Seven weeks older and what have you done?

Well it's been a while. How are you? Really? Well, that's enough about you, here's what we've been doing...

ThingTwo is now seven weeks old, and the tiredness is showing on us. She's settling a bit better in the evenings now (some nights better than others) and things are moving in the right direction. She's continuing the trend of being bigger than her sister, which is as well since ThingOne is very bossy and ThingTwo will need to be able to stand up for herself as she grows up.

ThingTwo has lost that pickled-baby look and is starting to show some interest in things and show some personality. Her smile, when it shows itself, is lovely, and we remember from the first time around how a baby's smile can lift you up just when you're feeling at your lowest ebb (e.g. during a particularly tiring day or night time nappy change).

Despite it being a lot harder with two (since there's now a toddler running around demanding attention in addition to the baby to wrangle) we're finding we're not as wiped out this time, presumably because we've been conditioned by ThingOne not to expect much time to relax, and we're starting off with realistic expectations of what we can achieve (though my mum's on my back to get round to sending out thank you cards so maybe we haven't achieved as much as we ought to have done).

Having two has made us wonder why we found having one such a stretch. When we're alone with ThingTwo now things seem easy peasy. ThingOne was at nursery for the morning a week or so after ThingTwo was born and Anne, ThingTwo and I went to the shops to pick a few things up. Anne carried Newborn in a sling, and we barely noticed she was there. We sat down for a coffee and read the paper while Anne fed ThingTwo and just thought "This is so relaxing. Why didn't we relax more with ThingOne?" In contrast, we went to Starbucks a couple of weeks later with both the kids and it was manic, with ThingOne asking questions constantly and running around a lot. I nipped off to get her a Mr Men book I could read to her, and the newspaper I'd (foolishly) bought didn't get a look in.

Incidentally, I enjoyed Mr Men books as a child, but they now seem to me to be mainly slightly worrying morality tales. In many of the books less-desirable characteristics are beaten out of the Mr Men with violent malice. Maybe we should stick to Charlie and Lola?

ThingOne is taking to ThingTwo really well. Not much jealousy - the worst that can be said is that she's overly enthusiastic and wants to cuddle "Izzy-Winky" (as ThingOne calls her) a bit too hard. It's really nice to see ThingOne enjoy having her sister around. Things might be different once junior is on the move and interferes with senior's things.

ThingOne seems to have upped her attempts at cuteness, though I'm not sure if this is a product of her trying to get attention or whether it's just because she's now two (her language keeps taking big leaps, so that helps). In the last month or so I've had her saying to me:
"Daddy, come and pick both your girls up"
"Daddy, be careful with ThingOne! This little girl precious. All the children are precious." (No idea where she got this.)
"Daddy you cheeky man!"

She also told me yesterday when I recommended she not dip her bread in her drinking water that she was "supposed to" do this. (Meaning mummy normally doesn't stop her.) "Supposed to" has been her phrase du choice this weekend, and I find it hard to argue with her when she's being cute. So long as she doesn't start using this to her advantage everything should be absolutely fine...

On more important matters, in the last year I've been watching The Wire on DVD. It's been described as the best TV show in years, and I'm inclined to agree. I've now finished the fifth and final season and am going through withdrawal. Amazing stuff. Very much recommended and I'll be forcing ThingTwo and ThingOne to watch it when they're of age.

Second Mother's Day post

Feel I should probably restore Anne's good name by admitting that the photo in the last post was staged (I put ThingTwo down there while Anne was using the PC and grabbed the camera). To make up for it here are two pictures of Anne looking like she might be a half decent mother.

A child is for life, not just for Mother's Day

Anne's slightly extreme plan to get two presents this Mother's Day has paid off.

From this picture though, you might be forgiven for thinking her heart isn't entirely in it

Coincidence

Anne found out today that yesterday was St ThingTwo of France's feastday. This isn't why we named her ThingTwo Frances, but she'll probably spend her life not entire convinced of that.

She will arrive, bringing an earthquake in her wake

At 8.15 on Tuesday evening, with ThingOne asleep upstairs, we were watching Ashes to Ashes (still not sure if I like it). Anne felt a weird pop, and realised her waters had broken. She'd been having contractions for a while, but then she'd been having them on and off for a few days.

A midwife came round thirty minutes later, and things had slowed down a bit. The midwife said she'd see how things went and may go home for a nap if things don't speed up. By 9.25 things sped up a bit, so I helped the midwife get her bits and bobs from the car. At this point the midwife trod dog poo through our hallway. Gah! She and I did our best to clean it up, but also had to try to ensure Anne was OK through her rather painful contractions.

Our second born, ThingTwo Frances, emerged at 10.20pm. Nice one! It all seemed to go so quickly, and I wasn't exhausted like I was last time. Anne seemed pretty well too, all things considered.

The home birth experience was just great. Anne was very relaxed, as was I (but then I didn't have to do too much). The mess of the birth was nothing compared to the dog poo trail (a shower curtain laid on the living room floor helped with the former).

Around 1am, the midwives having long gone home, Anne and I were downstairs in the front room (where ThingTwo was born). The house seemed to shake. Our first thought was that ThingOne had fallen out of bed (she'd slept through the birth). We found out later it was an earthquake. I like to think the earthquake was announcing ThingTwo's arrival, and have chosen to decide to pretend to take it as a good omen.

We all got some sleep last night, though ThingTwo mainly wanted to feed. I'm off to take ThingOne to playgroup soon.

Welcome to the world and to your new home ThingTwo. I'm sorry it smells faintly of dog poo.