Dylan...

What a week!!!

This is why I love gardening in England. This corner of our border was completely ignored until about 5 weeks ago. At that point I trimmed the dead bits off the iris and weeded around the geraniums. This glorious collection of greenery and flowers is the result of ZERO effort!





I haven't taken any pictures of the finished floor yet (am saving it for when my kitchen is cleaned), but Martin and I tiled the kitchen this week. I wanted to include the picture of Dylan's "plumber's crack" because I find it adorable. He has such a tiny bum that he is constantly showing a little bottom cleavage!

We have been super busy this week. Between book club and baseball, shopping and quiz nights, and the delivery of a new washing machine (hallelujah!) we haven't even had time to rest. Still aren't resting, as a matter of fact. Martin is re-finishing the window from the top bedroom since it is nice weather and he was able to just take the window out. He's scraping off the blistered paint while he watches Match of the Day (the Premiership season ended today). I did some furniture painting while he scraped the parts of the window that he could NOT take out of the window frame.

We are doing really well though. Dylan has had fewer tantrums this week, and Edith has slept through for two nights running. I've been fairly successful in my endeavor to eat fewer sweets, and Martin got to play baseball today. Tomorrow is a bank holiday, too. Martin has the day off and we are going to pop down to Hemswell Market in the morning. Dylan is going to his nanna's house in the afternoon so we can get some work done on the house. Edith is still a bit young to be away from me so she is going to stay with us and help by being adorable and making sure I don't overdo it.

One of us all...

The kids share a tender moment that doesn't involve Dylan sticking sharp objects into Edith's face.



Getting ready to take a bath, and REALLY excited about it!



Our precious little cherub!



Self portrait



The father of my beautiful children!

Things I've learned since having my children...

1. Try to leave at least 10 minutes before you actually need to. That way, you stand a ghost of a chance of getting places on time (I actually started to learn this with Martin and always tell him we need to leave 15 minutes earlier than we really do).

2. Be flexible! If something happens, like your kid falling down the stairs or getting sick, you're going to have to change plans.

3. ALWAYS carry a snack of some kind in your bag. A quick granola bar can mean the difference between a happy baby and a screaming monster.

4. Don't leave anything breakable below shoulder height, even if your kid is only 2 1/2 feet tall. They WILL climb on any available furniture if it looks interesting.

5. Plan on not having anything nice for a few years. Your kids will systematically turn all of your nice stuff into rubbish (unintentionally, of course).

6. Accept the fact that you will act like a moron in public and baby talk around (if not TO) strangers.

and the biggest lesson I've learned from having kids is...

7. Do not procrastinate, EVER! If you have a free minute to get something done, do it that second! You may not have another chance all day.

Which is why I am going to get dressed and clean my house RIGHT NOW!

Killer...

After nearly 3 accident free years in our house, our stairs have claimed 3 victims in as many weeks!

Of course, there was Martin's gran a few weeks ago. She broke her leg, poor thing. Yesterda, Dylan took a tumble. He doesn't have any broken bones and, aside from a couple of goose eggs on the front of his head that look like horns, seems to be fine. Today Martin fell down the last few steps. Unfortunately he was holding Dylan at the time, so Dylan got dropped. Once again, he seems to be fine! Martin scraped himself pretty good on the stair gate and is going to be really sore for a few days.

Edith and I are the only ones who haven't taken a little trip. I'm not counting my accident while I was pregnant, because I actually fell over the barrier at the bottom of the stairs. I didn't actually fall down the stairs!

Our Sky Plus box came today--hooray! Now we can ditch the DVD/VCR combo that has a broken DVD player and just have our working DVD player and our Sky box. Hooray for being able to pause and rewind live tv, and for being able to record whole series and individual programs without messing with tapes.

I am officially able to exercise now, and I started doing crunches this morning. I'm not nearly as weak as I was after Dylan, but my abdominal muscles are still like jelly! I got one of those crunch frame thingies off Freecycle. Martin and I are going to do Pilates together in the evening. He's going to help me stay on track!

The amazing Edith...

Boy, you sure learn how to do things better the second time around!

