I’ve been a Daddy for almost four years now. I know what you’re thinking, Rupert’s only three, how can you have been a Daddy for four? Well, I counted myself as one the moment Jess told me we were going to be having him. There are some who may not agree. Who think that you’re not a parent until the baby arrives, or the baby/child arrives in their home, but I chose to view it differently. For the most part I love being a Dad. I love getting out and about with the kids and taki

I love my kids. They’re funny, they’re sweet and although I may be biased, they’re bloody gorgeous as well. But bugger me they can be a bit full on at times. Currently, Rupert wants to do everything for himself – everything but use a potty that is, but that’s another matter. Now, I know what you’re thinking, a bit of independence is great, children should learn to do things for themselves, and yes I’m all for that. Now, imagine independence while picturing a three-year-old po

As a parent it can be excruciating sometimes to hear cliches – mainly because most of them are true. Time really does go too quickly, it IS the hardest but most rewarding job you could have, and the terrible twos are real. Unfortunately, that last one has become blatantly obvious in the last few months thanks to our little ‘two-nager.’ Don’t get me wrong, Rupert can be a hilarious, cute and very caring little boy, and he is clearly besotted with his little sister but sometime

This year has been a strange one. Dominated strongly by one thing, we’ve seen the best and worst of the human spirit as people battled through tiers and heartbreak with laughter and strength. It was a year where we welcomed our beautiful daughter, Emilia, to our family and she made us feel complete, yet we weren’t allowed to meet up with family so they could share in our joy. Here’s a rundown of life in the Ellis household in 2020. January: Rupert walked for the first time ou

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

This Sunday was a weird day. It was the first time in 35 years that I’ve had a birthday in lockdown. But I’m not alone though, there will have been millions who this affected, not only back in March but also across this whole year – including my mother-in-law and Rupert too. Hopefully, my MIL had just as good a day as I did because despite the lockdown I had an amazing time. Yes, I could only see my Dad and brother outside, and one by one, and yes I couldn’t hug them or go ou

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

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

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

Today we should have been celebrating Mum’s 61st birthday, and her first as a Nana. Instead we were scattering her ashes. You ever get the feeling that life isn’t fair? This time last year she was at Harry Potter World for her 60th birthday – a place she’d always dreamed of visiting. I’m glad we could give her a lasting memory before she passed away. It’s just shy of four months since our Mum/Rupert’s Nana lost her brave battle with cancer and I think I’m just about in the ri

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

What makes a good parent? Right now I think Jess and I are doing a bloody good job but every now and again people ask us a question and I for one find myself wondering what the best response is. I know a few people out there who have kids who are also doing a damn good job and I wonder if any of you have fallen foul of the following questions. 1: Are you still breastfeeding? (Asked to Jess of course.) Now this is a fairly standard one but one that gets asked of Jess a lot (ei

On Friday morning, 9.42am, on the 23rd of November something truly magical happened – Jess and I became parents. Our little boy decided that he didn’t want to wait until his due date and instead he wanted to come and say hello a few days early. After what seemed like a long, 9-month wait, we were then greeted with a labour that started around 54 hours before he finally made his first appearance – but more on that later. Let me take you back to the start. It seems like fore