Toys and books scattered Daddy-traps across the floor Pause (the menace sleeps)

...is how the croup cough is described. All I know is that it certainly sounded alarming coming from my upset baby at 3:30 in the morning!

Tired gritty eyes Parents greet the new morning Joyful baby smiles

Tonight my baby daughter worked out she could slap her hands against the surface of the water in the bath and make big, noisy splashes. What fun! What mess! Water all over the floor! I was going to post about something else but the simple joy of this eclipses other topics and is sending her tired parents to bed with smiles on our faces. We did manage to film a little of it on The Canadian's phone so it'll be a memory we can keep revisiting.

We're having a luxuriously lazy Sunday morning, first one in awhile. Babe asleep, cwtching with her Mom after a feed, cool breeze coming through the window from a quiet world yet to fully stir, steam rising from our coffee cups, checking the news and randomly browsing the internet.

Lately I've been drinking plenty of low abv beers, fulfilling my prediction from just over 2 months ago – they're a sensible option in my current era of fractured sleep when I need to be a responsible handler of the wee one! So, time to give a verdict on which are my faves so far and some thoughts on which ones I might try next.

My last blog was 30^th June, the day my daughter was born. Since then, my life has been full of cute baby noises, squidgy baby squirms and Moro reflex, and a whole litany of firsts – first nappy change at home, first bottle feed, first bath at home (in the kitchen sink), first trip out in the pram, first sleep all the way through the night. Nope, that last one was a lie!

All kinds of animals have one. Mine has been kicking-in in stages, with pulses of activity and sense of urgency. Instead of hunting for the best twigs to build the nest it's been purchases from IKEA, M&S, Amazon. I've been doing my version of clearing out the den – while we can't enlarge or dig a new chamber (not sure the landlord would approve of me taking the nesting analogy that far), we have moved around the living room, bedroom and kitchen.

I've been thinking about doing this for awhile and today seemed like the right time. Cutting through the noise of the world, which can sometimes seem overwhelming, to the heart of what matters to me now. Check out https://nownownow.com for more on the concept and a whole range of examples. It might work for you, it might not! It does for me – well for now anyway!