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Gareth Ellis
- Mar 25, 2021
- 2 min
Nursery Rhymes are Nonsense
Nursery rhymes and children’s songs are weird. I mean, have you ever properly listened to one? At the moment, it’s a common occurrence to hear the phrase ‘Alexa, play children’s music,’ to keep Rupert and Emi entertained. But in listening to that every day for the last two months I’ve learned a lot of the lyrics to these songs and my god are some of them weird. Take, for example, Old Mother Hubbard. It’s a charming song that starts out simple enough. Old woman has a dog, goes
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Gareth Ellis
- Jan 16, 2021
- 2 min
Teaching Tolerance, not Stereotypes
This week, Emilia turned eight months old. She’s had a big week this week, because as well as pulling herself up from sitting to standing, she’s also started to crawl (she seems like she’s going to be an all or nothing kind of girl.) As well as developing at a pace that makes me wish she was still a tiny bundle of joy, her hair is starting to get longer too. With longer hair comes the responsibility of keeping it out of her eyes with clips etc, and soon I know it will advance
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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
- 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
- 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
- Jul 21, 2020
- 3 min
Not Fair to Compare
When you have children people always tell you ‘no two children are the same.’ You do your best not to compare but sometimes it’s impossible. So and so’s little one down the road walked at 10 months, that other baby is already eating solids at five months, matey boy’s son slept through the night from six weeks. I hate the competition of it. Most of us learn to eat and talk eventually. I mean, I’ve not yet met a person who crawls everywhere like a baby, pointing up at the coffe
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Gareth Ellis
- Jul 7, 2020
- 2 min
Procrastination Frustration
Procrastinating is a terrible thing.
How many times have you gone to do something only to be distracted and end up doing something else completely? You end up down a rabbit hole of ‘this YouTube video is telling me a new way I should be washing my socks,’ yet the blogs you should have written go unfinished.
Just recently I’ve suffered from this, ok maybe not the sock videos, but I should have written a lot more blogs than I have. And it’s not like I haven’t had the material.
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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
- 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 7, 2020
- 3 min
Ru’s Putting His Best Foot Forward
Rupert loves to walk. From the moment he’s finished his milk in the morning, we put him down and off he goes. He walks back and forth mainly, picking up toys as he goes and handing them over, but he rarely crawls now. On one hand it’s amazing. Each day he does something a little differently when he walks. He carries himself a little faster, or he keeps his balance a little steadier, or he learns how to walk across the bed or the sofa. Now though he wants to walk outside. He w
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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
- Dec 22, 2019
- 2 min
Rupert is one – My 100th blog
This blog is special to me, as this marks my 100th since I started it way back in 2016. Back then it was Ellis in Wonderland and I was writing about everything from mental health to rubbish drivers. Then in May 2018 everything changed. We found out we were having Rupert and J suggested I turn it into a Daddy blog – Dad’s the Word was born and we were soon documenting our journey into becoming parents. In November of that year our Ru was born and since then it’s been a yearlon
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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
- Feb 6, 2019
- 2 min
Pictures: Is Sharing Caring?
I’m a sharer. I love sharing pictures of what I’ve been doing, where I’ve been, who I’ve been there with and pretty much anything else I can think of. However, since Rupert has arrived I’ve had to make some important decisions. How much do I share? Who do I share it with and how often? I started this blog because originally I wanted to get my feelings out and write about whatever came to my crazy head. Then when we found out we were pregnant I changed the blog from ‘Ellis in
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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
- Jul 19, 2018
- 2 min
Wham, Bam, We’ve Bought a Pram!
Big news! This week we ordered little man’s pram set! We’re so excited because we got a great price for a set that includes so much. I mean, it comes with a carrycot, cup holder, car seat and even a foot muff! However, our journey towards that decision wasn’t such an easy one. Let me take you back about 2 months. So, J and I had just been for an overwhelming visit to an out of town nursery shop and sensing we might get a bit down we went to Mamas & Papas for another look (and
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Gareth Ellis
- Jul 11, 2018
- 2 min
20-week scan: We’re having a…
So today we went for our 20-week scan. Yes, that’s the one where you find out the sex of the baby! In the weeks and months leading up to the scan J and I were in two minds whether to find out the gender or not and we seriously considered not finding out at all. However, about a month ago, we decided that we wanted to know – we’re impatient buggers you see. All this time I’ve thought about a gender and wondered what I would really want. Would I want a boy to be my little partn
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Gareth Ellis
- Jul 5, 2018
- 2 min
Skip to the Beat
It sounds like a cliché but it’s funny how when you hear your baby’s heartbeat, your own skips a beat. Cheesy as that may sound it’s true. Yesterday hearing the heartbeat of our baby was a magical sound and comes just a day after I felt him/her kick for the first time (but more on that later.) J and I had just returned from our Babymoon in Sorrento and despite feeling utterly relaxed over there the appointment still worried me. Would we be able to hear the heartbeat? Would it
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