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Gareth Ellis
- May 12, 2021
- 3 min
Being a full-time Daddy
Just recently I started a new job. I say new, I’ve been doing it on a ‘part-time’ basis for two and a half years, but now I’ve been ‘promoted’ to full time Daddy. My wife, Jess, went back to work this week after taking the last year off on maternity leave and I’ll therefore need to be on hand to take over the parental responsibilities. I’m not scared, you’re scared. To be honest, I’m not really that worried about it. For starters, they’re my children, and I know them pretty w
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Gareth Ellis
- Feb 19, 2021
- 2 min
9 Months In, 9 Months Out – Part 2
Just recently, Emi turned nine months old. And yes, just like every other month, I can’t quite believe how fast time is going. I know, I know, it sounds like a cliché, but it really is true. Time flies when you have children. In the nine months she’s blessed our family she’s grown so much and already learned a hell of a lot. This time, around 18 months ago, I was writing a very similar blog about Rupert turning nine months, so I’ll try not to compare the two of them too much
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Gareth Ellis
- Jan 5, 2021
- 3 min
The Fun of Feeding Two Children
When you have to feed one child it can be difficult, feeding two can be hectic. We started feeding Rupert solid food when he was around six months old, starting with mashed banana, and advancing to things like Weetabix and sweet potato. For the most part he fed really well. He was one of those children who you couldn’t shovel the food in fast enough, he was just ready with his mouth open for the next spoonful. As most of you will know, all children are different. So, some chi
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Gareth Ellis
- Nov 23, 2020
- 2 min
Happy 2nd Birthday, Rupert
Today is a special day in the Ellis household. Our little, not so little boy, our first born, our beautiful son Rupert turned two. No longer are we parents of two babies (although they’ll always be my babies), or two under two, now we have a baby and a toddler. I’m so proud of him. He’s growing into this wonderful, clever little boy and despite not wanting to mention it, time is going so quickly. It seems like only yesterday he arrived, after a 54-hour labour, and a fairly tr
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Gareth Ellis
- Oct 25, 2020
- 3 min
I swear, I try not to swear
Oh fudge, what the flip, and shhhhh-ugar! As a parent you have to get pretty imaginative when it comes to covering your swearing and pretending you haven’t said a rude word. Jess and I are definitely of the opinion that swearing will be strictly forbidden in our house, so I have to do everything to cover my sweary mouth. This doesn’t just mean saying words like clucking banker, or truck you, because they’re words that can be mis-pronounced or heard wrong, so Emi or Rupert may
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Gareth Ellis
- Oct 20, 2020
- 3 min
Review: Pumpkin Picking at The Patch MK
This weekend was a first for the Ellis family – as it was the first time any of us had gone pumpkin picking. Rupert is a massive fan of getting out and about, Emilia is always beautifully behaved wherever we go and Jess and I just like spending time together – so it seemed perfect. Let me first start out by telling you a little bit about the premise of the day in case you’re thinking of heading there yourself. The Patch is a working farm area, Mount Mill Farm to be exact, bas
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Gareth Ellis
- Sep 26, 2020
- 2 min
‘My kids amaze me every day.’
Some might say I’m easily pleased, but I am amazed by my children every day. I know that’s a bit of an obvious statement but genuinely they do something every day that I will marvel at (and no-one else is all that bothered.) Even the little things they do seem to make me think they’re both geniuses. For example, Rupert loves to help put the washing machine on. He gets the clothes, puts them inside, he gets the fabric softener from the cupboard and then presses the button to p
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Gareth Ellis
- Sep 15, 2020
- 3 min
Time Flies
Time is one of those things that we all get in equal measure. Each day we get 24 hours to do with whatever we want. That’s 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds, and when you say it like that it seems like a lot. Especially seeing as we spend at least a third of that sleeping. With me I go to sleep anywhere between 9pm (some days) and 11pm before getting up around 7am when Rupert gets up. The moments outside of that I try my hardest to spend with those I love the most. Like I’ve sa
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Gareth Ellis
- Aug 24, 2020
- 2 min
Lockdown Life as a Working Dad
In the last four months I’ve been working from home, much like a number of people around the country. However, when you say working from home you envision waking up 15 minutes before work starts, rolling into the shower and then making it downstairs with a coffee in front of your laptop with a minute to spare before work starts. Working from home when you have two children, one of whom is a newborn, is completely different. Here’s a typical day for my wife and I. 5am – drag m
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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 13, 2020
- 4 min
Our family is complete!
