We’re 21 months deep in this neck of the woods they call parenthood. Supposedly, well clear of that first year parent fog. So, with that now new found clarity (joke), we thought it’s about time to enlighten you on our Reality Vs Those First Time Parent Expectations.
You’ve probably seen from our previous post Big Fish Little Fish Vibes, that we love a baby rave. We’re in the midst of that first year baby haze, so still working up to that “Im back” drinking sesh. As our willpower is non existent, we need Emerson to escort us when raving to alleviate the urge to get totally annihilated.
That said it’s New Years Eve, and we have to do something !! HAVE TO! In the 16 New Years’ we have spent together, we have never stayed in just the 2 of us. Other than that 1 year when we got a bit carried away dancing in the kitchen to 1Xtra. We got too happy, mixing champs with VSOP and then spent the run up to midnight over the toilet! Rather than at the Garage event we had tickets to in East London. Even last year 5 months pregnant we somehow made it to Shoreditch.
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New Years Eve planning is notoriously hard, its that feeling of necessity that you should be out celebrating, coupled with the logistics aggro that comes with actually going out on NYE. So this year deciding what to do with a baby was always going to be a toughie. Our decision was made when we saw that The Doctors Orders were putting on a New Years Eve event. ‘Fun DMC-A New Years Eve Party where Midday is the new midnight’ even had a countdown to 12pm!! We were sold!! Having been to The Doctors Orders events before we knew the tunes were going to be right up our street. Fun DMC have been putting on daytime block parties, for the whole family since 2014 and the tunes played range from Hip Hop, Funk & Disco, definitely a bit of us.
Pete, and I have quite an eclectic taste in music. We met at a DnB rave, fell in love over our obsession with Eminem, and spent subsequent years chasing Arctic Monkeys around the world. We want to pass our AMAZING (well we think so) taste in music on to Emerson. As a family we’ve raved to hardcore and DnB at BFLF, and listened to a bit of rock and Indie at Meraki Festival. Up until now Emerson has only got down to hip hop in the back of the car. Now its time for Emerson to gain hip hop stripes, hopefully he will be able to breakdance better than his dad. What better place for him to do it than at a block party on New Years Eve.
Emersons wardrobe is insane, he has more clothes than us put together, Im obsessed with buying the little guy fresh garms. We’re also very unorganised, so when it comes to putting his clothes away, the changing table makes a good closet. Meaning a lot of clothes get lost. When we purchased Fun DMC tickets, it was a good time to find that Run DMC TShirt that had been buried. This wasn’t necessary though, as there is a Merchandise stall, where you can buy ‘Fun DMC’ shirts. Theres even matching Tee’s for Mum and Dad (we’re all about that Twinning life). Our favourite Tee was Notorious KID, with that baby with the fro off of Biggies Ready to Die album. Unfortunately its not available in Emerson’s size, soon though soon. In addition to Tshirts, there were giant Gold Chains that Flava Flav would be envious of, and ghetto colouring books.
It wasn’t too long ago that our Sundays were spent lounging on the sofa, binge watching Netflix under a duvet, surrounded by empty crisp packets, and coke bottles; counting down the hours to when it’s deemed reasonably acceptable to dial in a Pizza, or Indian, or Thai, or……. you get the drift. This is what a hangover looked like in the Cox household, and it was a regular not so pretty sight. When we found out that we were expecting our first baby, we were in our 30’s and living the students dream/ nightmare spending equal time partying followed by suffering most weekends. From the moment we met back in ’02 at a drum and bass rave in Fabric, we never really stopped. Our love of music, dancing and going a bit wild was the foundation of our relationship, whether it was partying at a rave or a festival we were on it.
August this year saw the very first Meraki festival held in St Albans. The team behind this festival went all out to create a 3 day all inclusive bonanza. Camping, family activities and music all rolled into one. The first thing that caught my eye with this festival was the amount on offer for the ticket price. Daily activities including baby sensory classes, arts and crafts, soft play, and kiddie raves that ran from 7am till 5pm? That seemed like good value.
The headliners? Let’s just say they’re not our usual cup of tea. Seeing as having a baby has completely robed us of rhythm we weren’t planing on doing much dancing. Getting to hear some live music whilst keeping the little dude entertained sounded good. I had to check this out. Meraki has more family friendly facilities than you can shake a stick at. This was a great chance to have a practice run for next years season and cut Emerson’s festival teeth.
I dived in head first and brought a weekend camping ticket for around £140. Instead of telling the wife I thought, I know I’ll keep quiet and surprise her a few days before. Here’s a quick lesson