FINALLY!!!

My sister cut my hair for me. Something else has ocme up every time we've tried so today we had another plan. I wasn't going for a hair cut! Jus tto take Sian to play with her cousins and then I was going back for my youngest neices 1st birthday party after baby clinic.

I had long thick hair untill midday today,now it's short and thick and she did her first razor cut. there will be picutres- when i get them!

So, we decided to play with a new toy at stay and play last week. The bike was a BIG hit with Sian, and she'd like one of her very own. Now do we get one like this... or one with pedals like she's been asking for since she was 18mos or so. She's earned her self a big treat with her good behaviour since christmas and we're just waiting for a weatehr imprvoement!

who told her she could...

...grow up so darned fast?

beth has decided that (despite all mama's intentios to wait till 6mos) she's ready for real food as well as mama milk :o(

banana, apple, hummus and yoghurt. that's what she's tasted so far. she stole sian's yoghurt spoon and shoved it in her mouth like it was going out of fashion, darnit i wish i'd had the camera handy!

i guess i'll be spending a little more time in the kitchen then so that we can give hre some of whatever we're having. i really am gonna be breaking out the babysafe feeder aren't i

The photo is from one of our stay and play sessions and a perfect example of how to use a "treasure basket" She's been sitting up since she was about a week shy of 5mos and the main reason the boppy is behind her is the floor is solid wood and i was doing "snack time" after i snapped her

e-bay, baby!

wow! i jsut sold 5 of my small fuzzibunz on ebay. for £5 each. I'm stoked. and 2 more are going at auction. my house on monday will be releived of..

5 pairs of too big trousers
5 small cloth nappies

my paypal account will be£50 or so richer! woohoo!

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Wheezeys-bouncin-bargains_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm

if you're interested in bagging a baby clothes bargain (theres other stuff there too!) then feel free to take a peek

"Sian bowl-in'"

Yup, she went 10pin bowling today..... her 3rd time and she almost beat her daddy lol. She managed 15 frames before getting bored and mama bowling a couple for her before she finished off. G1- 109 G2- 97 Not allowed to take it up yet though, can't get shoes small enough for her, she can't pick up the ball yet oh and she still needs the ramp and bumpers!! There will be a photy when i get ot moms to D/L it.

woo hoo!

after being shoved from pillar to post about our housing/council tax benefits... we got confirmation today (finally) that we qualify for them!!! no more rent arrears.... well almost cause theres no way we could find £228/wk we appear to be in £2000 arrears, BUUUUUUT we won't be any longer! about £200 maybe cause i've been feeding sian instead, that can easily be remedied in the next couple months (i hope lol)

So that was the good news for the day. And the sad bit of the day was we went to our last "stay and play" at the focus centre today. Two more weeks (packing and creche for adult ed. courses) and it's going to be demolished and a new building and room are going to be in teh space. The new room is smaller, but has its own kitchenette, a quiet room, sensory room, kid sized loos and a garden....

there's life in the old dog yet!

i did it... i bounced- in jsut a leotard, good lord i must be mad!- and came 3rd in my group. not bad for someone just turned 30, had 2 kids in the last 2yrs and still nursing the pair of them too!

certain teenagers however will have asses kicked this weekend over a lack of tension, pointy toes and stretching!

i must be nuts.......

or something.

with very little practise i'm gonna do a trampoline competition.... last time i entered this one in particular sian was 12wks old, still nursing almost hourly and i still managed to come in teh top half! (i was feeding her right up to the point where i got *on* the trampoline. got dressed, bounced, got off and carried on!)

i bought ham, cheese, egg mayo, bread, cakes, cookies, salad, dips and fruit not to mention water and squash to feed 16+ hungry bunnies tomrow... they can create their own sarnies when they're hungry!

sitting!

it's official, bethy-boo can sit up all on her ownsome!

she's been trying a while and saturday could do 10-20 second stretches with the boppy cushion behind her, by tuesday she was able to sit for a long stretch unaided with nothing!

she's 5mos today and i looked back at sian's red book to see what she was doing at the same age. well not sitting that's for sure! she was all over the shop.

speaking of my oldest. she's just leaped from the 2% to the 25% for height in teh past 2mos. she grew 8cms in that time- no wonder she's been eating me out of house and home. last time she got weighed she'd gained 8oz in like 6wks and hit the 10kg (22lbs) mark taking her off the 2% and up there too!

i'm not 20-something any more!

i turned the big 3-0 on feb 28th, and to be honest, i feel about 25 still. i had a nice boring day, doing nothing out of the ordinary.

took the girls to stay & play for the morning, helped out at out baby clinic in the afternoon and went out for a quiet meal in the evening

first year i've had a cake since i was 16 and sian ate more of it than i did! it was nice though lol

house photos

so, as promised, house photos! from top to bottom

1. * living room from middle of wall opposite
2. * front of house
3. * 1/2 front garden
4. * double bedroom from opposite corner
5. * kitchen from end
6. * the closet in double bedroom- it has a 2ft high step *into* it! no, it's not used!!
7. * bathroom- the basin is behind the door

temporary housing

yes, i'm carrying on the housing saga. it'll be a bit jumpy (i apologize) but i'm catching up!

so, we were offered a house that was unfit for habitation, *but* they'd already given us a day to leave the B&B. what would they do next? we had 3 days left there.

we got a nice little (i'm used to large places!) house a few minutes away from the B&B. it has a big front garden and a small back garden. 2 bedrooms (double & single), 1/2 bathroom (you whack your elbown on teh shower surroudn when you're on the toilet!) living room & kitchen.

