The weekend rolls round again

It seems to have flown by this week. I guess hardly seeing J has helped in that respect! Even O complained last night that I was doing the bath again (usually it is J) so J decided to go pick O up from school today. This is great as it means I can take F out and not have to watch the clock all the time. Still undecided where to go - need to go to the grocery store at the very least. I have made a list which does help enormously for me to actually get what I need!

It is miserable here today. It seems to have snowed in a lot of places in Europe but not so here. That is a shame as O would love to make a "bon homme de neige" as he calls snowmen!!! I do miss the snow - when we lived in Munich we had so much of it. Loved it!

Bbbrrrrrrrrrrr

Winter certainly is here! The weather people reckon it will be a very cold winter. I don't have a problem with that as such! It is those grey wet winters that I hate! Today it is grey - after having been sunny for the last few days! Oh well - the washing WILL get dry somehow!

Got a roasted tomato sauce cooking in the oven - actually isn't a sauce yet until I whizz it but you know what I mean! Since discovering this way of making a tomato sauce I have to admit to rarely buying tinned tomatoes anymore! It is so easy and so devine! I am hoping that F cooperates and eats it tonight. She is starting to be picky! I shouldn't complain but I will admit it is the ONE thing that does get me wound up. I worry about her not eating. Was the same with O. Don't gewt me wrong - i would never force her to have something she doesn't like but I do get frustrated - especially when it is something she previously liked! I try the experimenting meals at lunch time! Today we are having spinach and pumpkin curry with a popadom. See how she goes with that!!!

What to talk about

This blogging business can be hard! By my very nature I am not a woffler on paper. I find it hard to write lots and lots! It used to be a joke in my lawyering days that my boss and I could write the same letter, have the same details in it but mine would be half a page and his would be four! I am not the same orally - well perhaps I am a little. I am not one for great long stories (and hence not one for telling jokes!!). Perhaps therefore my blog will never have a cult following! not that i really mind - I do this for me. Not for anyone else. Isn't that how it is meant to be!

It's the weekend...

Well almost!

I have absolutely no idea what we are going to do! The weather report is good - cold but blue skies. Perfect Winter weather! I would think that the search for pine cones will continue so that we can make some Christmas decorations. I would also like to go to one particular shop to get some things I need to make the Christmas cards. I really need to get those done as most of them are to be sent abroad and that always takes time! I think if I can get a snowflake cutter I will do a white snowflake on a silver background on either a red or green card. Simple but hopefully it will look nice!

Got J his main Christmas gift online last night - a set of remote headphones. He used his dads when we were there and really liked them! He knows I have got them - no secrets there! Then again I know what he is getting me too! Better that way as we both get what we really really would like! For me it is a Sony bridge digital camera - I love taking photos but our current digital is playing up! The flash takes ages to load.

I have banned O today from asking about Father Christmas - so instead we had 101 questions about Thomas the Tank Engine - not sure which one is worse!!! It is cute though - and he loves it so that is the main thing!

And so the week continues

It can be quite difficult to write a blog when you don't actually do much!

F's ear infection has improved - and last night she slept through! Long may that continue! She has just started refusing "baby" food (well my homemade baby stews) and wants whatever her big brother has. Dinner was so funny. When we got to dessert she had a yoghurt. But as soon as she saw that O had a fairy cake we had made yesterday she wanted that. So J gave her a tiny piece but she didn't finish it as O moved onto his compote! She wanted the tube it was in so when he had finished O gave it to her and started on HIS yoghurt - which F then wanted. We shouldn't encourage her but it was so cute to see her personality shine through all this!

She really is such a happy little camper. At O's school today she had about 6 adults fawning over her as she played to the audience! A show-off on my hands. Perhaps - but a very cute one at that!!!

Sooo........

Unfortunately I was right - F does have an ear infection - her second. O has never had one so I am not so good at looking for the signs. She has had the first lots of medicines and hopefully will start to feel (and sleep) better soon.

Off to the doctors

F had a hrrendous night last night - up crying for probably half of it. She has a cold and we know she has teeth coming in. After she woke up for the first time we gave her a paracetamol suppo but that didn't seem to help much. So in the next hour we are off to the doctors - I noticed one of her ears looked gunky. She is sleeping now - though there has been the odd groan - poor little mite.