After just a few days of a bedtime routine, Edith is settling herself for sleep in the evenings and she has slept for around 6-7 hours in a row for the last two nights. I credit this entirely to the things we learned with Dylan, but learned too late. Mostly the importance of getting into a routine and the importance of keeping the lights off for night feeds. And, of course, the fact that Edith is just a better baby than Dylan was!

Martin and I went to the cinema today--with Edie. Her first film was "Star Trek," and all three of us really enjoyed it. Dylan went to Willingham Woods with Nanna and Grandad, and he also had a great time. Edith had a quick feed and enjoyed cuddles with her daddy until she finally drifted off to sleep during the movie. She was completely entranced by the movie, and we are looking forward to taking her to see the new Harry Potter film when it is released. We are hoping that she will still be sitting still for movies when Dylan starts sitting through them again.

I also took Edie in to the baby clinic this morning. She had her hearing tested, and it is normal. I had her weighed as well, and she gained 15 and 1/2 ounces in a week. That's a lot of weight for a tiny little baby. Dylan gained weight that rapidly as well, but I was CONSTANTLY feeding him. I don't feed her nearly as often, but she's obviously better at it. Either that or I am making way more milk this time around.

Awesome day, really. And now it's raining so we don't have to water the garden.

Goodnight!

Better than expected...

Edith's bedtime routine is going surprisingly well. Her first night was a little bit difficult, because she woke up 2 times instead of just her one and then an early morning. But she was wide awake when Martin put her down and she went to sleep by herself without crying first--a minor miracle since it took about 8 weeks of HELL for Dylan to get to that point. Last night was even better. She was in bed by about 9:30 and didn't wake up until 4:30 this morning. 45 minutes later she was sound asleep again, and didn't wake up until nearly 9 am. Such a good night's sleep! I haven't slept that well for months. It was even better because I woke up on my own--was already awake when she woke up and wanted feeding.

So it was a good night, but I am still all emotional! Velecia posted pics of ShaNeil's wedding on her blog, and I got all sad that I wasn't there for it. ShaNeil looked so beautiful and happy, and I got to see all these pictures of my mom and sisters and neices and nephews. I wish so bad that I had been there. And it was mothers' day the day after, and I would have loved to spend it with my mommy and introduce her to my lovely daughter.

Just a few days ago I was enjoying the beautiful English countryside and thinking about how much I would miss it when we moved home. I even thought (for a few mutinous seconds) that I would be happy to stay here forever. I do love living in England. But then I think about all of the big family things that I miss. My younger sister's hooding ceremony, my baby sister's wedding, birthdays, blessings, burials, and everything in between. I haven't been to a family reunion in YEARS! I know Martin has family over here, but not nearly as much as I have. And they aren't as close as I am to my family. I will never stop wanting to be closer to my beloved family!

So I'm a bit melancholy, but managing. My babies keep me busy and happy, and Martin's family are wonderful. Life is good. It really is just the big things that make me long for home.

And yet, I still call it home even though we haven't lived there for nearly 4 years!

Fingers crossed...

We are starting to try to ease Edie into a bedtime routine. We bathed her just after we put Dylan down for bed(it was her first time in the regular bath instead of the baby bath), then I fed her and we put her to bed. She went to sleep on her own--without being fed to sleep. Already doing better than Dylan in that regard. But she was asleep at 8:30 instead of around 10pm, so it might be a rough night. Hopefully it will go well, but neither one of us are holding our breath.

It was a big weekend with the family, and I missed it. ShaNeil got married yesterday, and of course today was American Mother's Day. I spent yesterday taking care of my sick kids whilst being sick myself (we all have colds) and today we went to church and then to Martin's baseball game. I would have given anything to be in Utah this weekend!

So I am going to get to bed and hopefully have a good night's sleep. But first, a few recent pictures of the girl wonder and the most beautiful little boy in the world! Edith is getting so pretty now, and I want everyone to appreciate my little beauty



Dylan just gets more and more beautiful every day--but in such a manly way. I've been spiking his hair up and he looks so grown up. He's going to be such a lady killer when he grows up!



A rare shot of both kids lying next to each other and happy. I can't put Edith on the floor very often because Dylan tries to kick her. Constant supervision is required!!!



In her bath tonight!



