- Hello, lovely people.
- Hello.
- Welcome back to another video, my fabulous wife.
- Yay! - Isn't she gorgeous?
- Oh, thanks.
- It's not the only reason that I keep her around.
- I also, like, you know, made our baby in my belly.
- Well, yeah, that's great.
But that's a separate issue.
I think you're a fabulous person in yourself, regardless.
You are pretty amazing, now,
'cause you did
create a human life. - I know.
It's like, whoa, look at him.
- Interestingly,
our child is the type of child who,
much like his mother,
enjoys routine,
schedules.
We were going to do a vlog that was all like,
"Oh, let's go through
a day in the life with a newborn, ooh."
Actually, vlogging with a newborn is...
- Yeah, Jessica proposed this idea,
and I was like,
"Yeah, I don't think that's gonna be that practical,"
(laughs)
because I've gotta hold a camera, and a baby,
quite a lot of the time.
- So, we thought we would just talk you through
a day in the life with our newborn-
- And then film the bits,
on like various days- - And then
just film some bits-
- When we could. (laughs)
- Just put it in there.
- So, we're gonna tell you a general day.
To be honest, most days are the same,
because we don't do much.
- Yeah.
- I mean, he's nine weeks old,
and I think we've gone out with him,
went to the garden center,
we went to visit my dad.
Is that it? (laughs) - NCT.
We did an NCT in the park.
- Oh, yes, we went to meet the ante-natal group in the park.
I literally think that's it.
And then walked around the park,
our local park, with the dogs.
Oh, wait, and we got him registered.
- (laughs) Oh, yeah! - But-
- He didn't get out the car. - He didn't actually
leave the car.
I wasn't sure if I had to show my child
to prove I had one to register.
So, we took him with us,
and they didn't need to see him.
- Yeah, I mean, there is a global pandemic, so.
- So, anyway, so every day is kind of the same.
- It's been blissful.
It's pretty much exactly what we would have done
with a newborn without a global pandemic, to be honest.
Ha, we're down to just me.
She has taken Rupert to another room,
in an attempt to make him nap.
Yes, we have a little Rupert schedule.
We only started this in week six
when he started showing us a little bit more
of what he liked to do,
the time of day at which he liked to wake up,
and when he wanted to go to sleep.
So, whilst yes, imposing a schedule,
probably not best attempted on a tiny baby
before maybe 12 weeks.
This actually is Rupert's schedule
that he has decided for us,
and we have written down.
So, this is actually us attempting to work out
what Rupert likes to do,
and how he likes to live.
Also, I really enjoy just having something printed.
One of the things I talked about
in my video discussing my fears
around being a disabled parent was memory loss,
and remembering things like how do I know that my baby
has been fed,
and had everything that they need?
And the schedule definitely helps with that,
because I can check back on it and be like,
"Ah, did we definitely do the thing that we did?"
And be like, "Ah."
I know what's gonna happen next.
I know what's going on.
It just helps you a little bit with sanity.
(bright music)
Here's a little breakdown of Rupert's day.
At around 6:30 to 7:00 a.m.,
he wakes up for a little feed,
then has a snooze.
Goes back to sleep,
and we catch up on some extra sleep until around 8:00 a.m.,
when he's like, "Hello, I am now awake.
I am ready to start my day.
Take me downstairs.
Let's get up.
Let's get on with it."
And we take him downstairs to his nursery,
gets dressed.
Today we have gone for a vintage romper,
and this really cute cardigan I got from Silver Cross
that he wears all the time (laughs).
He wears with everything, don't you, darling?
Ready.
Going to do nappy,
nappy,
change.
Yes.
Oh, don't you look adorable.
I should put some shoes on you.
(bright music continues)
And then we go down to the kitchen,
and he has some active time,
generally on his floor mat,
and he plays with one of his mobiles.
The mobile that he's most into at the moment
is probably his bell mobile.
He's really into batting things.
Anything that's quite tactile and physical,
if he can bash it,
he is really into it right now.
And we have a bit of breakfast while he's doing that,
which is quite handy.
So, we can leave him generally playing by himself
for about a good hour.
Which is handy.
(upbeat jazzy music)
- I'm really trying to cut down on my caffeine intake
to help my anemia,
but I still need an energy boost.
So, I've switched out my morning cup of tea,
which if you know me,
needs a pretty good substitute.
And in its place, I've been drinking a coffee alternative
called MUD\WTR.
It only has a seventh of the caffeine of one cup of coffee.
So, it means I can drink like multiple cups a day,
and not have to worry about it.
But it still leaves me feeling bright and alert,
which is essential, having a newborn.
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You can either just add water, milk, a milk alternative,
whatever you prefer.
