So how did we manage to get him to giggle? Well, Nanny and Poppy were over for lunch and to get ready for a country race day at Doomben Racecourse. Poppy decided to take him outside to play with Pacey while the girls were getting ready and sure enough, it was our dog Pacey and his barking that first made our little Jesse giggle.
Of all the things that we thought we could get Jesse to giggle at, Pacey barking is probably the last thing we thought would work. A loud bark from a dog the size of Pacey… surely that would scare a baby. Nope. Not this baby.
He loved it and thought it was absolutely hilarious.
The real test now though is to try and get him to giggle and laugh again. And despite everything that I’ve tried since discovering that he can giggle, we have still been unable to get him to giggle again.
Perseverance will surely pay off in the end.
On a side note, yesterday I also went and celebrated Tyler’s (my sisters boyfriend) 30th birthday. Happy Birthday mate… Hope you had an absolute blast of a day and I loved running the field at laser tag with you!!!
Babies grow and change so quickly and ours is no exception.
So we decided it might be fun to record a video each month to create a snapshot in time that we can look back on in the future.
An opportunity to capture the milestones he reached that month, funny stories, his likes and dislikes and our thoughts and feelings as parents at each stage.
If you are like us, there will be one or two events that come up every year that you simply can’t miss. And for us, one of those events is the Gympie Music Muster!
If you love music, food, festivals and camping, The Gympie Music Muster is the place to be. And you don’t have to be a country music fan as there really is something for everyone.
We have been going for years and years now, and every year it seems to get better and better.
This year however, is a little different to previous years. Different, because we have our little Jesse with us.
This is our first time camping (well, you could say “glamping” considering we have a pop-top caravan) with a baby. Something that we thought we prepared very well for.
So how is it going? Have we survived so far? Well… you will just have to wait until we get back for us to release our usual ‘Muster Vlogs’ showing what exactly we got up to this year at the Gympie Music Muster.
In the meantime however, if you would like an idea of what the Gympie Music Muster is like from our perspective, below is the three part video series we filmed last year.
It is Monday morning on August 10, 2015. It is 9:50 am.
My iPhone buzzes on my desk beside me. The buzzing sound that is all too familiar to me now. It is letting me know that someone has sent me a text message.
I unlock my iPhone and as I click into my Messages app, a video pops up on my screen. A video that Renee has sent me of our little Jesse. The video that you can see below.
It’s not the first time I’ve received a video or photo of Jesse from Renee, and I know it won’t be the last. And I will say this… I love getting sneaky little text message or Snapchat updates from Renee showing me what they are getting up to throughout the day. I actually really look forward to it, receiving photos and videos, so I can see our little Jesse while I am at work.
However, after receiving the video of Jesse from Renee on that Monday morning, something really terrified me. And that something has been constantly pulling at the back of my mind ever since receiving that video. Something that I haven’t been able to articulate, but will attempt to with this blog post.
I am absolutely terrified of missing out on important milestones in Jesse’s development and in his overall life.
Let me say this, I know that I’m not the only working dad/parent out there. And I know that I’m not the first, and certainly won’t be the last, to feel like this.
But that doesn’t make it any less real for me.
I was sitting there watching back the video of my first child, my son, my little Jesse smiling away and almost letting out his first giggle. I had a smile on my face from ear to ear and little tears were welling in my eyes at the pure joy I felt watching him smiling and being so happy. But then this wave of fear washed over me.
What if I’m not there for the time he let’s out his first little giggle? What if I’m not there the first time he laughs or to hear his first word? What if I’m not there when he rolls over for the first time? Crawls for first time? Takes his first steps?
I was terrified and angry and disappointed and sad, at the very real chance that I may not be there to witness some of these milestones. That I may be at work and have to watch his first giggle through the screen of an iPhone. Or that I may be held up on public transport and have to witness the first time he crawls on the screen of our laptop when I get home.
As far as milestones in the life of a baby, some of these might only be small ones. But to me, they’re all important. Jesse’s first giggle to me, is just as important as his first word. And the first time he rolls over is just as important as his first step.
Now I know that work is where I need to be right now. I know that I need to step up into the role of being the provider for our family. And I know that Renee is forever thankful that I have taken on this responsibility, as she has conveyed in her blog post ‘An Open Letter to Dads Returning to Work’.
