Word of The Week

New baby.

Two beautiful daughters.

Family time.

Gush gush gush.

#WoTW

Family Photo Friday #10 - 07/03/14

Family Photo Friday is being hosted over at 

The Life of Mummy Rawles

this week.

Please pop over and link up there.

Normal service resumes next week!

She's here!

Yellow turned pink on Monday at 11:03am when we welcomed Baby Lowen into the world. A smaller, hairier version of her sister, 5 days early and weighing in at 8lb 4. 

I don't feel I need to write much. Her birth was a planned section at a different hospital after a previous traumatic emergency section, and I can hand on heart say that it was the most phenomenal experience of my life.

I walked to theatre holding my husband's hand... I got to meet everyone who was looking after us... I was the first to find out she was a girl and I got to hold her immediately. And within an hour of her arrival, I was back in my room, feeling amazing and enjoying my new baby. I suffered insignificant blood loss, I remember everything so vividly and I came home last night and was able to enjoy both my girls together. I am sore, and still rolling around in bed like a turtle on its back in the night trying to get up, but I am healing well.

I feel empowered by Lowen's birth, I feel in control of my choices and I am enjoying every second as a mother of two.

Meet Lowen. She's one perfect little peach.

Yellow

So, anyone who follows me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram will know that our yellow bump turned pink yesterday when we welcomed our second daughter into the world. 

And while our story in photographs will appear once I'm out of hospital and settled at home, this week's theme was the perfect opportunity to reflect on a whole pregnancy of yellow, in comparison to my first pregnancy, who was declared "probably pink" at 21 weeks gestation and confirmed at 34 weeks before she arrived a little over due.

Team Yellow. Have I loved it? Yes. Would I do it again? In a heart beat. Were there benefits to knowing the gender before they arrived though? Completely.

When we found out E was a girl, baby preparations became a military option. Her freshly painted mint green nursery was accessorised with pinks and purples and everything we bought was girlie. We found choosing name options easier as we didn't have to worry about the blue ones. I felt able to bond with my bump imagining my pink bundle out in her pram in her spotty foot muff, and dreamed of girlie nights painting our nails and putting on face masks.

With L being a planned section, we've known that it... She would arrive on March 3rd since 18 weeks gestation. We also had a better idea of what our baby would look like this time so we still wanted there to be an element of surprise. And surprise it was when the consultant held my baby above me yesterday and asked me to tell her what it was, as in the last days of pregnancy I had convinced myself I was having a boy and low and behold the spitting image of E, be it a smaller version, hung above me, ready to be the little sister.

But Team Yellow has caused some denial and some laziness at Thursday's Child HQ. If you've read any of my pregnancy posts you'll know that the last 39 weeks have drifted past in a haze and I've been very last minute in my preparations. Poor L has a very limited neutral wardrobe ready to be worn, no bed set up at home yet, and arguments over boys names which were completely unnecessary. She only just got her car seat out of the loft a few days ago.

I would say I kept my cool about Team Yellow until 36 weeks. And then frustration kicked in. But frustration for a few weeks was worth all of it for the huge surprise. And she looks lovely in greys and yellows, and she even rocks blue stars. And I won the girls name row.

So I raise a glass to Team Yellow... To the impatient woman and to my beautiful new daughter.

Guest post - Life Before Kids

It's an honour to have Rachel from activities4kidz here today guest posting while I'm out of action and I'm really grateful to her for taking the time to pen something for me. Today she's reflecting on how life has changed for her since having kids. There's certainly plenty here that I can relate to!

 

In my life before kids (now known as LBK), I was a twenty something primary school teacher who spent a fortune on clothes, shoes and nights out! I lived at home with my parents until I was twenty six weeks pregnant with our first, Harrison, so had no responsibilities! Now, with two boys under three, my life couldn't be any more different - and I wouldn't change it for the world! Seeing what my childless friends on Facebook are up to though made me think about LBK and what I miss most.

1) Sleep! I've gone now almost three years without a full, decent night's sleep. Harrison started sleeping through at seven months, by which point I was pregnant with Alex, and who sleeps the whole night when they're pregnant?! Alex is fifteen months old and is yet to sleep through. He rarely sleeps more than two or three hours at a time. Yawn....

2) Alcohol! The thought of going and queuing and paying for nightclub priced alcohol sounds like my worst nightmare these days, but what I'd give to go to the pub or have a glass (or bottle!) or three of wine at a friends house! I still breastfeed Alex so a big drinking session is out of the question. A glass of wine at home occasionally is about as much as it gets!

3) Drinking a hot drink whilst it's hot! 80% of the time my coffee is stone cold, or at best lukewarm by the time I've remembered it or had chance to drink it, and microwaved coffee is vile!!

4) Wearing clothes not covered in snot/milk/sick/good/other unknown substance! Yes, I've succumbed to the typical slummy mummy uniform of leggings and long tops, because after ten minutes whatever I wear is covered in something, and leggings don't need ironing!!

5) Listening to inappropriate music! I love hip hop, rap, rock - all full of sweary inappropriateness. I used to love blasting it out in the car. Now it's more likely to be Gangnam Style or the Hokey Cokey on repeat.

However, I have swapped those days for days full of giggles, cuddles, sloppy kisses and 'love you mummy'. I get to cuddle up to little warm bodies, see their faces light up when they discover something as simple as their own shadow, heat their little chatter about everything and anything, and that is more amazing than anything in my LBK.

Visit my blog http://activities4kidz.wordpress.com to see all the things we do at home, or follow me on twitter @activities4kidz

We've been reading...

My Pinterest board is not up to date... I will have to raid my husband's phone for photographs of what he has read with E recently, but at the end of February my Pinterest board said I had 94 books pinned - so we're 1/3 of the way through our challenge with 10 months to go!

Things slowed down after the initial surge, but I anticipate that now I am home and on maternity leave, we may speed up again a little.

I am loving this challenge. It reminds me about the book box which sometimes is neglected for painting, or a DVD. It makes me value those bedtime stories more. It makes me realise how much time we spend together when I'm feeling like I've spent more time doing housework than being a parent. It's probably helping my tired brain tick over too. 

Current favourites here at Thursday's Child HQ include The Gruffalo, anything from the Thomas the Tank Engine collection ("Choo choo book) and Each Peach Pear Plum.

You can check out my Pinterest Board here!

Oh go on then...

I was feeling a bit too much of a newbie to blogging to be thinking about the MADs this year, and then to my surprise, some lovely person nominated me in the Best Pregnancy Blog category. Naturally I'm thrilled, and it's given me a little bit of courage...

So, if you haven't already, why not pop over here and nominate me again? A full list of categories can be found here, if you think I do something better on here than pregnancy... 

Go on. Make a heavily pregnant woman very happy indeed!