Well, we made it to one year.

It’s been a good one too, involving such highlights as:

  • Travel to Karitane, Auckland, Papamoa, Furneaux Lodge, Sunny Raumati Beach.
  • A bullet-proof baby getting his innoculations, and hardly noticing them
  • Starting daycare with Barnadoes (highly recommended), and Second Chef returning to a workplace more happy than she left
  • Me starting new work just prior to the arrival of Chef Du Plunge
  • A restructure at work which threatened to leave a new Dad out of work…
  • The decision to up sticks and move to the suburbs*, with the consequent purchase of a property (we signed the deal last Monday, and we’re moving Wellington Anniversary weekend)
  • Both adults finally feeling that the city was just too noisy. But, three years here, it will be quite a change
  • The movement into the parenting circles, and whole new social sphere
  • Learning great songs like “The Grand Old Duke of York”, and “Purea Nei”
  • A great little guy coming along in huge, baby-sized strides.

In short he’s doing really well. He didn’t get his first cold until he started daycare, and since then Dad has had a cold almost non-stop. But, so be it.

He really is a great kid. He’s perceptive, clever, inquisitive, and vocal (yes, all parents think these things). Vocal especially. An example is his being woken up by the fireworks on Guy Fawkes, and being brought out into the kitchen at his aunt’s place to watch, and providing a running commentary with finger pointing. Cute as heck.

And in balance parenting isn’t such a drag. It’s lead to a lot of changes in our lifestyles, but nothing you can’t adjust too. Sure, we go out less, and not to extravaganza when we do, but… so what? The party goes on in the city without us, and things like boozing are only money sinks. We still have great hard-case times, with and without the wee man there. It’s been a change from outward-focussed attention, to an inward focus on our nuclear family, but we get to share it with others whenever we can.

All in all, not so bad.

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