help but feel lucky. I have a home, a car and a large and loving family as well as a beautiful wife. However, it’s at this time that you have to spare a thought for the less fortunate. Milton Keynes has one of the highest homeless populations in the UK and just a short walk through the shopping centre, under the underpasses reveals exactly that. You see so many tents, sleeping bags and mattresses and with the weather as bad as it has been you
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Gareth Ellis
- Dec 16, 2017
- 2 min
Blogmas 2017 Day 4 – Food, Not So Glorious Food
Don’t diet at Christmas. The hardcore out there will no doubt be reading that and thinking that I’m wrong and that dieting is an all year round activity. However, that would mean using something I really don’t have – willpower. Literally as soon as my birthday hits in mid-November I will get presents that involve something calorific, and delicious. From there it’s a sea of chocolates, takeaways and people bringing in treats to the office. I should say no, and my ever-growing
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Gareth Ellis
- Dec 13, 2017
- 2 min
Blogmas 2017 Day 1 – Fear of Missing Out
I suffer with FOMO, but what exactly is it? Fear of Missing Out isn’t some kind of modern, made up bullshit, it’s actually a thing. It’s that fear that if you don’t watch a certain programme or get involved in a particular conversation that you’ll be unhappy and miss out on something spectacular. Most of the time it’s never the case. When I was younger, and single, it manifested itself in the need to go out every weekend. You maybe didn’t want to but it was always that crippl
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Gareth Ellis
- Dec 10, 2017
- 2 min
Holidays aren’t coming, they’re here!
I love Christmas. It really is the most wonderful time of the year and I love seeing how happy people get in the build up to the 25th. For me, my birthday is mid-November so I tend to not get too carried away with it until December hits. But as soon as the 1st is here I definitely go a little bit crazy. The jumpers come out, (I’ve now got 7) so do the hats (I’ve got 7 of those too) and the Christmas tunes go on. There’s just something about it that I can’t explain. Now I’m o
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Gareth Ellis
- Oct 23, 2017
- 2 min
V – Suitable for Vegetarians
I love eating meat. I am a carnivore and there aren’t many meals I can usually get through without some kind of meat product. J is not the same as she doesn’t like a lot of meats. She’s never really liked pork or lamb and we always end up cutting off lots of ‘fatty bits’ from our chicken. So she’s decided to cut down on the amount of meat she eats, a decision I completely understand and support. However, it’s not one I will be embarking upon myself this time. Fuck that! Anyon
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Gareth Ellis
- Oct 16, 2017
- 2 min
How to sell a house in your pants
Recently we made the decision to move house. Our current, beloved, little home is just too small for us now and we need to move somewhere bigger. But what does moving house mean? Looking at potential new houses of course. Fuck me, it’s a ball ache. Because we’d agreed on a sale first and had originally planned to rent the thought of looking didn’t enter our minds. The sale itself was hilarious. So picture the scene, I was sat in my boxers with just a slanket round me, chillin
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