Look at those beautiful chubby cheeks and shining eyes! She is looking a lot more like Dylan did as a baby, only her eyes aren't quite as big and her face is a bit more narrow. She definitely resembles Martin more than Dylan does. It's going to be fun to see who she looks like as she grows!

An ode to my washing machine...

Oh, how I miss you! How I long for the days of casually throwing in a load of whites because they needed doing. How I dream of lovingly placing baking soda, washing soda, laundry detergent, and vinegar in the tiny little drawers and listening to that metallic "click" as the cycle started. I think of all the times the spin cycle kicked on (oh, the beautiful spin cycle) and I wondered what the unholy racket coming from the kitchen was. I should have cherished the sound! Oh, the good times we've shared, my beloved Hoover ACM15.

Why, oh why did I take you for granted?

My washing machine has been on the fritz for about 4 weeks now, but it finally gave up the ghost 10 days ago. Can I just say that 2 kids generate a lot of rubbish and a LOT of laundry! We have been taking all of our laundry over to friends and family to get done, and it is such a pain in the backside. We got a quote of £100 to fix it, but Laurence found the part we need on line for a bit less and is going to do the work himself. So I should have a working washing machine by around Wednesday of next week. I can hardly wait!!!

My wonderful kids

Dylan and I were on our own for bedtime tonight. Sure, he still isn't asleep and he's upstairs crying. But I still think he's wonderful. We were reading tonight and I was amazed by how smart he is. He has started filling in the missing words in the books that we read together. Every time he says "cookie" my heart melts!

Edith is still just a baby and therefore very boring. But she is filling out now, and getting cuter all the time. I am especially happy that she has slept most of the day and hasn't been feeding constantly. I am also loving dressing her. She looks like the most perfect little doll, even though her hair has all fallen out at the front.

Martin is at baseball tonight, and as always I miss him when he is not here. But it's a home game this weekend and he is playing so he needs to go to practice. He especially needs the batting practice! When we did our trial run of both kids at the game it was a success, more or less, so Martin is likely to be playing in most home games and going to most practices. Just not the ones the week before a game he isn't going to play in.

I need to get myself somewhere to go once a week as well, just for my own sanity. But I won't be able to leave Edie for the night for a while yet, so I'll just continue to take long baths and read a lot of books for a while. I'm thinking of maybe doing an art class of some kind when she is a few months old. Maybe painting or life drawing. I love life drawing!

Anyway, watching my beautiful children develop is entertainment enough most of the time. That and the internet keep me pretty happy.

The first reward...

Edith started smiling yesterday. Obviously the first reward of having a baby is actually having a baby--a little one to cuddle with and hold and love. But the first few weeks are a lot of hard work--taking care of all those physical needs. That first smile--the one that you KNOW is a real one and not just gas--makes it all worth it.

I find that motherhood tends to run that way. You work and slave day in and day out, keeping the house clean, cooking meals, doing laundry, entertaining and wiping bottoms and just generally doing all the messy jobs. Nobody says thank you and you never get paid. And then your new baby smiles at you or your rough and tumble toddler gives you the sweetest smile and the biggest kiss (completely unsolicited) and the work you've done without any appreciation for weeks suddenly seems worth every second!

Things are going GREAT! We got our new pushchair--Google Phil & Ted's E3 for a look. It is beautiful and wonderful and a whole bunch of other superlatives that I'm too tired to think of let alone type. I went out with the kids twice today just because I love the pushchair. And it isn't even nice weather today!

The missionaries came over yesterday and helped Martin strip the wallpaper from the downstairs landing. My house smells like bare plaster again (such a disgusting smell), but we were pleasantly surprised at the condition of the plaster. It looks like I will be able to just patch it up and we can paint rather than having to wallpaper and then paint it all. That's a relief, because the wallpaper was going to cost us around £200. The Elders are coming back on Thursday to do the top flight of stairs. It is so amazing that they are willing to help out, but it is good for everyone involved. They get to do a little service for ward members and get fed, plus they get to wear jeans for a day. They can combine the service project with visits to less active members in Barton and the surrounding villages. And Martin gets two strapping young men to help him share the work. What a blessing!

