dinner at the carvery...mmm

slinky has been in the wars again

it's all go

We spent day in Rochester yesterday. The weather was lovely. Might even have got a little bit sun burned. Today it is pouring with rain. I've invited over a few people for a lamb feast and need to go shopping. Mrs McMuffin suggested a special trip out to Morrisons. The sad thing is that we are quite excited by the prospect.

we are having meatballs

parenting

It is all so much easier this time around. She who shall not be named (because we haven't thought of a cake name for her) eats and sleeps her life away. She really does sleep for Britain. She has three hour naps interupted only by a short, or long, feed, depending on who you ask. As a consequence she has already fallen foul of the second child syndrome. I've hardly taken any photos of her. I'm not sure how I will explain to her why there are 5000 photos of her brother and 50 of her.

We were even able to go to the cinema the other day with her. Babycake went off to nursery for the morning while Mrs McMuffin, SWSNBN, and I went to see Speed Racer at 10 o'clock in the morning. By the way, Speed Racer was excellent. We both really enjoyed it. If you can bear in mind that it is based on a
a comic and is really a kid's film, you'll have fun. It really does move CGI on to a whole new level.

We still haven't managed to get Babycake out of our bed, so we now have two children sleeping with us. It is looking increasingly unlikely that we will ever have the opportunity to try to make another baby...ever. If you know what I mean...

This, despite the fact that Mrs McMuffin spent a small fortune on a baby hammock bed thingy. So far SWSNBN have slept only a few hours in it. Every morning I wake up balanced on the edge of our king sized bed forced there by Babycake, who now likes to spread himself out while he sleeps. I must admit it can be quite cute too. The other morning I was awoken by Babycake rubbing noses with me.

I know I promised not to buy any new technology for a while, although I'm not sure how the new 3G iPhone will fit into this, I had to get myself a new amp. The truly wonderful Sonic Impact T-Amp that I have been using for the last three and a half years died a couple of days ago. It has been powered up and hidden under a table all that time. Not bad for £30. With Mrs McMuffin's approval I got a new version of the same amp for £45. It arrived this morning and seems to be just as wonderful, only much better looking. I highly recommend these little amps.

Got to go now. Babcake is peering around the door telling me, "I see you..."

the five of us (yes, Slinky still counts)

Thank you for your kind comments and yes, she really is as hairy as she looks! Everything Mr McMuffin has written is true, this has been a very different experience and although I shall NEVER have another child, as excruciatingly painful events go, this really wasn't that bad. I now realise that gas and air is very effective unless you are in transition and as most of my last labour was transition it now doesn't surprise me that I thought it was a bit rubbish. Anyway, I was very lucky to have all the support that I did and a beautiful sunny day to labour in.

It's remarkable how my anxiety is still all about managing boisterous Babycake and I'm not particularly worried about the littlest one-I suppose I think that we've managed to get one to toddlerhood already, so chances are that this one will get there too! I have to say that although I am doing so much more than I thought possible, I am still a bit panicked at being on my own with the pair of them for any length of time. I can't quite picture the shape of our future routine, or whether we'll have much of one.

Anyway, the baby is stirring a little bit, so I'm going to gaze at her for a bit before I have to go to the shops and get Babycake from nursery...

what a weekend

Well, that was quite a weekend. Mrs McMuffin seems to be making an amazing recovery and yesterday was doing the laundry. We even went for a walk in the lovely sunshine. I don't think we realised quite how different a 'normal' birth could be. Mrs McMuffin was in labour (stage 2) - the pushing bit) for about 10 hours with Babycake, and needed a week or so to recover. This time the pushing only took about 20 minutes and she was practically up and about within a couple of hours. The human body really is amazing. We seem to be taking a new baby in our stride. We both just seem much more confident and less worried about breaking her. I guess there really is something to be said for having more than one child. I'm off to college this morning while Gypsy Tart stays with Mrs McMuffin to make sure everything is okay. The only 'problem' is the other baby who still insists on being looked after. In fact, he has just appeared in the garden, where I am typing this, shouting 'hullo' at me. He is now showing me a disgusting snail that he has found. I have to stop now, but I will persuade Mrs McMuffin to write something later.

welcome to the world

A lovely baby girl born at 17:13 weighing 7lb 8ozs. Mother and child hale and hearty.

baby watch part 7

She is still at it.

baby watch part 6

She has been in the pool for an hour or so. Gas and air seems to be helping. Pushing isn't far away, I'm sure. Slinky just popped in for a visit. He seemed a bit put out to find a swimming pool in the dining room.

baby watch part 5

I can't believe what a fool I have been. I managed to fill the pool without putting a liner in it. The midwife and I have had to empty the bloody thing and start all over again. Damn.

babywatch part 4

This is it for real this time. Mrs McMuffin has been suffering contractions all morning. The midwives have arrived, and I can't tell you how pleased I was to see that it was the same woman who delivered Babycake. She was wonderful. Mrs McMuffin is 4 or 5 cm dilated and I have been sent to fill the pool, which I am now doing. Mrs McMuffin's parents are coming to collect Babycake and whisk him away to have fun somewhere else. More to come...

babywatch part 3

Sorry folks, she just doesn't want to come out for some reason. It all looked like it was happening last night, but after a day of irregular contractions she still hasn't appeared. Mrs McMuffin is fine, and looking more and more pregnant every minute. She just looks like she might pop like a ballon. I am sure that the baby will make an appearance tomorrow, or at least I hope so. Perhaps sometime around midday would be nice, so that we can get a decent nights sleep and some breakfast. I'll let you know how it all works out.

babywatch part 2

The dining room has been cleared. The birthing pool has been inflated. Boy what a job that was. I forgot how much hard work that was. Mrs McMuffin and Babycake have gone to bed in an attempt to get some sleep before the big event. Oh, and Gypsy Tart has been put on alert. More to come...probably.

babywatch part 1

It is beginning to look as if it might have started. More news to come.

us eating dinner at bluewater

a few minutes on my own

I decided to keep going at work for a bit longer and finally stopped at 37 weeks. I've found it a lot easier being heavily pregnant and looking after a toddler than winding up at work and have rediscovered the joy of actually having some energy and staying awake past 9pm. Of course this was helped last week by Babycake going to nursery for two mornings and my parents had him for some of Thursday, so once I'd relaxed enough to actually believe that I was going to get more than 20 minutes of time not at work or with Babycake, I went to get my hair cut for the first time in almost 2 years (yes, that's right). Anyway, I am going to make the most of whatever few precious hours I have to myself and not waste any time. I've got plans for the hallway floor and there's always plenty to do in the garden.

I've managed to kid myself that this baby isn't due for ages and even now at 39 weeks and having had a show, I've still managed to make myself believe that she'll be a week late. Frankly, the more time I have to prepare the better. I hear second births are usually quicker and easier and after the marathon that was Babycake's, a gentle 10km Fun Run sounds like a good thing. I have no sympathy with women who are tired of being pregnant and just wanted it over, I'll take the enormous belly, pelvic pain and her jumping on my nerves and making my legs collapse for a bit longer yet, although I wouldn't mind getting my thighs and arse back to normal!

Boris effing Johnson

Madness.

the view

This is the view I have when I go out for a fag at night. Babycake loves to spy on me through the catflap. By the way I took this with my iPhone and a great little app called Snapature which allows me to play around with various settings on the camera.