i couldn't fit in teh shower when i was pregnant, not that it mattered, it leaked down in to the kitchen so we travelled over to my parents weekly to wash properly. i was NOT impressed when the landlord didn't have it fixed till beth was 3wks old though.

i've managed to get two cots into the single bedroom- there is now nowhere for the kids to play upstairs! but theres no storage to speak of so beth is still in her moses basket/ our bed and her cot is the girls "wardrobe" i'll have to take a picture of the room though cause i'm happy with the general effect. at least the kids have some drawers to use. clive and i get to use the floor and a couple tubs for our clothes storage. i'm never too sure which is the dirty washing and which is the clean!

i guess some pictures of our new place then? we're lucky to live in a sure start area (http://www.surestart.gov.uk) so i take teh kids to "stay and play" most days to get us out the house, the girls socialising and stop me stressing! i also started a course - didn't finish it as beth wasn't ready to be left though i gave it a go. all this is free which is helpful as we're in rent arrears, but that's another rant!

Beth's birth story (late!)

i'm a baaaad blogger! but here (almost 5mos later) is elisabeth jade's birth story

Beths EDD was Oct 11/12th depending on if you went by LMP or U/S dates. I had no idea what my body was going to do as far as baking this child was concerned as Siân was induced.

October 9th started out as a normal day, the only odd thing was Siân having a mega long nap in the afternoon- i ended up having to wake her for her tea at 6.45ish, and she didn't go back to sleep till after Beth arrived and everyone had left GrannyJans. It was one of the few times I've *ever* left her to cry it out to sleep, I hate doing it. We walked to the store to get a little credit on my phone (£5 goes NOWHERE when you've got a midwife and doula to keep updated!) Siân decided to swing from our hands all the way there and all the way back, I think it was a combination of that, the pineapple and clive feeling neglected! that caused the events of the evening!

around 9.30 i couldn't get comfy for love nor money so i asked clive to call dad as i wanted to be somewhere with a working shower (ours leaked into the kitchen so i couldn't labour in it, and we'd always planned to have teh baby at there house) Siân was not sleeping for love nor money and I just decided to nurse her for a while. brainiac decided he didn't want to disturb dad so early. i had to tell him about 5x over the next hour to call to get Siân and myself picked up. In the end I did it myself!

10.47 i called fiona (mw) to tell her i was on my way to mums and she'd probably meet me in teh shower! i also sent a message to my doula (who never was!) to ask how much notice she needed to get to me. while on the phone to fiona the backache that had just niggled became constant and i was having to breathe through it

10.55 dad came to get us, clive installed Siân's carseat and i made myself decent and hobbled out to the car... hopeing my waters wouldn't break on the journey over (they did, but we put a towel under me and i had a towelling dressing gown on, the seat was saved!)

11.00 i sent a text message to fiona to say i'd had a show, and my waters had broken mid message! so the delivery was likely to be quick as we seem to go in fo rthem in my family lol dad jumped a lot of lights tonight hehe good job no police cars were around! i did have to make him take a slightly longer route though cause i was NOT manageing over the bumps, a head in the birth canal made them rather uncomfortable!!!

11.07 (12mins for a 15-20min journey, not bad!) i got to mums and walked in while dad got Siân sorted out. bless my mummy. she was there for me, all drugged up for the night on morphine! there was no time for a shower or my TENS machine (which was upstairs) "eljay" was going to make an appearance!

11.16 baby was crowning and i was trying to hold out for fiona to get tehre.......... erm nope! this was NOT going to work, i tried!! Siân asked me what was going on so i told her "mama's having the baby sweetie" she knew right from the moment I got the positive that we were having a baby, and she came to all my appts & scans wtih me

11.20 oooooh boy. i neeeeed to push. mum had a go at perineal massage lol but i confused us both so we gave up there. she just carreid on massageing my back- which she'd done since i managed to flop onto her bed 10mins ago and just rock on my hands and knees!

11.21 elisabeth jade came out all in a rush. dad couldn't beleive it when we yelled at him for a little assisstance! i talked mum through guideing her head out, and she wasn't sunny side up lol i guess i just have back labour.

11.22, it's a girl! sian got to see her baby sister as soon as mum had managed to unwrap the cord from round her mouth. she came out and gave a good ol' yell btw. i couldn't do anything but flop lol. i did manage to tell mum that the cord was to be left as long as possible before cutting... the midwife still wasn't here just yet so i relaxed a little while mum wiped and wrapped beth up.

11.30ish... fiona, clive and my FIL all turned up within mins of each other. poor clive lol. he didn't get to cut the cord or be at beth's birth!

I'd told mum that I wanted the cord to stop pulsating before it was cut. And that I didn't want a managed 3rd stage. Fiona was smashing. She waited as long as possible before cutting the cord. Asked me what I wanted to do with Bethy about cleaning and nursing her. And didn't even think about helping the placenta out! I'd also said that Beth was to get her Vitamin K orally not IM

Clive took Beth to see grandparents and sister while Fiona and I meandered bathroom wards to get the placenta delivered... gravity was a great help there! Trying to guesstimate the blood loss was interesting though lol. Mum has one of those sensor flushes on her toilet and everytime I leaned back.........! Two more pushes standing over the loo and the placenta was there. On later inspection Fiona said to me "oh, you have a dirty duncan" I'm thinking... huh?

Fiona checked me over and I had a 2nd degree tear, that didn't need stitching. Beths Apgars were 9 & 10, she was 7lbs 13oz so 4lbs heavier than big sister. and 7cms longer at 52cms