An introduction to Joseph

It’s been 7 weeks now and I still haven’t got round to properly introducing you to my baby boy.

Introducing someone to your baby for the first time is a weird thing because you really want to jump up and down and clap your hands like a seal and squeal, ‘Oh my goodness, come and meet my baby boy. Isn’t he just adorable!? Look at his hands…aren’t they tiny!? Look at his hair, isn’t it lovely. Give him a cuddle, isn’t he just the yummiest bundle of gorgeousness you’ve ever seen!?’

But you can’t say that. You have to be a bit cool about it and somehow pretend this isn’t a little miracle and you’re not amazed and proud at how incredible your body is because it just made a freaking person!

So I end up just casually smiling and awkwardly saying, ‘So…errr…yea…this is my baby…this is Joseph.’

And the other person will smile and tell me he’s cute and I wonder if they realise this is actually the cutest baby in the world? Like really, the cutest.

So yea….this is Joseph (the best baby IN THE WORLD!)

That’s why I haven’t written this introductory post yet because I can’t find the words to tell you how awesome he is and how much I’m loving life right now.

Motherhood is a weird things and it’s so different for each mother. And it seems it can be so different for each child a mother has.

The weird thing for me is that when I had George (my first son who is 20 months old) I didn’t feel like a mum. I felt just like me; the same old me, the me that forgot she wasn’t 16 years old and got nervous about getting ID’d every time she bought a cheap bottle of wine. The me who ate Supernoodles for breakfast and Cocopops for dinner. The me who hung out with my mates, worked ridiculously long hours and jetted off on countless holidays without packing much more than a passport, a camera and a clean pair of knickers.

I was me but with an adorable little sidekick who accompanied me almost everywhere I went. I was me but with a little less sleep, fewer nights out and a lot more stuff in my suitcase!

But having Joseph changed everything.

All of a sudden I feel like a mum.

I’m not just a girl playing house and pretending to know what she’s doing. I’m an actual mum with actual children. The big one calls me ‘mummy’ and everything.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still me. I was plotting our first family holiday within days of returning from the hospital and Joseph’s first flight is already booked for January.  I still want to travel the world and explore and see new places but I’m definitely thinking of things from a mum point of view.

I talk about ‘my children’ and have to stop and have a giggle because I sound like such a grown up. I love saying ‘my boys’ so I squeeze it into every possible sentence I can.

Things are also so different second time around. They are SO much better.

With a first child you have no freaking idea what you’re doing. I kept thinking to myself, ‘I can’t believe they let me have this child without passing an exam or doing a test or something!’

With the help of my family, and George’s instant screams if I did something wrong, I slowly learned how to look after him. But I worried and I panicked and constantly second guessed myself.

With a second baby you have all the loveliness without any of the worry so I’m loving every single second of it.

I’m doing all the things people tell you to do with your first baby, but you never actually do. Things like taking lots of photos, sleeping whenever they sleep, asking for help from anyone who will give it and putting myself first once in a while – because you can’t have a happy baby without a happy mama.

I realise this is a travel blog and most of you lovely readers either don’t have kids or have grown up kids so me gushing over my baby probably won’t appeal to you! Don’t worry, I’m not offended. I understand there’s a time and a place and this probably isn’t the place. The Travel Hack will always be a travel blog which is why I’m working on a few new projects so I don’t clutter up this blog with baby spam. I’ll be telling you more in the new year!

But in the mean time, this is Joseph…my….errrr….new baby. (Yes, the BEST baby in the world!)