Saturday 27 April 2013

The time, it flies.


This is Ethan at 4 days old. Today Rich told him the story of the night before this photo.

It was about midnight and he'd woken, and fed, and would. not. settle. I was exhausted in the way that only day three (especially with your first) can make you. Plus the hormone crash was happening, so after checking he wasn't still hungry, I handed him over to Daddy to wind and sort out... and promptly fell right to sleep. Rich tried to put him down, but he squawked, so he hurriedly scooped him back up, in the way you do with your first, and held him upright on his chest til he fell asleep. Too terrified of the possibility for squawking, Rich didn't know what to do next, so he came up with the brilliant plan of sitting up in bed all night with Ethan sleeping on his chest. I woke up for the next feed refreshed and poor Rich grabbed a couple of hours before the sun properly emerged.

This all feels like it happened last month. how has it been almost 5 years? Yesterday he lost his first tooth. He was incredibly brave and it was a lovely thing to see a little of myself in him again as he fiddled with his wobbly tooth in the morning. That's definitely a me-trait. I thought he'd be fine at school as it didn't seem like the falling out was imminent, but turned out it worked loose at playtime and he came out with it in a little envelope. Baby teeth are really teeny. He nearly burst with excitement putting it under his pillow for the tooth fairy and has developed a little lisp. And oh, is that the most adorable thing I've ever heard or what. I really cannot believe he'll be 5 in a month. He's growing into such a kind hearted boy though. Today we needed to go looking at baby car seats and he patiently ran about 'looking after' Sam in the early learning centre bit of Mothercare. And he did it very kindly too, not a bit of grabbing or shoving. I do love those boys, especially when they play nicely together :)




In other news, I am now 34 weeks. I am the size of a house, though I don't feel it, so I keep getting a shock when I catch myself in a reflective surface. We don't have a car seat, and therefore no way of getting the baby home from the hospital. The family crib is at Mum and Dad's, with no plans to see them pre-sprogging. I don't have a moses basket. In fairness I've never used a moses basket before, but without a crib it might be a bit more essential this time! We do have a cot (2 in fact. No I don't know why.) but it's enormous for a newborn.


Still, only 6 weeks til D-day, so probably about 8 weeks til any actual birthing, but I bet that time will fly too. Hopefully.


Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Thursday 25 April 2013

Pregnancy, a haiku


Pregnant lady walks all day
Sits down to rest
Where are my ankles?


Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Porthmadog, Wales

 We've just had a wonderful long weekend in beautiful Wales. It was just lovely, such a wonderful place to take a breath. The car journey wasn't too bad, The boys both took a small nap and Ethan had this checklist that he asked me to draw for him (pretty great idea, he sat ticking things for about an hour and a half).
 
It also helped spread out the "when will we get there?" questions, which he has now discovered.

When we got to the caravan site we had a note saying we'd been upgraded to a deluxe van, which was nice! We'd already paid a small fee to go up to luxury, so it was a nice surprise. The van was really great, proper kitchen area, three bedrooms (we'd paid for 2) a shower room and an en-suite toilet from our room. The living area was nice too, the sofas had nice covers rather than the coarse ones that look and feel a bit like carpet. There was also a decent tv with freeview which was handy on the Sunday when it rained and the kids were bored and in Sam's case, covered in chickenpox.

 On Saturday morning Ethan went for a fencing and archery lesson. It was less a lesson and more playing with swords, but he loved it :) They played with foam swords at first and then had the 'foils'. They were electronic so when you got a good poke in they buzzed.

 The archery also turned out to be crossbow shooting (foam darts thankfully!) but as he was the only one signed up, and a little girl who showed up a bit late and was very shy and left pretty quickly, He got pretty much undivided attention from the guy leading the activity and thought it was brilliant. He was actually not too bad at it either, and LOVED it when the guy said he could lay on the floor to do it.

 

 Saturday was gorgeous. Really warm and beautiful sunshine. We went to the park, and the high street to buy a bucket and spade and beach shoes for the boys, then headed to the beach that is right behind the caravan site. There was a little stream at the top of the beach which was lucky as we'd timed it badly and the tide was completely out! The boys played in the water and built and smashed castles to the sound of Sam's war cries of "seaside an' a beach!" He still hasn't grasped that they are one and the same.


 There may have also been a date and walnut scone with clotted cream and jam on our trip into town. Unfortunately I was so preoccupied with devouring the deliciousness that no pictures were taken. And that is a real shame because I'm telling you, that was heaven. It was in Cadwaladers ice cream parlour. Where I might also have bought ice cream. A couple of times over the weekend. For the boys of course.....and myself...

On Sunday Sam was really bad with the chicken pox so we skipped church. The branch there is VERY small, they meet in the town hall and are mostly quite old with a smattering of small children. One bad case of the pox could take them down for a month! Sam spent most of the morning watching telly curled up with Daddy and no nappy with occasional sobs, poor thing.

Ethan and I went swimming, and it was great! He normally wants his giant rubber ring and armbands, but he decided he didn't need the ring this time, which was great, til I let go in the water and realised both armbands had a puncture and he sunk a *tiny* amount :S He was quite upset, til we went to the poolside shop and bought new angry birds armbands. Then we worked on swimming - he's not very confident in the water, so he clung on for a long time, but I eventually convinced him to let go of one hand, and then a bit later the other. He swam! not for long, and for only about 10 feet maybe, but he did it! I am so proud of him, he's usually very scared and almost completely unwilling to try anything, and this time he was scared but did it anyway! 

