One Year On

One year ago today I had my last day in the office. I worked as an accountant doing the daily 9-5, spending my days sat in front of my spreadsheets. The next day I started a new life as a Stay at Home Dad.

Those first few months were pretty nice. My wife gave birth to little Georgie and we spent the summer at home as a family of four. It all became a bit more real when she returned to work in October. So what has happened in the last twelve months and how do I feel about it now? By using the medium of one of my favourite films:

The Good?

• I get to spend my days at home – between bouts of childcare I can potter around doing my jobs looking after the house.
• Popmaster – Who doesn’t like a bit of national radio’s number one quiz.
• I don’t have the monthly grind of an accountant anymore – forecast, reforecast and repeat.
• I can enjoy a mid afternoon cuppa while watching the cycling on TV (while little Georgie is asleep and Galla at nursery). To be fair, this has happened only once.
• I can never  imagine going back to work in an office – although what this means for our future means of making a living I don’t know. See this post.
• Blogging – I started this blog in October 2017 and have really enjoyed putting it together and getting to know the Dad community out there in social media land.
• I’m never bored.

The Bad

• There is no respite, I still have a daily grind, it starts at 6am when the wife leaves for work and ends when the girls go to bed at 7pm. It’s relentless.
• Cooking, while I’m competent in the kitchen. Having to think about feeding everyone every day does cause me some stress.
• School holidays – arrgghh. Having to keep a 3 yr old and soon to be 1 yr old entertained on a rainy day.
• Not looking after myself. When I worked in an office I could easily control what I ate. But in the comfort of my own home, snacking and over-eating do tend to take over. I have NO self control when it comes to cake and cafes.
• Getting anything I want to do, done.

The Ugly

• Potty training! I’ve written about it lots (latest post here), it has been the single most difficult thing my wife and I have had to deal with as parents. And it feels like there is still no light at the end of the tunnel. Having said that, Galla promised us tonight that she will do a poo on the toilet in the morning….

But Actually

I am SO happy we decided to follow this path. Whatever the difficulties I’ve had getting used to being the stay at home parent it is well worth it and I feel so lucky to be able to see my daughters grow up in their early years. I wouldn’t change it for the world.