So we did some painting!

To explain - our house is only 5 years old - and we have lived in it for 2 of those years. While we have pianted all the bedrooms and the mezzanine we haven't tackled anything else - mainly because the living room is double height and therefore a bit daunting.

We decided to paint just one wall - just to give the room some colour. So we picked a moka chocolate brown. It sounds disgusting but it looks devine - it has really made such a difference to the room - a lot more warmth and atmosphere.

I now need to get some motivation to do the kitchen - which is fiddly because of having to do above all the cupboards! Soon - soon!

Autumn is definitely here

After a warm october and beginning of November autumn has appeared. The last day or so it has been grey and damp. I can live with the grey (heck having living in Manchester for the first 25years of my life I am used to that!) but the damp I hate.

Last winter was so very dry - and I liked that. Here's hoping this one will be the same!

Christmas questions

O has started the non-stop Christmas questions. It is all my fault as I have said to it many times when he has asked when Christmas is that it is after F's birthday - which has just passed. So now on EVERY drive to school I get asked:

Where does Father Christmas live? (but now he knows the answer to this thanks to Bob the Builder!!! - but he still asks me to try to catch me out)

How does he know where I live?

How does he get in the house?

Where do the reindeers land?

How do the reindeers know where to come?

How does he know where the Christmas tree is?

How does he get all the presents in his sleigh?

How does he manage to get to everyone's house?

I am sure there are more but he is just so fascinated by the whole thing - which is so lovely to see.

Tonight he wants to write his letter to father Christmas - might have to give his some guidance as the bulk of his presents have already been bought!

Contrary!

My girl that is - what have I got to look forward to in the future !

This morning I gave F her now standard breakfast - weetabix with milk. She had about 5 spoonfuls and then closed her mouth and turned her head away and refused any more. So I get her out of the highchair and put her on the floor. I go get my breakfast (the same weetabix with the same milk) and sit down on the sofa. F spots me and speed crawls over, pulls herself up and opens her mouth. I give her a tiny bit and she opens her mouth again..... and again... and again. The little monkey ate about half a weetabix - the very same that not 5 minutes before she had refused

I can see some fun and games in the future (though I have to admit that I am known in my family for being EXACTLY the same)

Another week starts!

Time really does seem to whizz by - is that a sign that I am getting old!

I have spent the morning cooking (pumpkin stew for F and homemade cheese macaroni for the rest of us) and am just waiting for the oven to heat up enough to put in some maple syrup cookies.

The weekend was fun. I am not sure that f was very impressed with her birthday party - didn't like the fireworks at ALL and even spat out the chocolate cake I made (how dare she!!!) The rest of us enjoyed it - O was mesmorized by the fireworks and listened well to our instructions not to go too close.

Yesterday we went to our old neighbours for cake and coffee. F was much more impressed and wolfed down a mini pumpkin muffin! O loved the fairy cakes I had made - the little ornaments on the top went down a storm with all the chiildren.

I am currently pondering whether to make my cards for Christmas this year - i did last year and this year I would like to try something a little more adventurous - may be F and I can go to the craft store this afternoon for a look!

A year ago today...

my little star was born. Here is the story of her birth:

After my third night of disturbed sleep I still woke up without an inkling that F would be born later on.

That soon changed – about half an hour after waking up I started feeling twinges – nothing painful just regular small contractions. I took O to school and when I got back phoned J to tell him to keep his mobile with him.

By 9.45am the contractions were coming every 7 minutes and lasting about a minute. I was easily able to breathe through them but as it was unchartered territory for me I rang the hospital. They told me to come in and get checked out – for peace of mind if nothing else. I rang J and asked him to come home. He arrived 20 minutes later, changed and we left – leaving his parents in charge of picking up O later in the day.

The contractions were getting nearer together and shortly after arriving in hospital I was checked and told that baby would be here that day – already three cm. I was taken to the delivery room where I met the two midwives who would take care of me the whole time – Martine and Nadia. The latter was a 4th year student but I soon felt at ease with her and felt confident about letting her be the primary midwife under the supervision of Martine.