At 8.11am yesterday my life became complete as our baby made their arrival – just two days early. After a comparatively short labour, nine hours compared to 54, suddenly we had our baby and our little family was complete. Jess felt the first pangs of labour at 11pm on Monday (the 11th) but decided not to wake me until she couldn’t wait anymore, around 5am. So we did the usual, we timed the contractions and they were just under 10 minutes apart, we had ages, or so we thought.
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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
- Jan 26, 2020
- 2 min
Putting the we in weekend
This weekend has been amazing. And I haven’t really done that much. Before Rupert, and before I was with Jess, I could go a whole day without leaving the house. I wasn’t much of a lay-in person, never have been, but I was sometimes a bloody lazy bugger. A typical Saturday for me (sometimes) was up at 9am to watch Soccer AM until 12pm, then half an hour break, then watch whatever football match was on at 12.30pm. By the time that was over it was around 2.30pm so I’d have anoth
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Gareth Ellis
- Jan 14, 2020
- 2 min
I hate when Rupert’s ill
I hate it when Rupert is poorly. He’s had plenty of colds, what we think are sore throats and a cough that won’t seem to bugger off, as well as a sickness bug or two. Every time I absolutely hate it, mainly because there’s nothing we can do. All we can do is give him some Nurofen (if that’s what he needs) and plenty of love and cuddles. We’ve had a couple of hilarious moments where we’ve taken his nappy off as he’s had a sore bum after having a ‘dodgy belly’ and he’s pooed on
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Gareth Ellis
- Jan 5, 2020
- 2 min
Daddy Knows Best Too….right?
Being a Dad is tough. I don’t want to come across like I have things hard or that I don’t have any support because that’s far from true. I just mean some of the day to day aspects of being a Dad are tough. And I don’t mind admitting that. Even though more is being done to help people with their mental health issues and to share their struggles verbally, it’s still hard for some people to open up and really talk. It’s taboo that we ask any questions or that we even raise a shr
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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
- Sep 3, 2019
- 2 min
Rupert’s First Hour of Nursery
Rupert has now taken his latest, and so far scariest, step towards being a big boy. Yesterday, he had his first taster session at Nursery. Now, it may have only been an hour and yes, we were both in the same room with him but still, it was massive. To us, Rupert is still very much a baby. Not just a baby, but a tiny one at that. He’s still on the 9th percentile for growth for Christ’s sake. So we went into the nursery (I won’t name it right now) and after we signed in and got
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Gareth Ellis
- Aug 30, 2019
- 2 min
Sun’s Out, Guns In
I am what’s known as a sun worshipper. I am THAT guy who moves his sunbed round on holiday so that it’s always facing the sun straight on. I’m THAT guy who would rather sit in the shade than get vest/t-shirt tan, and I’m THAT guy who doesn’t want to be in the sun if it means I’m not laying in it getting the best tan I can. However, this year has been different. With a baby you don’t really have time to lay in bed, let alone lay in the sun. And with little hope of a summer hol
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Gareth Ellis
- Aug 25, 2019
- 2 min
9 Months In, 9 Months Out
This month, J and I have worked out something rather weird – our son has been in our arms as long as he was cooking in Jess’ tummy. I suppose it’s an odd way of looking at it, but I couldn’t think how else to explain to people just how quickly this last nine months has gone. In that time Rupert has gone from our cuddly, squishy, hungry little monkey who never wanted to sleep to a clever, funny, hungry little monkey who never wants to sleep. The time for other people has gone
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Gareth Ellis
- Aug 19, 2019
- 3 min
Anti-Social Media
Social media when you have children is both the best and the worst thing. It’s the best because we can share little milestones that Ru is hitting with friends and family that otherwise wouldn’t see it. That is, without us relentlessly messaging them an endless stream of pictures and videos. I love being able to share little snapshots of what we’re doing with Ru and memories we’re making, but within that statement comes my biggest criticism of social media. For those with chil
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