Quiet night tonight. Martin is out collecting Kleeneze brochures, so I did story time and prayers on my own with the kids. Dylan snuggled into bed without a fight and now Edith is snoozing in her bouncy chair as I bounce her with my feet. The only way it could be any better is if Martin were home with me, the house was clean, and I had a big, steaming mug of hot chocolate in front of me. But hey, we can't have perfection all the time or life would just be boring, right?

So the kids are angels, the house is getting closer to sell-able, and we got fish and chips for dinner. Bliss!

Locking Dylan out...

We got a lock for our fridge. Yesterday I was on the phone with a friend when Dylan came trotting in shouting "egg! egg! egg!" I looked at him, and he was holding one raw egg in each hand. I hung up ther phone immediately and tried to get the eggs from him. No luck. I chased him all around the house, with him shouting "egg" all the while!

I laughed for ages!

We are getting along famously. Edith is a lot more awake now, so I've not got as much free time as I did at first. But she is healthy and generally well settled, so I'm happy. Dylan is starting to acknowledge her a lot more, which is a good AND a bad thing. Yesterday he was kicking her while I was changing her diaper and hitting her with his whistle. But he's talking about her and giving her kisses as well.

We picked up a new pushchair today from Bradford. It's a Phil and Teds E3, and it's so amazing. We got it on Ebay, and it was MUCH cheaper than buying it new. So much so that it was worth the 50 or so miles we had to drive to pick it up. 1 minute after using it, I decided it was worth every penny we spent on it. We used the $$ that family members put into our American bank account for Edith. It's a gift for me, Dylan, AND Edie, and we really appreciate it.

Martin put a coat of paint on the front of the house. Almost all of the green bits are done now, and we just need to do a bit more green and then re-paint the cream bit. Once that is done, we need to do the upstairs window. Once the house looks good from the front, we will put it on the market and continue doing stuff on the inside. It needs to look good on the outside first though, or we will never get anybody in to look at how great the house really is!

Anyway, that's the update on us. Nothing new and exciting, but life rarely is. We are happy and just doing our thing!

Fun in the Gilbert bath

Rub a dub dub, three men in a tub!

First of all, we love the way our kids look after having a good tummy full of breast milk. Kind of like most of the people who roll out of Charlies on a Friday night lookwhen they have a skin full, but with breast milk instead of beer.

Second, I had the most fun bathing all three boys! Now, It was a little wierd because I had three naked boys with me who aren't mine, and there really wasn't that much room for them all, but they had a great time anyway. Plus, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be as they all kind of just played with the bath toys.

On an unrelated note, we managed to break my Grandma.

My grandparents were here visiting and had decided to go and check out Dylan's bed. Jamie was upstairs with Grandad, and Grandma was coming up after. Somehow she managed to slip whilst climbing, fall, and wind up at the bottom of the stairs, probably with very little grace or elan. Now while all this is going on I am at work, so I come home to find Gran sat with a bag of frozen veg on her knee. We had to pretty much lift Gran out to their car as she could not put any weight on her leg.

Now, Jamie advised Grandad to go to Grimsby hospital as they would be the ones who could best help, but Grandad decided that it would be ok to go to Louth hospital, which is very small hospital and not able to cope with certain cases. We later found out that Gran had broken her Tibia very close to her knee, and had to go to.....? You guessed it, Grimsby hospital! So now Gran has a cast from her ankle up to the top of her thigh and is kind of stuck.

So I feel a little responsible because she did it on my stairs, but I know it could have happened anywhere. So we are hoping that she recovers quickly and will be back to normal when she is done.

Edie...

She is 4 weeks old today, and is weighing in at 11 lbs. 2 oz. She has never looked like a newborn, but she is really looking grown up-babyish now!

Tantrums...

Does it make me a bad parent because I have absolutely NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER listening to my son cry while he is having a temper tantrum? That I can listen to him scream, watch him fling himself down stairs, bang his head against the wall repeatedly, without even flinching? Actually finding it funny? That I can do this for 45 minutes and still find it amusing and have no desire to pick him up and cuddle him until he calms down?

Not that it would make a difference, anyway.

Edith is crying now, and that is another story. She's too young to know better and I'm going to pick her up and snuggle her until she stops crying. But Dylan, well, maybe I am just a mean mommy deep down!

My gorgeous husband...

Everybody needs to vote for their favorite picture of Martin. I can't decide which one should go on our living room wall. He looks so cute in all of them!!!

