I’ve never been good at receiving advice, especially when it has a chance of touching any part of my ego – in this case my parental skills, which I am only just developing of course. So nearly all of the advice went into the garbage can in my mind. Which is a pity because 6 months down the line we see that we should have followed some of the advice.

What advice should you have listened to?

And one of the problems is that I do a lot of things. Probably too much but that is how I’ve always been. Always having ideas and starting on them – whether I ended up finishing them is a completely different matter and worthy of a much longer discussion.

But it’s probably worth taking a look at what I am doing now, partly to shock myself and partly so that you can check out other stuff I am doing,

Redevelopment of a website for 1 client
Creation of a new site for 1 client
I’ve just finished redeveloping another site for a client
A large project for development of numerous web-based tools for a client

CreditCrunchDad.co.uk
LifeRiot.co.uk – this is my series of websites that includes;
GamesRiot.co.uk
LaughRiot.co.uk
MovieRiot.co.uk
MusicRiot.co.uk
StageRiot.co.uk
and two new ones coming soon.
Also Liferiot.co.uk/twitterviews where do the occasional twitter interview.

I am also working on two new projects, one with one of my brothers which is due to launch in early 2010, and the other is with a friend and has a launch date of March next year.

I wonder sometimes why I feel knackered and my to-do list only ever seems to grow….

Oh yeah, and I am a new father…

And it’s sometimes difficult to live with him around, because it’s difficult to stop some worries.

It’s a cliched thing but I still catch myself moving in close to his crib, holding my breath and listening to hear his own sounds of breathing. Or if I can’t hear him for whatever reason I gingerly lay a hand on his chest, feeling it rise and fall.

My fears dismissed I then usually turn the attempt to leave the bedroom without waking him into some sort of Inspector Clouseau series of pratfalls as my arm catches the crib, or I stumble over something on the floor, or walk into a bed, or go to grab something and end up juggling with it in a mildly impressive way!

Shortly after all this clumsiness he wakes up – and then I get concerned that he isn’t sleeping enough.

Vicious Circle anyone?

– eBay Mobile
We had quite a few baby things given to us when Max was born, but as fast as he grows so do his needs and requirements, so we are always on the look out for the next thing for him to sit in, play with, etc. eBay Mobile puts all those searches and the chance to bid in my pocket.

– EverNote
So Things handles my stuff to do, but what about the other stuff, the bits of information that is normally scattered across my bookmarks folder, documents folder, email folders? That’s where Evernote comes in. I chuck stuff at it and then I can access it via iPhone app, Mac desktop app or via the web if those two aren’t available.

– pzizz Relax
Some people call them Power Naps – I hate that phrase as it is so 80s and so reminiscent of Thatcher. But I do those 20 minute sleeps during the day that help me rest a bit, get some energy back and face the day again. Pzizz Relax I first discovered on the Mac but now love the iPhone version that helps you wind down, relax, fall asleep and then wakes you after your chosen duration. Very neat and important when looking after a baby that drains energy out of you!

– Total Baby
It’s bad enough trying to take care of a new baby and yourself while suffering from levels of sleep deficiency that should be made illegal, but to also try to alter your babies schedule to something similar is difficult when you can’t remember the last time he/she fed, napped or crapped. Total Baby is a lifesaver for that – you can quickly and easily mark when feeding or sleeping begins and ends, as well as dirty nappies, baths and taking of various medicines.

– RunKeeper Pro
This uses GPS to help track your runs. How does that help with baby? Well for me it is a geek way to encourage me to go out and about pushing the pram and then compare the distance, speed etc on the RunKeeper website. I need to keep fit and make sure we are all getting enough fresh air – this helps.

– ReelDirector
I’ve taken many videos of my son on the iPhone but it’s not easy to alter them, and tart them up for public viewing, or even to combine different videos. ReelDirector helps you to do this quickly and easily.

– VideoUploader
After tarting up my videos with ReelDirector I use VideoUploader to send them to my chosen video-hosting site.

But I have yet to get around to it. Admittedly I did decide not to on a number of occasions because I looked awful, staggeringly unshaven and tired that nobody should be subjected to seeing such a thing on the internet.

However the main reason that I haven’t done it so far is the lack of time and privacy that I need to actually do it. And this is the same for so many other parts of my work.

At the moment I am not a proper stay-at-home dad as my significant other is still at home and off work, and not due back until January. So I am not fully in charge and haven’t really got into a pattern or schedule.

I am also having trouble breaking away from the missus and young ‘un to get myself the concentrated time needed in order to get things done. But I need to otherwise I will have no clients left by the New Year.

So that is my problem at the moment – I am going to try and do some things to get past this and be more productive.

Let’s hope they work!!

I thought well he’ll wake this number of times at night, and then he’ll go to sleep easy when he is tired during the day.

So as you can see, I may not be daft, but I am a complete idiot!

Even though he is only just over 3 months old I am already a bit vague at what week he did certain things, but I think it was at about the 2 month stage when he got into his own routine of sleeping 8 hours solid at night.

Oh how we were happy – and we let people know. It became the first thing we told people, it became my facebook and twitter update, we became the envy of mums both new and old.

That was then. Nowadays we are getting two wakes a night, sometimes three. And they always seem to be purely food-related.

So we are knackered and while I think there are probably some potential solutions; wake him at 11 for a feed to help him sleep through; try to get him back to sleep in a way other than feeding; OR me to feed him some previously expressed milk during the night, we are just a little too knackered to contemplate any of them without some resigned acknowledgement.

Come back daft-boy, I preferred being you!

Have you got any suggestions to help us?

So we were all ready again this time. He reacted with much louder crying as the needles went into one thigh and then the other. As the plasters went on the bottle went in. He gobbled at it hungrily and that really did help him calm down.

Unfortunately while I was holding and feeding him one of his thighs was against me – the one that decided that a little bit more blood than normal was coming out. So there I was a father with his child’s blood on his jumper. We got him cleaned up and covered up again, but this is a first – he’s deposited a number of bodily fluids on me, but this was a first time for blood!

So two months down the line and it’s true what people say about your life never being the same again.  I know these are the early days when to a certain extent the baby rules your schedule, but you do end up seeing life as a whole different thing.

And I’m happy with that – not that I was necessarily unhappy with how things were previously but I am happy with the change, and the changes.  I can understand how some people struggle to move from one life to the next and feel frustrated at the move, though I can never understand why they would take it out on the child.

So this week we had the 8 week check-up with the health visitor then to the doctor for some more checks and finally a nurse for injections.  Two nasty looking injections in the thighs were bound to produce tears and screams, but we had been feeding him a bottle beforehand, and we got that straight back as soon as possible and all was good quite quickly!

As for me, the work continues to move ahead, though slower than my conscience feels happy with – though I am expecting for a big push today and this weekend.  And then – more work is lining up!  This CreditCrunchDad may be getting on his financial feet finally!