As yet unnamed!

The next "obsession"

So a few weeks ago, it was all about the nice hats. Banana, cheerio, toys, whatever. It made a nice hat. Lately, Noemie's focus has shifted to "phones". Granted in this photo it's a real phone but she'll hold anything up to her ear and say something like "heh" into it as if she's having a conversation. I'll need to get some photos of her various "phones". Following on from yesterday's sitting on the second step, today she proceeded to go up the rest of the stairs and then crawled off onto the landing and peered down the stairs to the ground floor. Our living room is on the first floor and has this upper level and then a few steps down into the main living room. It's unusual and for a while it was ideal as Noemie was contained in a large play pen of sorts. Not anymore! She also realized she could go up the 2 steps and then flop herself over onto the couch then stand on the couch and reach into the cat's food dish on that upper part of the living room. In 24 hours, life has changed. This means I can't leave her in the living room while I go down to the kitchen for stuff unless I make it super fast but I'm not moving that fast at the moment. Might be time to move her highchair down into the kitchen this weekend. 

In other news, had a routine ante natal appointment today, got stabbed three times for blood and have a nice bruise on one arm. It's due to be 28 degrees in London tomorrow so I'll be the pregnant junkie with the track marks up my arm which will show with a short sleeved shirt on! As it's only 2 holes in my left arm though I might get a needle tonight and stab myself a few more times for good measure. We also set my c-section date for October 6th so Peanut will be appearing in 14 weeks from today. 98 more days to go. But who's counting? Wonder what the chances of him coming earlier on his own are? Slim to none if Noemie was anything to go by! 

Last quick gripe. Typepad's editing thing sucks big time. It does some weird line spacing thing in the middle of my posts and there doesn't appear to be any way to change it to all be consistent. I don't do that on purpose just in case anyone wondered why my posts look all randomly spaced.

Lazy Sunday

We've had a nice lazy Sunday, some of us were lazier than others. K is so nice and gets up with Noemie on weekend mornings so I get to sleep in a bit! I feel bad that he hasn't slept in on a weekend in months but he insists he likes spending time with Noemie and I have to admit I am so thankful for the extra sleep. I'm constantly exhausted these days not matter how much or how little I sleep. I have a routine antenatal appt tomorrow and am having blood drawn for the Glucose Tolerance Test so I'll ask my Dr if they also check for anemia in case that's what's making me tired. 

Noemie has started climbing up the stairs and can get up the first two steps in our living room before she hesitates and doesn't go further. She then turns around and sits on the step and waits for us to notice her. It's cute but it also means I can't leave her in the living room while I run down to the kitchen to get her meals in case she falls down the stairs or something. No where to put a stair gate here either. I guess I'll be strapping her into her highchair more often! 

We went to the local pub for a Sunday lunch which was yummy and then I've spent some of the afternoon knitting some more. In fact I am going to go do a bit more now. I've done the second sleeve so am going to join the shoulders and get to work on the hood. Had hoped to finish it this weekend but procrastinated a bit too much!

Baby Stuff

This is my second try at blogging tonight. Thanks to Typepad's changes, I finished an entry and went to edit it and it disappeared. Well, the photo remained but all the text vanished. I wish they would've left things alone instead of trying to "improve" stuff as all they've done is create a mess. Anyway. 

Someone on the baby chat group over on UKS posted about a coupon code to use on the Mothercare.com site to get 20% off and as luck would have it the tandem stroller we want is available. It's the new Phil & Ted Vibe. So I ordered it (stroller, doubles kit, cocoon and double rain cover) along with a new monitor as our last one broke this past week. I also got a changing mat rather than trying to carry Noemie up and down the stairs a few times a day, I can change her in the living room where we spend most of our time. I saved around £150 on my shopping and get free delivery so that's pretty cool. 