I have the best husband in the whole world!

Playing in Jen's front garden. We had a couple of days with the BEST weather ever, and we all really enjoyed being out in the sunshine!



My beautiful red-headed daughter, chilling in her Moses basket.



Dylan LOVES his new bed. Except when it comes time to take a nap in it. He looks so grown up now that he is out of his crib.

Longing for the good old days...

Martin was at work last night, and once Dylan was in bed I just wanted to go back to being a family of three. Even if it was just for one night.

I am starting to miss my child-free nights with a guaranteed amount of sleep. Last night I really wanted to deep clean the house and highlight my hair. Instead I sat and fed Edith for two hours and didn't get anything done. I adore her, but I'm looking forward to the time when she is asleep by 7:30 like her big brother and I can have some time to myself again!

My friend Charlotte came over this morning and we had a little play date/breastfeeding support group for Beth and Dylan and the babies. We were talking about the jump from 1 to 2 kids, and how frustrating it is to breastfeed and not be able to go ANYWHERE without the baby for the first few months. I still vividly remember the first time after Dylan was born that I went somewhere without him. I walked down to the Spar shop (kind of like 7-11) and bought some OXO cubes. I felt so free. He was about 3 months old.

We've got Dylan sorted with the big bed. He's napping in it now, sleeping like a little angel. Unfortunately, I have to go change Edie's diaper. Can't wait for Martin to get home from work tonight. It was a very short night. Dylan didn't sleep very long at all. He woke up at 4:30 am and would NOT go back to sleep. It's only 1 pm and it's been the longest day of the week so far. Wish me luck!

Dylan's pediatrician appointment...

Trip to the hospital for Dylan's appointment today. It went really well, all things considered. Martin was at work and I still can't drive, so Jen came over and drove us in my car. Edith and Dylan were both really good, and the appointments both ran on time. We had blood drawn on the Disney ward, then went up to the pediatrics outpatient clinic.

The appointment was initially a follow-up on the seizures he had at Christmas, but we were also being seen because of the heart murmur that the doctor on Disney ward heard last time we were there as well as his funny little red spots. And I asked a nagging question about his "man-bits" while we were there.

So here's the rundown:

Seizures--no recurrances, no need to be concerned.

Heart murmur--still there, but believed to be "innocent." We'll be having an ECG in about 3 months' time. They're not concerned since he is so obviously healthy, but are going to check for structural abnormalities just to be on the safe side.

Red spots--still believed to be viral. They're caused by blood pooling in his skin. They appear because his blood doesn't clot properly (they think). More blood work may be necessary and the condition may be genetic (Martin has similar spots) so they will be testing me and Martin first in order to narrow down their search and reduce the amount of blood needed from Dylan.

"man bits"--One of Dylan's testicles is seriously bigger than the other, and I asked about it while we were seeing the pediatrician anyway. He checked it out, and Dylan has a testicular hydrocele. It's basically just excess fluid around one of his testicles, and is quite common in baby boys. But if it hasn't gone away by the tinme he's 2 he may need to have surgery to get rid of it. It's just a simple procedure, but we're obviously hoping it isn't necessary. Explaining that to your two year old doesn't sound like a great deal of fun!

So yeah, Dylan seems perfectly healthy but we may have another Martin on our hands. Martin isn't often sick, but when he is it's always weird stuff that he gets. Like the kind of weird where the specialist says "Yeah, I'm just going to call my senior colleague in here to have a look at this." Here's hoping that Edie takes after me in this regard!

Martin did some work out in the garden this afternoon. It's looking really good, though our grass is struggling right now and we may have to re-seed it. Dylan is sleeping in his toddler bed at night, but we haven't managed to get him to nap in it yet. We're working on it. He does love to sleep in it at night though. Edie had her first "bad" night last night--up for two + hours from around 2:15 am--but we got through it. I am doing well, though I am regaining sensation in my stomach now and the incision from my surgery is starting to hurt. Generally, we are all doing really well. Dylan is even starting to warm to Edith, though he tends to forget she's there and squishes her when he tries to get cuddles from me.

Still waiting to take more pictures before putting them on the computer. I'll be putting some on soon though. I can hardly wait, because my daughter is getting seriously cute now!!!

