Network of mums...and a GREAT man!

Over the last few weeks Abi has gone from sleeping through the night to waking up every couple of hours for more feeding, this has resulted in my being sleep deprived more than I was when she was first born, as even though I am getting sleep every night, it is no more than five - six hours and cut up severely.

So, even though those who know him would expect no less, Matt is being a DIAMOND and putting up with huge amounts of rubbish from me, I mean I lose it at the SLIGHTEST thing, no really, the slightest. Yesterday he calmly suggested that I try to get Abi back into a routine, when I had asked his thoughts on her new feeding/sleeping habits, and for some reason I lost it at him, thinking at that moment, that this was the most unhelpful and flippant thing he could say, of course he was right, and I intend to stop demand feeding Abi as from today!!

And the other thing that is getting me though, homage to the Tues NCT girls here...is the wonderful network of mums that I have surrounded myself with. I turned up at the pub yesterday afternoon, after five hours of intermittent sleep and half a cup of coffee (no time to have more with one thing and another) and I just did not want to be there, or rather socialising at all, I had only turned up out of loyalty to the friends I have made and the vague notion that I would feel better after a chit chat and a latte...but by god did it make ALL the difference, and it was NOT just the caffeine I am certain, to have a good couple of hours with a great bunch of woman with whom I share so many things in common, and the fun and sheer wonderfullness of discussing everything from going back to work/poo/feeding/poo/insane family members (naming no names M!)/poo...it was JUST what I needed - Thanks ladies!

Glorious Pic of Abi in a pink leather chair courtesy of Matty.

I'm an expert/I know NOTHING!

Why is it that I veer wildly between thinking I know what's best for Abi and how to get her down/keep her down/feed her/placate her, or know she's crying because of hunger/boredom/tiredness and thinking completely the opposite and that I know nothing, and have to ask every other mother I meet their opinion on the matter?? Don't bothering answering that, as it's clearly a rhetorical question, no on second thoughts do let me know your thoughts on the matter....oh I don't know, a month ago five hours sleep seemed a lot, and now for some reason it is nowhere near enough!? Ho hum the ever changing landscape of motherhood, and I've only been at it for fifteen weeks ;-S

Latest snaps...

Abi in her bargain highchair...just a few more weeks Abi!

She loves her daddy!! oh and bunny...

First Trip into London...

Ok, so just have to draw your attention to a previous post: http://mumtobeno1.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html where I was the witness of a woman traveling on a train with a child whilst talking on the phone, and back then imagining the things to come, whilst being a tad judgemental at the silliness (read the post!)....well would you adamandeve it....that was EXACTLY what I goneanddun myself...

Last Fri I went into town to meet a very good friend for lunch, and I ended up on the phone to my sisinlaw, getting off train, on bus, off bus with Abi in Buggy, phone in one hand and coffee in the other, no hang on, that's not enough hands...well therin lies the problem....Hey ho, we survived in one piece, and Abi seemed to enjoy herself!

Pub Culture

Abi: "Hey Louis" / Louis: "Whats up Abi!"

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Mum's: "Ahhh how cute"

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Barman: "Are that lot going to be here all day?"

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Other Patrons: "(Inward remark) oh b***er"

Well Maternity leave is going pretty well thanks, forget coffee culture, think pub culture, as I seem to spend most of my time in pubs with my mum friends, which is great as I don't get to go out drinking much in the evening anymore! In fact I took it a tad too far last week, and whilst meeting my bro in town, Abi actually got chucked out of an over 18s bar in Leicester Sq....oops! That's two pubs she's been chucked out of already, and at such a tender age, she is sooooo her daddy's girl!

Abi has had a cold recently, and has been up during the night so as I never did get into that time honoured tradition of listening to your mothers advice and sleeping when your baby did, I have been getting an average of five hours a night for about a week, and when at my nephews party on Sunday I was sitting across from one of the mums in attendance, it was a full minute or two of silence before I reaslised she had been waiting for me to respond to a question whilst I had been gazing into the distance thinking of goodness knows what whilst she patiently waited on, social etiquette, what's that all about again? Question: So, how long can you use your child as an excuse for all your inadequacies?

As I have not being all that great on the finance side of things, err....ever, I have only just finally bought into this whole, oh yeah I am not actually earning any money right now thing, and so in a fit of family solidarity decided to be mrs frugal and go onto ebay in search of some baby bargains. Matt was out, my first mistake (as he always sanity checks my online purchases), and off I went into eBay land. (Sorry if you've heard this already girls!) Anyway to cut a long story short, I managed to get myself a wow bargain, a lovely wooden highchair that turns into a seat/table thingy, all for the bargain price of £1.04! AND ..tadadada.....Free delivery! Too good to be true right? Yep...you would be right...as it was not till Matt got home to my loud cries of 'how clever am I, I have saved us so much money' etc etc, that he tiredly pointed out it was local pick up only, and the eBay seller lived north of Cambridge...Ooops! Poor Matt, so today he spent a full four and half hours driving up to collect it, costing him £30 in petrol, plus he felt a tad silly handing over the £1 and 4p so gave the chap a whole £2...Whilst I spent the afternoon, yep you've guessed it right again, in the pub with my mates! I ask you, do I deserve this amount of patience and agreeability from my long suffering hubby? (...Don't answer that!)

To keep you up to date on more practical matters, we are no longer going down the childminder route, Matty decided he would rather stay at home and look after our bundle of lovliness than go out to earn a crust to ONLY just cover childcare costs (Who knew it was that expensive, well apart from all you long serving parents that is) Anyway...HURRAH! I am so happy it's hard to put into words, suffice to say, although I think leaving Abi to go back to work will still be hard, I will be able to cope a lot lot better knowing she is in the safe/capable and LOVING hands of her dad!

Three months old already...

So, reading over the last post I have to update you that we sim-ply just gave up trying to put Abi down any earlier than 2am until SHE was ready! .. and the last week or so she has gone down ON the DOT at 11pm every night, and for the first time (I am still holding my breath) she went down tonight at 7pm (woke/fed/went back down at 8pm) and has been asleep ever since (time now 11:50pm and counting) SURELY this CANNOT be the time when I can begin to say with pride and not a tad of self importance/achievement - My daughter is ONLY three months old and she is ALREADY sleeping through the night! It's funny as for years I have heard other parents talking about the achievements of their children and wondered why they sound so proud of such bizarre and seemingly mundane things, but the sleeping thing is just a drop in the ocean of achievements Abi has had this week - but they are all so miniscule to mention, a new sound, or intonation on an already discovered one, a new way of looking at me whilst feeding, almost launching herself off the chair thingy in the bath...these are almost not worth mentioning to people I speak to during the day and yet....they are such meaningful moments and all so precious! Today for example, we lay on the bed for more than half an hour, just kissing each other, well Abi's version of kissing anyway, which is open mouth, eyes blinking with loads of goo-ing! Blissful.

I just had to write another post although it's not been a month since my last, as this last fortnight I have begun to look into childcare, and it has been the most painful thing I have ever had to go through, and I still have three months before I have REALLY got to go through it. I had an appointment to go and meet my first childminder posibility on Monday, and an hour before we were meant to go, I was curled up on the bed weeping, just managing to get myself together enough to call and postpone half an hour beforehand, and thankfully without yelling down the phone, "I DON'T WANT TO MEET YOU YET, Stranger who will possibly have my child to themselves more hours in the day, more days in the week than me"....it's just not right, but it has to be done, right! Right? So many women have been through this before, but this time it's me, and it hurts!

NB - These lovely photos were taken by my very talented husband...anyone wanting something equally as lovely of their own offspring please go to http://www.matts-i.com/