It reminds me of drinking Masala chai
in coffee houses in Malaysia.
And there's a coconut creamer from the starter kit.
It's a bit like adding a coconut latte into the mix.
Just don't use the kit's frother in a full cup.
(needle scratches)
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(upbeat jazzy music)
- Then at nine he has a feed,
and we hop into the car once he's done,
and we go on a little park walk whilst he's in his buggy,
where he'll have a little nap,
which is about 45 minutes, to an hour,
as we walk around the park,
and the dogs absolutely love this.
Before Rupert, we probably didn't take the dogs every day.
If it was raining, we were a bit like,
"I mean,
it's fine.
They don't love wet walks,
and we don't love wet walks.
They've got a garden."
But boy does Rupert need a walk every day.
We have to go to the park every day,
even if it's raining.
So, Tilly's having the time of her life.
She's so happy.
She's delighted.
She loves a rainy walk.
She will chase her ball in the rain, doesn't matter.
It could be snowing, perfectly happy.
Rupert wrapped up in his pram.
The weather doesn't bother him.
He just has to be in the park.
So, he's happy.
And then Walter, Claudia, and I are like,
"Mm, this is indeed pretty wet.
Hmm. No. Not enjoying ourselves.
Oh, no."
(bright music)
- All right.
I think this has just come to be like how we film now.
I'm just gonna have a baby.
(laughs) Well, not just any baby,
we'll have Rupert.
- Any baby, just- - Constantly strapped,
yeah, like in three years time I'll be like,
"Look, I only film with a baby strapped onto me."
(laughs)
Grab that baby.
- It'll be really awkward when he's walking.
Then after the park, we come back.
- Then he normally is hungry,
'cause he wakes up from his nap.
So, every time he wakes up from a nap,
he normally wants food.
It's like a reason for waking up, I guess.
He's like me.
I wake up and the first thing I think of is,
"Hmm, what's for breakfast?"
- Oh.
- After, obviously, thinking,
"Oh my God, my wife looks so amazing and glorious."
- [Jessica] Then he has a bit of active time in his nursery.
We do all sorts of things together.
- We come up here,
and there's like a little floor space there,
can see his little mirror.
Currently, it's got a kicking ball on it.
So, he's recently learnt to like kick things
that he can see,
like a pass,
like passing the ball between his feet.
I mean, I don't know if it was intentional,
I'm gonna say it was.
- Please don't be good at football, though,
because they play football in the rain here.
- Oh, yeah.
In terms of all the sports he could get into,
football's probably the least we want you to get into.
- Cricket, though- - Or rugby.
- They only play that in the summer.
- Rugby as well.
Rugby's worse.
- They play that in the rain.
- They play that in the rain,
and it's quite like, boff.
- So, please pick a sport that they play in the sun,
or inside.
- Tennis, cricket. - Thanks.
Gymnastics. That only happens inside.
- And if it's not the kicking ball,
then we sometimes mix it up,
'cause we kind of observe,
and see if that's holding his concentration,
if he's enjoying it,
if he keeps just like looking around,
or like starting to cry,
then it's like,
"Well, this is not entertaining you anymore."
Currently on the wall above his mobile station,
we have,
mobile station.
'Cause it's like where we hang mobiles,
but it's where he is mobile.
(laughs)
How have we never thought of that before?
- His mobile station.
That is cute.
- Yeah. I said that. Anyway.
- Montessori mobiles.
- Yeah.
They're really great.
I'm so glad we discovered Montessori before we had a baby,
because they really work, these mobiles,
like in terms of captivating your child.
I mean, obviously he's progressed,
with his age,
and how long he can stay awake and concentrate,
and also on what he's looking at.
But like today,
he was under his Gobbi mobile in the kitchen,
whilst I was making lunch, and tidying up,
and doing some laundry.
An hour and a half,
and he's just like giggling away,
batting it with his hand.
- He's so sweet.
He's such a little joker like that.
Oh, and then he has another nap.
(laughs)
- No, he's not just being kicking.
It's either,
or sometimes it's like,
he's not just on the floor mat in here,
in the nursery,
sometimes he lays on his floor bed,
whilst we kind of like chat with him,
sign to him.
- [Jessica] We have sign language flashcards.
- [Claudia] We read him a book book.
- We have quite a few books.
Thank you so much to everyone
who very sweetly sent him books from his Amazon wishlist.
- Yes, we particularly love the...
- [Jessica] "Baby Loves Science."
- [Claudia] "Baby Loves Science," by Ruth Spiro.
- They're really, really fascinating.
We're learning a lot (laughs).
- I learnt so much.