I rewarded him with a play in the soft play area, and we went back to a much happier Sam.

Monday came around far too quickly, and after a play in the arcade it was time to come home. It was a brilliant and much needed break, and we really lucked out with the weather. Now it's back to reality, and school and stuff, but there are so many great things to look forward to, Ethan's birthday is in a month, then a couple more weeks and it's baby time! Yay! and EEK! and yay again!


Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Friday 12 April 2013

Nesting, it's not a myth after all!

So left to my own devices, I'm a bit of a slob. I'm also a bit spoilt (or depending on how you look at it, lucky) in that Rich is amazingly good at tidying. He also washes up. And occasionally folds laundry. Ok I'm quite spoilt.

But the last few weeks of this pregnancy, I've felt a need to *gasp* tidy.

I've washed all the newborn size clothes and sorted them into new(ish) drawers. Today I was childless (they went to Grandma's) and rather than slobbing out I pulled out the TV and it's stand to clean behind it. Ok, so I was prompted by the fact that Sam climbed up the stand and poured around half a litre of juice down the back of it, but still. Side note - everything is fine, though I don't know how he didn't electrocute himself or blow up the TV. Some definitely went inside, as after checking the TV still worked for a while, the vents at the top smelt distinctly blackcurrant-y :S

I also pulled out the side 'table' next to the couch. Not technically a table, it's one of these from Ikea-
And it was disgusting. The holes  mean that various kinds of detritus find their way inside. And by 'find their way' I mean are put there by small boys. I have known for a while that the box itself needs to go (it's too big for the space really) and that would involve emptying it. Occasionally I lose a pen to it and have to decide whether to go in after it. Today I did. I rescued a few lego bits, some playmobil stuff, a few pens, about £4.50 and then I had to give up. Some crayons and coloured pens were casualties of war. I sacrificed them for the greater good. The greater good in this case being no longer having to shove my hand into the layer of raisins and bits of foil and paper and cheese bites.

And yet, it was oddly satisfying to make my front room really clean in places no one will see. I know right?!

And tomorrow, I get to go to Ikea for a new side table. And a taller TV cabinet. And a new bedside table. These should altogether cost us around £35. I love Ikea! And I get to build it too, which I love. Yes, I'm a little weird. Bring on tomorrow!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!




Wednesday 3 April 2013

Goodbye Toes

My view this morning. 

 
I might as well be a weeble wobble! Good job I know where everything is below the hips, as I won't be seeing any of it for about 3 months! Sock and boots are a bit of fun now, so the snow has been just great for me! Most of my shoes slip on though so I'm hoping to avoid a perched on a seat, crying over my attempts to get them on situation this time!

We spent Easter weekend in Reading with my mum and dad, and amongst other things, went into town. SO nice to be in a town with big shops, and shops that actually had maternity ranges in. I got some new tops and I bought the spiderbaby suit :)
 I also got this one that comes with a spotty vest and a stripey hat, which might be his first outfit :)
 I am now 30 weeks (and 5 days, very important!) and the size of a house. The baby is a squirmy little wiggler, which is lovely, but sticks his feet in my ribs, which is not so much. Not too much longer to go, though it doesn't feel that way as it has crawled by, so I don't expect it to start flying now!

Oh, I can't wait. I'm so excited to hold this new baby, and feed him, and smell his little new baby breath and head - after he's had a wash that is, no one wants to smell that. Oh and little baby baths! mine have both loved them from the start and it's so cute to see their little legs kicking away. 

65 days to due date :)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Tuesday 2 April 2013

These Boys

These boys. They are so much fun, so much of the time. There are also the days where they end up in the bath at 3pm because I just can't take the fighting anymore, and they LOVE the bath. Also, as  an aside, why is it that they can be playing brilliantly together, but the second I step in the shower and apply shampoo, the blood curdling screams start?
 This picture was from one of those days. See how they're totally fine, and not ripping each other to pieces? The magic of the bath, my friend.

So far today is shaping up to not be one of those days, thankfully. Aside from when I was in the shower, that's pretty much a daily occurance.  They've played with batman, they've tipped the lego all over the floor. They had jigsaw books out. They asked to watch Cinderella, and gave up on it. They asked to watch Tarzan, which got a little more attention. What can I say, princesses don't really cut it for them. Of course, this is how they chose to watch it:
 Hey, I never said they were normal. They love each other fiercely though. If one of them gets hurt (and it's not been caused by the other) then the other one will run over to see that they're ok. The fighting is accompanied by many hugs and kisses in this house. And oh, the hugs these boys give. full of love, yet also like they're trying to squeeze the life out of you. And they're my boys. As frustrating as they can be at times, there is far more than enough good to outweigh that.

I found this while uploading photos, and couldn't not add it, because it's cute and makes me laugh.

                                
He did fall properly asleep in the end, with my hand holding his head up. 

I'm trying to let the frustration go as much as I can, because they're growing so fast. Ethan is almost 5, and getting to be a big boy. And Sam is 2 and a half, and no longer my baby. I want them to remember a mum who was fun, not one who was shouting all the time. One who had time to play and let them make a mess and who didn't always respond with "in a minute." Speaking of which, we're going outside to play. I love these boys.


Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!