Sure, there's waking up in the wee hours of the morning to feed the little bugger. In the earliest of days, I woke up more than once. I wake up, still half asleep, make milk and put him on my lap to be fed. No, I did not breast feed my son, but he did try to lick it once, I guess he didn't like it as much as his mum's. So anyway, sometimes I fall asleep while feeding him, but since I've made it this far, I guess I did a fair enough job. And of course, after feeding, I had to put him upright and wait for him to burp before I had a chance to get back to sleep myself.
Then there's changing the diapers every now and then. This was not so much of a problem and I easily mastered this part. But then, there's cleaning up the poo. Sure, he's on disposable diapers. But even diapers could not mask the stench ... errr ... smell, of processed dairy products. And this happens in the morning, noon and night. The first time I did this, I used about half the container of cotton balls that we had prepared the night before. When I became a 'pro', I only had to use seven! But there was nothing you could do about the smell, and this was even worse when we were out of the house visiting relatives and doctors or just strolling at the mall.
Needless to say, babies also tend to smell not so good if you don't give him a bath. And this is another one of those daddy-must-learn-how-to-do things. For fear of having Jakjak drown in his bath tub (you have to remember, he was very small) we gave him a bath in the kitchen sink. No kidding. Our sink had dish washing liquid, sponge, liquid baby soap and a bottle cleaner. Thankfully, he grew too big for the sink soon enough and we were able to give him a proper bath in the baby tub. And while mum is drying him off, dad is cleaning the puddles of water Jakjak managed to displace while bathing (I swear, he's like a 5.0L V6 petrol engine in displacement).
That covers the basics, I think of the horrors that dads have to face. And it's just fair to remember that fatherhood goes on top of whatever lifestyle I once had. So I go to work full time at the office as an employee and I go to work full time at home as a dad. Like I said, it was not all it was hyped up to be. But the happiness and contentment of being one, especially if you've been blessed with a hyper-sonic, hyper-active super boy like Jakjak, is something I would not trade for the other life I thought I would have had (a rich playboy driving a black BMW Z4 in his prime).
Then there's changing the diapers every now and then. This was not so much of a problem and I easily mastered this part. But then, there's cleaning up the poo. Sure, he's on disposable diapers. But even diapers could not mask the stench ... errr ... smell, of processed dairy products. And this happens in the morning, noon and night. The first time I did this, I used about half the container of cotton balls that we had prepared the night before. When I became a 'pro', I only had to use seven! But there was nothing you could do about the smell, and this was even worse when we were out of the house visiting relatives and doctors or just strolling at the mall.
Needless to say, babies also tend to smell not so good if you don't give him a bath. And this is another one of those daddy-must-learn-how-to-do things. For fear of having Jakjak drown in his bath tub (you have to remember, he was very small) we gave him a bath in the kitchen sink. No kidding. Our sink had dish washing liquid, sponge, liquid baby soap and a bottle cleaner. Thankfully, he grew too big for the sink soon enough and we were able to give him a proper bath in the baby tub. And while mum is drying him off, dad is cleaning the puddles of water Jakjak managed to displace while bathing (I swear, he's like a 5.0L V6 petrol engine in displacement).
That covers the basics, I think of the horrors that dads have to face. And it's just fair to remember that fatherhood goes on top of whatever lifestyle I once had. So I go to work full time at the office as an employee and I go to work full time at home as a dad. Like I said, it was not all it was hyped up to be. But the happiness and contentment of being one, especially if you've been blessed with a hyper-sonic, hyper-active super boy like Jakjak, is something I would not trade for the other life I thought I would have had (a rich playboy driving a black BMW Z4 in his prime).
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