I just need to find a replacement cover for the infant car seat as K for some reason is having issues with his son riding around in a bright pink flowery car seat that we used for Noemie. I guess I can kinda understand. It's like how I feel about those totally stupid looking hair bands with massive flowers that people put on their bald baby girl's head so that people will know she's a girl. I'd rather write "girl" on the forehead with a permanent marker. Come to think of it, it'd be cheaper to buy a permanent marker to write "boy" on Peanut's forehead than to buy a new seat cover. Last but not least, I need to find some BPA free Dr Brown's bottles. So far they only seem to have some brand called Born Free that are BPA free in the UK but I'm partial to Dr Brown's as we used them with N and they were fantastic. 

I forgot to say we had a fetal echo and it's good news: Peanut doesn't have a heart defect as far as we can tell. My next scan is a 32 week growth scan (which to be honest seems kind of pointless as I'm having a repeat c-section) but now we're thinking we might want to do a 3d/4d afterall. I am going to call the private scanning clinic that we go to and see what they charge. I'd need to book it for 3 weeks from now as 28 weeks is the recommended time and we had great photos from N's scan last time around at 28 weeks on the dot. Hopefully our son is cute. 

Nearly done with the sweater I'm working on. Just need to do one more sleeve and then put it together and do the hood. I can't wait to be done with it. I'm sensing I'm due a moment of craziness soon where I whine about all my half baked projects and how I never finish anything, blah blah blah. My Mom is so good about finishing everything she starts. She even works on one project at a time. Wish I could've inherited that characteristic from her.

Mimi

Finally captured Mimi! She's been difficult to photograph since Noemie came home more than a year ago. At this time she was sitting in the hallway outside the bathroom where Kirk was giving N a bath. So I grabbed the camera and hoped for the best. 

She is curious about N and is often in her room but I think N is still a bit unpredictable with her movements and squeals and it stresses kitty out. Mimi is quite sensitive. If Noemie cries loud enough it makes kitty toss her cookies. Luckily N doesn't cry that often as we all know how I feel about cleaning up puke. She's been great though, hasn't bitten or scratched Noemie though there have been a few occasions when Noemie would've deserved it for fur grabbing! We call her "kitty cat" when N is around and recently when Mimi comes into the room N says something that sounds like "Ki Ka" so maybe she's trying to say kitty cat. Either that or she's asking for a Kit Kat which she also likes. 

I'm hoping they will become friends once Noemie is more predicable. Perhaps when this next baby comes home the other two will bond or something. Either that or Mimi will go into decline, pack her kitty bags and beg my parents to take her home. I can't say I'd blame her. There are days when I'd love to pack my Mommy bags and beg my parents to take ME home. 

(Can I just add... whatever changes Typepad made to their editing interface... it sucks. It's so hard to format text or anything anymore. I hope they sort it all out or even go back to how it used to be as I'd hate to have to find a different blog host).

Back to knitting...

I decided it was time to do a bit of knitting for baby boy considering he'll be a winter baby and could actually do with some warm clothes. I remember with Noemie I knitted up a frenzy despite the fact she was a spring baby and I am not entirely sure how much of it she wore. Amusing how much more enthusiasm you have for a first baby, at least that's been the case for me. I'm also struggling as I just don't think boy stuff is all that cute. I need to get over it. The first picture shows a little teddy bear all in one suit that someone on one of my forums shared a photo of that I decided baby boy had to have. I ordered the supplies, did part of one leg and decided I just can't work with the yarn. My MIL is visiting at the moment and knits and kindly offered to do it for me. It took me less than a second to accept the offer. So I started the project in picture two, the striped hooded cardigan. I'm doing it in white and pale blue though and have done about 3 rows of stripes so far today and it's looking cute. It's tiny as I'm making it to fit 0-3 months. I have a few other items that I want to knit as well as something for Noemie so hopefully I don't lose interest until I get at least a few pieces done. The nice thing with baby knitting is that it's so small and goes so fast. 

I need to get back to my dollhouse stitching by August as I'm running a "Christmas in Aug/Sept" stitching challenge on the Petitpointers yahoo group so I should really participate as well! That gives me about 5 weeks to knit up a storm. Better get back to it before bedtime.