The big bed...

Dylan's big boy bed arrived today, and it is very popular. He's actually sleeping in it now--went down without a problem. He's slept in a regular bed before, but we were still wondering if he would have issues with it. Especially since he has been crying and resisting going to bed lately. But he's tucked away under his new duvet with the awesome ikea animal cover, and we're looking forward to seeing how he does in the morning.

It is Laurence's birthday today. We went to Rapi, the Indian restaurant just up the road from us, for dinner. It was a late one, but both kids were totally good for it. The food was good, the company was even better. Nobody fought and we were all in good spirits. So pretty much it was a great night.

Edith smiled at me tonight while we were having our evening cuddles. I know it's probably just gas, but it was sweet all the same. She is incredibly beautiful when she smiles. I know I said some unkind things about her looks earlier, but she is getting gorgeous now! She's also getting really strong and is starting to hold her head up to look around. She is awake more often, but still sleeps most of the time. Nights are usually pretty good. She goes back to sleep right after her night feeds most of the time.

Martin is still waiting to hear about some job stuff, but he's been getting extra hours and is managing to stay busy. He's going to his first baseball practice tomorrow, and is really looking forward to it. He'll be playing games soon, and we will have to figure out how to manage the double headers with both kids around. Could be interesting! But he loves baseball so much, and has been so good with the kiddies and taking care of me, so I want him to go.

Anyway, things are good here. We've got a busy week ahead of us. Dylan is at the hospital on Thursday to have his heart checked and I am going to register Edith's birth on Friday (last chance to change our minds about her name). I'll be venturing out with both kids on my own--scary business. We'll let you know how it goes. Plus, I have some good pictures to post as soon as I take a few more and it makes it worth while to put them on the computer.

photo shoot...

This is going to be OK...

Well, the kids and I have spent our first day without Martin. It was manageable. It was actually better than I thought it would be. One of the advantages of being an eternal pessimist, really. You are never caught out, and when things go well it is a pleasant surprise.

Christine is still having to come over to help me get Dylan into bed. I can't lift him up into his crib or carry him down the stairs. She came over yesterday for nap time since Martin was at work, and she came over for bed time tonight since Martin is at work again. Other than having her lift him up and carry him for me though, I've done it on my own. I feel like superwoman. And man, am I ever tired!

But the house is reasonable clean (so much easier to keep it clean when Martin isn't home), Dylan is tucked up in bed, Edith is curled up on my chest napping, and I am about to get some sleep myself.

We are having a new bed for Dylan delivered on Tuesday, and then I won't have to lift him into his crib for sleeping. It'll just be the stairs to contend with, and I can manage that.

This is so do-able. I can handle two kids. I've been so worried about this for months, but today it all seems like it'll be OK. I'm sure I'll have days when my two little ones seem like to much to handle, but for now I feel capable and competent. And I have my beautiful daughter cuddled up with me and my lovely son has been SO good today, my gorgeous husband will be coming home to me tonight with hugs and kisses and a curry, and I know that life doesn't get any better than this.

I am content!

The girl wonder...

Edie and I have been discharged from midwife care since we are both doing so well. The midwives were amazed at her progress when we went for our 2 week check today. Edith has re-gained her birth weight plus added an ounce--very unusual for a 100% breastfed baby, apparently. My body just seems to know what it's doing this time around.

She is also getting cuter every day. Pictures don't do her justice because she has a tendency to pull funny faces, but she's nearly reached Dylan newborn cuteness now (he was the most beautiful baby ever, but she's starting to catch up).

Dylan had a better day today. Temper tantrums were averted for the most part. I made an extra effort to be the one who walked him out to the car and played with him one on one, and it seems to have helped. We'll see. Plus, we let him sit in a normal chair instead of his highchair for his meals. That seems to have helped as well. Keep the good advice coming, everybody!

How DOES she do it?

Is anyone wondering how I manage to post to the blog so frequently when I have a newborn baby and a toddler? Well, Edie sleeps all the time! I am so not exaggerating. So this is what newborn babies are supposed to be like, huh? Its a good thing we had Dylan first, or a non-sleeping baby would be such a shock to the system.