I mean, to be fair,
I did read him one about coding,
and he got halfway.
It started talking about algorithms,
and coding- - It got deep.
- And computers.
And he was like, "Aah."
He was like, "Too much!"
I was like, "I feel ya."
- He did deeply enjoy the astrophysics one though.
- Yeah, 'cause that was about airplanes.
I think it's going to be one of the things
that becomes more rewarding
as he gets a bit more aware
of what's happening around him a bit more.
'Cause like sometimes I feel
that reading a book to him is not as rewarding
as doing other stuff,
because he's not quite there yet.
- No.
- He's also mastered,
when we do changing, putting his legs,
like giving Jessica or I his leg that we've asked for,
or- - Yeah. Just about.
- Just about, like. - Just about.
- He's a bit like,
"I don't know quite what you're asking.
There's a leg."
(laughs)
- So, every time I change him,
I will ask for his limbs,
rather than just kind of putting his limb
into the leg, or the arm hole.
And then I ask for it three times, whilst tapping it,
so that his brain can connect what I'm asking for
with what it is.
So, Claudia and I spent seven weeks
on joint maternity leave,
just staring at Rupert, essentially.
(laughs)
And doing all these things together.
And now I'm back at work.
But obviously, since I work from home,
that means that I work whilst staring through a glass door
at him.
(laughs)
So, he lies on the floor on his floor mat,
and I'm like, "Let me just write this video
whilst I stare at him.
Deal with this email,
whilst I stare at him."
Yeah, thank you so much
to the members of the Kellgren-Fozard Club
for giving me those,
those really special seven weeks.
- And all the like really generous donations-
- Yes, thank you so much. - On your Ko-fis.
- And all of you have been really supportive,
and even things like just watching videos as well,
and sharing them also helps.
So, thank you so much.
Oh, and then he has a two-hour nap.
- They were like either in the sling, like this,
or they'll be in his Moses basket.
Did attempt putting him on his floor bed.
I think he lasted like half an hour on that
before he got a bit upset.
He's not used to it.
- Eventually.
Hopefully that will make it easier
to transition out of our bedroom.
- And ideally,
the long-term goal is to get him to nap in his room,
and I can put the monitor on,
and then go do things that I need to do,
rather than just sitting in here with him.
(laughs)
Ssh.
The other day was quite successful.
I did actually- - My laugh is really loud.
- Yeah, your laugh is really ridiculous.
I managed to actually leave the room,
put the monitor on,
go downstairs, make lunch, eat lunch.
And then again, he has a bit of active awake time,
and that can be various,
various, like if we're doing a bit of gardening,
he comes out into the garden with us.
So, we put him on a rug under the tree.
- He thinks trees are hilarious.
(laughs)
- Why are you swaying as well, by the way?
Sits in his Moses and watches me,
whilst I potter around the kitchen.
We have a little chat.
Anything really, that amuses him.
Just like watching us do our normal life stuff,
but trying to get him involved.
I basically wrote a schedule one good day.
So, there was like a couple of days before
that were similar.
And then he was doing the same sort of thing
on the third day.
I thought, "You know what?
Maybe this is his schedule.
'Cause you're meant to like-
- [Jessica] For this week.
- Follow what he's doing.
So, I kind of thought,
"Okay, I'm gonna write it down."
And it kind of loosely followed what the books say,
like, you know, two hours awake, feed,
and then a nap, and then feeding,
and that kind of thing.
So, I wrote it.
But it varies a little bit.
But it's always very similar up until lunchtime nap.
- And then we get to about five.
- Basically, from 5:00 p.m. until bedtime,
(laughs)
which is like 7:30-ish time for him.
It's just like catnapping,
cluster feeding,
with intermittent like,
"I wanna go on my floor mat.
No, I want to be cuddled."
- What is the meaning of life?
- There's not really any routine (laughs).
- Why even?
- It's all a bit-
- What be this?
- I basically just have to be at his every disposal
at that point.
He will literally just like cling to me,
and just needs to be attached permanently on my boob,
pretty much.
- Mmm.
- And then also,
it always like makes it difficult for us to have dinner,
because we're like,
"Are you gonna be able to be on your floor mat for a bit?"
- So, what we're trying,
emphasis on trying,
is having dinner at six for us.
- And then we go upstairs.
- We can try and give him baths.
He's got a bit of eczema.
As an eczema sufferer myself,
a bath every day isn't always the best plan.
- [Claudia] The one we've put him in now,
you lay it in a big bath,
but it's very much reclined-
- [Jessica] There's a netting thing behind it.
- [Claudia] Yeah. And then he's like,
so his head's just naturally back-
- And he's there like, "Ooh!"