As is normal in France I was hooked up – no walking about here! The contractions were now at every 4 minutes lasting a minute. When I was checked an hour later I had moved to 4-5cm dilated. J was brilliant at helping me breathe through the contractions by telling me to blow out the candles on birthday cakes which he described!

Another hour – and it was getting painful! Contractions every two minutes lasting a minute. It was now about 2pm. When checked I was 9cm – nearly there. But there was a big but. Baby’s head was still not engaged and was turned the wrong way which would make it difficult for her to move into the birth canal. This was deja vu as exactly the same thing had happened with O necessitating a C-section. The difference was that they felt that her signs were good after taking a blood sample from her head and that we had time on our side. But as a c-section was becoming a distinct possibility and the very minimum would be the use of spatulas to turn her I agreed to an epidural. I was tired and the midwives were talking about a 2 hour transition time.

The two hours passed – she was still high but getting reachable. The OB was called – he agreed that I should be prepped to go to the operating room to try to get her out vaginally using spatulas with an end view of the c-section!

So with about 10 people in the theatre the doctor started on turning her – fortunately she did very quickly and less than 5 pushes later, and nearly 4 hours after reaching 10cm dilation, F was born. The wonderful thing was that owing to a bright metal plate holding a light on the ceiling I could see all the “action” – so I actually saw her coming out! Seconds later she was placed on my chest – I couldn’t believe that she was at last here. She weighed a healthy 3.93kg, was 51.5 cm tall with a head circumference of 36.5cm. Her apgars were 10 and 10!!

After all my fears over the birth it was a wonderful experience – and while I wanted to avoid an epidural I was proud of myself for getting to full dilation on my own (well with J’s help)!

Feeling quite emotional

Tomorrow is F's first birthday. It didn't really hit me until last night. I was driving to ToysRUs to buy some fireworks for her party and I passed the hospital where she was born. I started to feel really weepy. I never felt like this with O - perhaps because I knew with O that we would probably (hopefully?) have a second child. Now though I know we are done. This will be my last experience of a first birthday. I also can't believe that a year has passed since she was born. Where does the time go.

I know how very lucky we are to have two such wonderful children. Both are a delight (though i could do without the temper tantrums!!). O is so very caring towards his sister. And F is just a bundle of joy - happy with a laugh that can't fail to cheer you up. I love how she snuggles into me when she is tired, how she turns to search me out and then gives me such a big and happy grin, how she squeals with delight when Daddy comes home, and how she and O interact - long may THAT continue!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr

We came back to find that the heating was broken. At least it is in the 70s during the day but the temperature drops like a stone in the evening. The repair man came out yesterday and is coming today to fit a new part. I hope it works as it isn't very warm in the house. I really should go and put a jumper on!

Bad bad me

Ok - not the best start to a blog is it! But I do have a very good excuse which I should have perhaps transmittee BEFORE hand! As it was half term holidays here we went away to my in-laws in Wales for 10 days. We had a wonderful (if wet) time though as always it is so very lovely to be home.

So what did we do while away!

I met up with some cyberfriends in Bristol. It was lovely to see some of them again and to meet one who I hadn't met before. F came with me (as I am still breastfeeding her) and was a little star as always! We all chatted away - at lunch the poor waitressing staff couldn't get a word in edgeways!

I did a load of retail therapy. There were somethings I wanted to get for Christmas - crackers, christmas pudding and an advent calendar for O and then i just like looking at different shops. After my disaster at finding tops here to fit me I did manage to fins NINE in the UK. Poor J had to watch while I tried on about 20 tops in different shops! I also managed to get o some long sleeved tops and F some gorgeous clothes. We went with two bags and came home with four!!

We also had F's first first birthday party. It was lovely - fairly low key with three little boys plus my two. We had a halloween chcolate egg hunt in the garden for the four boys which was a big hit. The highlight for the boys though was climbing the apple tree - typical!

So now we are back and I need really to prepare for F's other birthday party - which I am not hosting but I am helping with (does that make sense?). She was born on November 5th which is Guy Fawkes day in the UK - so it is traditional to have a bonfire and fireworks. We are holding it elsewhere as we can't have a bonfire here. It should be a lot of fun!