Unfortunately, Dylan has hit the terrible twos with a vengence. He is throwing tantrums and just generally being a nuisance. Advice would be nice from parents who know how to deal with this. We are currently just ignoring his tantrums and trying to distract him when we can see one coming on. We are both wondering what happened to our cute little boy. Was he kidnapped by aliens? He has been replaced with a screaming, head banging monster!

Edith and me...

Losing some of that pregnancy bloat--especially in my face. Hooray! I wore regular jeans yesterday instead of maternity trousers!



Edith's second bath was much better than her first--she just had the cutest expression on her face the whole time, and didn't even cry that much when she got out.



Sleepy baby!



Snuggles with my kiddies. Dylan was brushing his teeth, and got water and toothpaste all over me. Being a mother means never having a clean shirt on!



More sleeping baby pictures. This girl loves her beauty sleep!!!

Dylan

Dylan and Madison (Martin's cousin's daughter) hanging out at Nanna Priestley's house.



Dylan loves bikes! Wearing Grandad's helmet.



Favorite place to hang out at the minute--in the baby's bed. He crawled into the Moses basket at Nanna's house today as well. Luckily, he hasn't tried to crawl in with Edith yet.

Edith Alyssa Gilbert...

I have to say, the newest addition to our family is amazing!

My water broke at 4 am on Tuesday the 31st of March. This was the day that I was supposed to go into hospital anyway, so Dylan was already at his nanna's house. We called the hospital, and they told us to come in. I took a nice long shower while Martin went back to sleep for a bit, then we drove in to Scunthorpe.

We spent most of Tuesday walking around the hospital. I would walk until the contractions got so painful that I couldn't walk any more. Then I would lie down, but the contractions kept stopping when I stopped walking. At around 4:30 that afternoon I sent Martin home. I had to stay at the hospital for observation, but there was no point in him being there any more. He had dinner at his mum's house and was there for Dylan's bath and putting him to bed. I stayed at the hospital on my own.

My contractions got steadily worse throughout the night. I was having them every 4 minutes or so, and they were really strong. Finally, at about 2 am, I asked to be checked to see if I was dilating at all. The answer to that was a big fat NO! I had a bath and tried to sleep, but it just didn't happen. I was in horrible pain and completely exhausted by the time Martin came back at 8;30 am. I had been awake and in labor for 28 hours.

After discovering that I still wasn't progressing at all, it was time to make a decision. I knew that when the doctors made their rounds at 9 am they would offer to start me on syntocin to strengthen my contractions and move things along. I also knew that they gave me syntocin with Dylan and I went another 12 hours without dilating at all. After 4 days of the flu and 28 hours of labor with no sleep, I knew that I wouldn't be able to do another 12 hours. I cried like a baby on Martin's shoulder and told him that I couldn't do it. He held me and told me it was ok--he understood. And when the doctor came around, I told her I just wanted the c-section. They scheduled it for 2:30pm.

At 1:00pm on April 1st, the midwife on duty came to tell me that they had moved me up to 1:15. After a mad dash to get me up to the operating theater (I paused to put on concealer and mascara--no way was I going to look as bad as I did in the pictures just after Dylan's birth), I had the most beautiful spinal block in the whole world. The atmosphere was nice and relaxed--not like my emergency c-section at all. The team that did my surgery were wonderful. Martin sat by my side the entire time, hunched over so he couldn't see anything the doctors were doing. It took a little longer than last time to actually cut me open as they had my scar tissue to work around. But we heard a gurgling little cry, and then they lifted out our new baby. I started to cry.

They brought the baby to us to show the sex. Martin and I both went "is that a girl?" ( seriously swollen genitals--very strange looking). They took her away to do all the checks and clean her up. They cut the cord before Martin could get over to do it, which we weren't happy about, but I guess it's ok. They wrapped her up and brought her to Martin to hold, and I got to stroke her little face and marvel in the miracle of a newborn baby--MY newborn baby.

It took longer to stitch me back up than it did last time, too. They actually cut off the old scar tissue and then sewed me up. So there is only one lot of scar tissue even though Ive had two c-sections now, which is good. Martin held Edith next to me the entire time, and she was hungry right from the start. She was sucking her fist, and she was NOISY! We could hear her sucking over the sounds of the doctors finishing up the surgery. I guess she was still feeling the shock of my 4 days with no food!

