Sleep

Cookie Monster makes for a very cuddly bedfellow....

Water....

We have a water baby.  At least I think we do.  I present the evidence:

1) Heart rending sobs every time we leave the water (bath, pool, paddling pool)
2) Ear splitting screams whilst in the water (I am assuming this is excitement)
3) Splashing so violently that baby, supervising adult and anything within a 2 feet radius gets soaked.

4) Complete indifference to near-drowning incident when we decided that holding onto the outside of the pool was for sissies and nose-diving into it headfirst was much more macho.

Excuses, excuses...

Ironically, the reason I started this Blog, has proven to be the reason I have been so lax in my writing lately.  Namely, this little weasel......who has been taking up lots of my time for the past 10 months.

Recently though, I have been subjected to some persistent badgering by a couple of good friends (Toriann and Kate, you know who you are ;-) and have decided that now I am 10 months into this motherhood adventure, there is really no excuse for not getting back in the saddle.  So here I am.

Clearly, I have quite a bit of catching up to do, given that the last time I posted to this Blog, Sam looked like this.....

It seems a bit of an understatement to say that much has happened in the past 10 months - and I am not going to attempt to encapsulate everything in one post.  So for now I will say - it's good to be back and look out for highlights of our crazy life as it has now become, in the next few posts.

Tick, tick, tick and tick.....

One box remained un-ticked for a long time.  No more :-)

Thank you Tiff for my daily reminder of a dream come true.

When a picture paints a thousand words.......

I have looked at this picture so many times in the past week.

It so clearly encompasses everything I was feeling right at that moment;

'did I do OK?'
'you got your boy!'
'is he healthy?'
'I love you'

It appears like a look of terror - but it was as far from that as it's  possible to be.  I have never felt joy that even rivals that moment.  It is so true that you really have no concept of love until you become a mother...or father.

Thank you Samuel for bringing us unmeasured joy and showing us the meaning of unconditional love

39 weeks.........and counting.....

I now know the 'antsy' feeling pregnant women speak of (apologies for the preposition at the end of the sentence :-/)

Can't really go skydiving or bungee jumping, fidgety sitting down for too long, can't just spend all day eating (well technically I could but that wouldn't turn out well) and yet I have no idea how long the limbo will last.  It's like waiting for a birthday but no-one will tell you when the birthday is.......wait....that's exactly what we're doing!

So I'm focusing on the arrival of Sarah in less than 3 days.  Mike swears I'm as excited about her coming as I am about the arrival of the baby!  It's true - I am really looking forward to having her to myself for the first time in years and years.  We both keep having to remind ourselves why she is coming though, and rein in our extravagant retail/adventure plans!

As most siblings we have had our fair share of ups and downs - but have been brought closer through this experience than ever before (a fact of which Mikey keeps reminding me during our daily transatlantic phone-calls!)  It was on one such call yesterday when this point was proven beyond all doubt when Mikey came upstairs just at the point I was saying to Sarah..'I'm want to pick your brains about prams as Mikey is bloody useless in and really has no interest'.  I wish I'd had a video recorder to capture the look on his face and the babbling apologies which came spurting from my mouth (not to mention the hysterical laughter coming at me from down the phoneline).  Of course, what I meant to say is, 'I'm asking you because Mikey has far more important things on his mind right now and doesn't need to be bothered with trivialities such as baby transportation systems'.  Hmmm - if only the mouth and the brain would communicate a little more cooperatively sometimes.

Anyhow - it just goes to show that it doesn't matter how old you are or how far apart, siblings always have the capacity to get into trouble together - in fact I think it's their duty given the unique closeness of the relationship! 

Who knows whether we will be blessed with a sibling for our wee sprout - I hope for his/her sake that we are - but if not, we will do the best we can to find the best sibling substitutes we can!.

'Of course it won't make all your teeth drop out - just eat it'

Pink or Blue....?

So - which will it be?  There seems to be some discrepancy between the old wives' tales of the US and the UK.  One says that carrying the bump up front like a beach ball means boy - one says it means girl!

Apparently I am carrying my bump up front and the majority consensus is boy.  I'm going to go with girl just to be different but in less than a couple of weeks the suspense will be over and we will know which of the cute items in the picture will be winging its way back to England to join my niece Olivia's collection of dolly clothes!