New haircut

(Before shot of my hair, taken 2 weekends ago). I got my haircut today, first time in 3 months. At least it's better than last time when I had a 16 month lapse between haircuts. I wasn't sure if I should cut it short, keep the bangs/fringe, etc. My face is a tad rounder than usual at the moment thanks to being a baby oven so I wanted something to make me look less fat. Anyway, I tried a new hairdressers this morning which is down the street from us about 10 doors down. My usual place is a 15 minute walk and I'll admit it felt like way too far to go at the moment. I'm glad I tried this new place and will go back again for a cut in a few months. The guy was really nice, much quicker with the cut, I was in and out in 45 minutes. The other place is good as well but a cut and stuff takes about double the time  for some reason and they are far more expensive as well. Both are Aveda salons though so I don't know why one costs so much more than the other. 

Here is how it looks now. I had choppy bangs/fringe cut in, 2" taken off the length and lots of choppy layers added overall. I don't have time to blow dry my hair each day so this should allow for some movement in my hair when I leave it to air dry. I think it frames my face better than how it used to look and it's nice not to have my bangs/fringe in my face all the time. I had been growing them out for 7 months but there was this last bit that just wouldn't grow and was in my face non stop and i  was irritating me so much I am surprised I didn't shave ALL my hair off. I still prefer shorter hair in general though, so once this baby arrives and I've had a chance to shed all my weight and then some, I will treat myself to a short cut. It will be incentive to shed all the flab next year.

I've booked a manicure/pedicure later this afternoon so I'll be all pampered by the end of the day. I'm thinking it's a nice habit to get into so that once we have 2 kids, it will be my break to get out of the house. A manicure every other weekend, pedicure once a month and a haircut every 2 months. Figure it's a fair balance that K gets to go to a Chelsea match every other weekend so I need to have something that gets me out of the house and away from the kids as well! 

I need....

to blog more often, create a new blog header and figure out what to call my blog. I couldn't keep up with two blogs so I've merged things and will see if it makes it any easier. If not, I'll just have to call it a day! 

Our little superstar

We ended up staying over night, we being Noemie and I. Kirk came home to sleep as they only let one parent sleep at the child's cotside. We got to the hospital Wed morning, had all the routine paper work, etc., and luckily she was first on the list with our surgeon so she went in at 9am. K and I went to the anesthetic area thinking we could both go in but they said only one parent and as I was holding N, I went in. It was awful. Poor thing was crying, I was crying and the anesthetist told me to stop as I'd upset N. So I tried but to no avail. It was over pretty fast and I had to leave her there and though I know modern medicine is amazing, it's still MY baby I had to leave. K and I went to Starbucks as they said it would be about an hour to hour and a half. Two hours later she was in recovery and then back in the wards 10 minutes later. She slept a bit then had some water which she kept down so we then gave some milk and then a few snacks. She was clearly uncomfortable but still managed to move around and gave K and I a few of her smiles. She amazes me that she can stay her usual sweet self even after surgery. The surgeon (who is also our consultant) came around later in the day and suggested we stay in for a night as the area of the hernia was large and they injected her with a lot of local anesthetic which would wear off just around dinner time. His concern was she'd be in enough pain that normal strength stuff wouldn't be enough so we'd have to bring her back in anyway. She did so well. No excessive pain so was on just paracetamol and ibuprofen and she slept straight through from 9pm-6:30am then up for some milk and asleep again. 

Me on the otherhand, I got about 2 hours of sleep thanks to the three other babies in the ward who were horrible sleepers. Then the heart rate monitors that are pretty much useless but seem to be hospital policy kept going off anytime a baby cried. I turned the sound down on ours but in the bed next to ours the monitor was LOUD and kept going off. Finally after 5 shrills in a 30 minute period at midnight, I sat up and bleated out a few profanities. Moments later the parent went to get a nurse to turn the thing down. Success. Some other person had their cell phone on and it rang a few times at 11:30 pm so yep, I went to their bed and asked them to shut their phone off as it was irritating and technically not allowed in the wards. I don't care if people use them, but sheesh, put it on silent or whatever. NO ONE is that important. Throughout the night one baby or another would howl, I swear the other parents must've all been wearing their earplugs or just hoped that their kid would go back to sleep. Maybe we're just super lucky that N is such a good sleeper and has slept through the night from around 4 months of age. The most amusing moment was when the Mom of the kid in the bed next to ours said "you are such a good boy, you slept so well" when her whiney little one year old boy woke up shrieking at 5am. Seriously, if THAT was a good night for them, they need to consider sleep training or something. The kid cried off and on for the next two hours. Somehow N slept through ALL of it. 