- I think he much preferred it.
- Ah. Ooh.
- Because he was able to be a bit
more independent in it. - Lazy.
- We learnt about, maybe two weeks ago,
if you take him upstairs into his changing room,
get him changed,
and then put into fresh pajamas,
and then bring him downstairs,
he is very unhappy.
- Yes. You have opened the gates of Hell.
- But if you change him and put him in fresh pajamas,
and take him upstairs to our bedroom,
he's like,
"That is what I wanted." - Congratulations.
- He's like,
pajamas sort of trigger- - End of the rainbow.
- Trigger this like,
"Ah, bedtime."
I don't know if he knows they're pajamas,
but he just knows he's getting changed
at the end of the day.
- Like every parent,
we spend all of our time going-
- It's like reverse for us. - It's a cheat.
- Like, we wear socks and shoes in daytime,
but nighttime, I won't wear socks and shoes.
And then, you know, when I take my socks off,
I'm like, "Oh my God, I'm tired."
(laughs)
Oh, it's very awkward on summer holidays.
(laughs)
- And then we do a bedtime feed.
And then it says, very optimistically, in the schedule,
"8:00 p.m., sleeps."
(laughs)
- So, sometimes,
on a good day- - The last few nights
this has not happened.
- On a good day, he will, pretty much,
after his half-hour bedtime feed,
where, we should explain, we shut the curtains,
it's currently still light at that time.
I put on my little night lamp,
which is like a yellow light, warm light.
I was using a white noise machine.
We've ditched that now.
- He hates it (laughs).
- Yeah, he was like,
after we'd put him down in his crib,
and he'd be like turning his head towards it,
and like crawling up his crib,
trying to find out where this noise was coming from.
- And then she'd pick him up-
- And then one time, I picked him up,
'cause he just wouldn't settle,
and he just stared at me,
like this cold, long stare,
whilst I had him like resting on my knees.
We were just staring at each other,
it was like in the longest staring competition
I've ever done in my life.
I was saying to him,
"Why aren't you going to sleep?" With my eyes.
And he was saying,
"'Cause you won't turn that stupid white noise machine off."
And I was like, "Oh."
So, then when I turned it off,
and then he was like, "Thank you,"
and went straight to sleep.
So, ever since then, I've not used it.
- The last few nights he's been waking himself up
by getting quite cold.
Kicks all of his blankets off whilst asleep,
and then it's like, "I'm cold."
Starting tonight,
we bring out the sleep bag.
- Yes, and it's so pretty.
- It's so cute.
Look, it matches.
So, you can unzip from the bottom,
and do a little nappy change.
- In our house,
we have like a little joke that I'm the milk lady,
and Jessica's the nappy lady.
Especially for the first seven weeks,
basically did all the nappies,
apart from the nighttime ones.
And also like Rupert
just loves getting his nappies changed by her.
And I sometimes feel a bit jealous,
'cause when she goes,
"Okay, we're gonna do a nappy change."
He's like, "Yeah!
Nappy Lady!"
His actually whole face lights up,
and I can hear him giggling on the changing table.
You think he'd be happier getting milk, but no,
because
when he's in need of milk, he's just like,
"I'm so hungry.
I'm hungry."
Although I say that,
like this week's been quite nice,
because he's becoming a little bit more socially aware
and everything.
So, he has a few times stopped mid-feed,
looked up, and been like, "Oh, hi, Milk Lady. It's you.
(laughs)
You have a face."
Anyway. And then we sleep through the night. No, we don't.
(laughs)
I wish.
No, he tends to wake up.
We just feed on demand at nighttime.
Well, we feed on demand all the time.
- This dog's really intense, right now.
- They're like really hungry,
and they're like, "Feed!"
- You can't tell. - We're hungry.
- Wait, let me angle this camera. My Gosh.
Thank you so much for watching
A day in our life-ish.
Stitched together from multiple days.
I hope that you got something out of it.
I hope that if you're a new parent,
it maybe helped you feel less alone,
that we're also just kind of wandering through,
and making it up, to be honest.
- No we're not- - As best we can (laughs).
- I think we feel quite on top of it.
- Yes, we're very on top of it-
- But only because we have a relaxed attitude,
and we kind of just, you know...
- Yeah.
Have a vague idea- - People are like,
"Have a schedule"- - A vague plan.
- "But don't get too obsessed-
- Don't worry about it too much.
- Yeah.
- Bye-bye.
Thank you so much for watching.
Subscribe if you haven't already.
Lovely to see you.
You just smacked my face.
- Sorry.
(laughs)
- Ah, see you in the next video.
Bye.
Mwah.
Bye-bye my loves.
(bright music)