Night-time nappies

THE last couple of weeks have certainly served as a reminder about just how demanding new born babies can be. James is a pretty content baby on the whole and he's still spending most of the day sleeping. Mind you it probably helps that, unlike Harry at that age, I'm not trying to wake him up every half hour to show him off to family or friends. Even so, there rarely seems to be any time to catch your breath, particularly with Harry about. Then there's the night feeds – being woken twice every night certainly takes its toll. Put it this way, I'm now going grey at a more rapid rate than I was two or three months ago. What's worse, however, is when James decides to fill his nappy in the middle of the night. For some reason this seems to be his favourite time of the day to full nappies so both Melissa and I are getting quite good at changing smelly nappies in the dark. Speaking of changing, I'd also forgotten just how tricky it is to dress a delicate little baby. James' arms and legs are constantly waving around and trying to get him into a sleepsuit is no easy task. Despite these little moans, being a dad again is a wonderful experience. When he's awake, James is now very alert and watching him examine your face as you talk to him is a magical feeling. And you can't help but smile at all the little grunts, groans and yawns. One thing I can't get right is his name. I keep calling him Harry which is already causing lots of confusion. As a stern Harry told me the other day: “You got the wrong word daddy, his name's Jamesey. I am Harry.”