The wards here have about 5 beds in a small space just separated by curtains. Apparently the maternity wards are the same which now explains to me why the women here seem to give birth and then are in a rush to get home on the same day. Or have more home births. If I had to deliver on the NHS I would not deal very well being in a room with 5 other women and their kids. I am sure they have this set up so no one gets too comfortable as they want to clear the bed space as quickly as possible. While I'm thankful that all of N's care (other than her birth) has been free on the NHS, I feel horrible for the parents who have to deal with on going surgeries and hospital stays, etc. The Drs and Nurses are wonderful and we've been impressed with the care N has received but seriously... last night I would've killed for our own private room. Perhaps I'm just a little spoiled... and I'm okay with that.

Anyway, time for bed for me. Despite my 4 hour nap earlier I am still super sleepy. 

Butterfly again!

Went to the park this afternoon with my parents after lunch and looked around for the butterfly hoping to see it again but gave up after a little while as I saw NOTHING. After about 45 minutes we decided to walk down to Starbucks and just as we were leaving the park something came out of nowhere, fluttered in front of me, circled overhead and then took off. My Mom saw it as well so at least I know I wasn't seeing things. It looked like the same butterfly as yesterday though I realize it could just be another one of the same kind. It was nice to see it again :) 

Butterflies and other things

Thought I'd share a recent photo of N for a change, taken over the weekend when we were at the park. She'll be 14 months tomorrow, amazing how fast time is flying. She's getting so big. This is a rare moment where she is wearing a hat but you can see her hand reaching up. Moments after this photo was taken the hat was off and flung aside. 

Tomorrow my sweet little princess is going in for hernia repair surgery. She was born with an umbilical hernia (apparently very common, as much as 1 in 6 births) which is not going to resolve itself as it's quite large. It's a routine op, usually a day procedure with minimal risks. After all we've been through, it should be a walk in the park. I'm hoping she sails through this like she sailed through her open heart surgery just about a year ago, last June. Can't say June is my favorite month by any stretch of the imagination. I'm totally dreading tomorrow but it has to be done. At least it's first thing in the morning and with any luck we can come home by the evening and all sleep in our own beds. There is the chance we'll stay in as they might want to monitor her to make sure all is well due to her heart history. Her cardiologist seems to be the least concerned out of everyone so that's a good sign I think? 

Speaking of signs... we were at the park yesterday as it was a really beautiful (though far too hot) day. While I was standing there watching N crawl around in the grass, I felt a nibble of sorts on my arm and jumped, thinking it was a spider or something. I looked down and saw a butterfly had landed on my bare arm! I wiggled my arm so it took off but within minutes it landed on my again, same spot. It was black when totally folded up but when it took off again it was a really pretty butterfly with colorful wings. So I stared at it circling in the sky above us and then couldn't see it anymore. Until I looked back down at Noemie and saw the butterfly had landed on her back! It stayed there for a few minutes while she continued playing and then took off. It circled over us a few more times, almost dive bombed me a few times, and then disappeared. So of course I had to google to make sure it wasn't a bad omen. I found that a lot of people think they are good luck. A sign of rebirth, new beginnings, freedom. Many think it's a message from a loved one that has passed to say they are okay and are still with us, watching over us. I'm usually not one to think of signs or believe in them, I'm far from spiritual and all that stuff but this just got me thinking as the timing was so perfect. I don't wear perfume nor do I wear lotion and on a hot day, I doubt I smelled sweet and flowery. I asked my folks about this and they told me that when I was little and would sit out in the garden, butterflies would land on me then as well. I've never had it happen since then (and I don't even remember it as I was less than a year old) until yesterday. Assuming all goes well tomorrow I think I'll have to get N a little butterfly necklace for her to wear when she is a bit older.