But at the end of the day, even though I know I won’t entirely miss these milestones (that is the beauty of technology these days), I still can’t seem to shake that distant feeling of disappointment that I may very well not be there to witness some of them first hand. All I can say is that I am extremely thankful that we are in a position that has allowed us to extend Renee’s time away from work so that one of us will be there to witness and capture these amazing moments in Jesse’s life.
It makes me think however, that I feel sorry for all the new parents out there where both mum and dad had to return to work early. As there is a real possibility that they may both miss some of these special times in a baby’s life.
Like I mentioned earlier, I know that I’m not the only working dad/parent out there that has felt like this at one stage during parenthood, and I know I won’t be the last.
But maybe, just maybe… by writing down these thoughts someone, somewhere, might realise that they aren’t alone in feeling like this. Let’s all cherish the time we have with our children, because there will be moments that we will all inevitably miss out on.
We are waiting with bated breath to hear the delightful sound of Jesse’s first laugh.
He often shrieks with joy as he smiles and kicks his legs. And there have been a few times when he has smiled and had a little chuckle in his sleep but he is yet to let out a definite baby giggle.
Today’s Photo Friday is a cute video of our smiley bubba.
One of the things that we as a couple want to make sure we do, is to put aside and spend some quality time together. It is important in any marriage to spend time together. Especially after having kids.
One of the concepts we love, is date night. That one night every one or two weeks that we get to do something together, without Jesse.
We unofficially had our first date night just recently, after we took a trip to the wonderful Eat Street Markets. We did however, this time around, take Jesse with us. I think that’s because we are still in that stage of loving every single hour, minute, second that we spend with him. And because of that, we don’t mind taking him with us.
Eat Street Markets is a fabulous way to spend date night too. With so many different foods and cuisines on offer, live music and plenty of knick knacks to browse through, it’s definitely a place I see us visiting regularly for date night.
All that said, how do you spend your date night? Is there anything in Brisbane that we should consider doing on a date night of our own?
I can say this though, I can’t wait to go back to Eat Street Markets!
What’s this? Another video for Photo Friday? You betcha!
Throughout our pregnancy, we uploaded a series of videos called ‘Baby Barton Diaries’. Well, as you are all aware, our pregnancy journey came to an end just over 4 weeks ago when we welcomed little Jesse Jack to the world.
Yesterday we recorded the final Baby Barton Diary entry where we talk about the labour and delivery, our experiences at the hospital and my infamous ‘Cigars, Scotch and Cards’ night to celebrate the birth of Jesse.
Because of it’s length, it ended up becoming 2 separate videos (Part One and Part Two). So that said, we hope you enjoy the 2 part finale of our ‘Baby Barton Diaries’ video series.
Part one:
Part Two:
If you are interested in seeing any of the previous videos we did throughout our pregnancy, you can check them out on the Baby Barton YouTube Playlist HERE.
Our Photo Friday is a bit different today. Instead of sharing a photo, you are getting a video of photos.
Throughout our first pregnancy, we decided to take photos with the hope of putting together a pregnancy time-lapse. And now that our little Jesse is finally here, we were able to finish the photo series and edit the final product together.
There isn’t any gimmicks in this time-lapse (like pumping the pregnant belly up with a bicycle pump, which we have seen in a similar video), but it turned out just how we imagined.
So here it is for you to enjoy, our pregnancy time-lapse, which is a record of the progression of our first pregnancy.
Today is Kaine’s 31st birthday (and mine was earlier in the month) and despite having a lovely day it is very different to how we spent this day last year.
One year ago today we woke up in Switzerland, had lunch in Italy and ended the day in France. It is hard to believe it has been a year since our Euro trip so, as a bit of fun, here is a flashback to the vlog for how we spent Kaine’s birthday last year.
We had such an amazing adventure. We started with a 9 day Top Deck tour followed by a glorious week on the Amalfi Coast before exploring Florence, Venice, Prague and Paris. We had an absolutely incredible time creating unforgettable memories with great friends as we ate, drank and saw the sights for five wonderful weeks.
You can check out all of our Euro trip vlogs in the Euro Trip 2014 playlist on YouTube.
not so secret life of us 