Bob's blog: Starting SPL

I am sitting writing this in a Tesco's Costa at Royston, North Herts, which is a little removed from the business glamour of Canary Wharf, my usual work place. Our little boy, who is fast approaching three months and is without a shadow of a doubt the cutest, most gorgeous baby ever, is sitting on my lap providing assistance on this, my second blog.

For the last month and a half my job has been childcare, shopping, washing and cooking whilst my wife continues her equine veterinary consulting business which she does mostly from home as it involves interpreting MRI scans etc.

Things were pretty tough at the start as we moved house four days after my son was born and I went back to work for a month.  My wife had to cope with the new baby and her work on virtually no sleep for those four weeks straight after the major trauma of giving birth. I, as I amusingly liked to say, 'slept through'...

I have now been on the Shared Parental Leave (SPL) for about six weeks and will continue until early September.  It's fantastic for both of us, my wife keeps her clients without the necessity for professional childcare in these very early days and I get to spend wonderful time with our son. Being at home following a house move has also been incredibly useful as I can get stuck into loads of jobs particularly in the garden. I feel quite smug about being able to push a buggy and a wheel barrow at the same time. 

However, I am beginning to figure out that trying to do too many things at the same time can be hazardous... A few weeks ago we drove four hours to a veterinary practice outside Preston for my wife to deliver some training whilst I looked after our son and our two spaniels.  I went for a dog walk but we had forgotten the sling and the dogs were over excited.... When I returned to the practice to pick up my wife I noticed a moderate graze on our son's head. Appallingly my first thought before even 'is he ok?' was 'I need to cover this up or else I am big trouble!'  Sense prevailed and my wife was, as always, very sweet and understanding.  Our son was fine thankfully. 

I am back to work for a couple of 'Shared Parental Leave In Touch (SPLIT)' days tomorrow and the next day as I am keeping up with some aspects of my job and do about three days a month.  This has been a necessary compromise that I am very happy to do, though I have felt a little conflicted at times. However I do think I have found the balance for the moment. 

Our son is now sleeping peacefully.  So now home to unpack the shopping and then all three of us can walk the dogs.

Bob is a portfolio manager working for a American private bank