Martin got changed out of his scrubs while I was in recovery. With Dylan I didn't get to hold him until he was two hours old. With Edith, I got to hold her and feed her in the recovery room. It didn't take her long to figure out the breastfeeding thing. She is a champion at it!

Deciding to have the c-section was hard. It really does make me sad that Martin and I will not be having another child. I know that we were pretty sure we'd stop at 2 already, but knowing for sure that we are is so, well, final. I will never be pregnant again. I will never create another life. Even now, 10 days later, it makes my eyes fill with tears. But I made the decision that I needed to make, and my beautiful daughter got here safely.

5 day check...

Edie had her 5 day check on Monday, and she is doing really well! She's only lost 5 oz. of her birth weight, and is sleeping and feeding like a champ (obviously). The midwife was very pleased with her progress. She had her heel prick test (do they do it in the US?) to test for sickle cell anemia and other inherited stuff, so we'll hear back on that soon. But she's healthy and happy and adjusting well.

I'm adjusting well, too. Seriously, so much better than with Dylan. Yesterday I was sitting on the sofa feeding her and all of a sudden got this rush of love for her that was completely overpowering and intense. I didn't get that feeling for Dylan until he was several months old.

I give all the credit for this easy adjustment to my wonderful husband. Having Martin home with me is making all the difference. He is taking such good care of me and Dylan, and is the reason that Dylan is happy and not resentful of the baby, and that I am able to relax and take care of myself and Edith. He is shouldering so much of the burden, and I realize more every day how blessed I am to be married to such a wonderful man.

I need to take Edith back from him now, because he's in the middle of doing the ironing and wants to get back to it.

Seriously, I am so happy right now. It's not fair to other people, how happy I am right now. I hope it lasts forever!

The latest and greatest...

Edie had her first bath tonight. They don't bathe the babies in the hospital any more, and she was pretty dirty. As you can see, she wasn't too keen about the whole experience. But it wore her out pretty good, and she smells nice and her hair is all cute and fluffy and redder than ever!



I got snuggles with my babies today--it really is bliss!



Dylan holding Edith at the hospital. He hasn't really held her since, but he gave her big kisses at bed time and he alternates between being intrigued by her and completely indifferent.

We had a bit of drama this afternoon. Dylan went down for his afternoon nap and Laurie and Christine to visit. When Dylan woke up, Martin brought him downstairs and he absolutely freaked out. He was crying and screaming and absolutely inconsolable. He wouldn't come to me for cuddles. He was hitting and scratching me. Many tears ensued, and I finally asked the in-laws just to leave. About 5 minutes later, Dylan was fine. Martin thinks that Dylan thought we were going to send him back to nanna and grandad's house, and he panicked. I was quite relieved about that--I thought he didn't want to be in our house with me and Edith.

So that's the end of our first full day at home together. Dylan is tucked safely and sweetly in bed and Edie is having a snooze in the moses basket on the coffee table.

I feel like we can do this!

I fully intended to stay...

Edie and I are home now, and are thrilled to be here!

I fully intended to stay the maximum number of days they'd let me at the hospital, but I couldn't stand being there for one more second. I was tired of listening to other peoples' babies crying and waking me up in the night. I was tired of the midwives and nurses making their rounds. I was tired of listening to the buzzer on the door whenever anybody wanted to come to the maternity ward. But mostly, I was tired of being away from my wonderful boys!

We actually came home last night. Martin picked us up from the hospital and then we went to Christine's house to pick up Dylan. Bless her, Christine is absolutely exhausted from having Dylan for most of the week. He's not a difficult child, but he IS full of energy and pretty much runs non-stop from the time he wakes up until he crashes into bed 16 hours later. He's happy to be at home, as well.

It wasn't nearly as strange this time, bringing a baby home from the hospital. And little Edith made our first night as a family of 4 pretty easy on us. She was asleep at around 10 pm and slept until just after three. She fed, watched a little football with daddy, and then went back to sleep at around 4 until 6:30 this morning. Dylan was up at just after 7. So even with an interrupted night of sleep, we are all reasonably well rested. Edie went back to sleep at around 8 am, and here it is nearly 10 and she's still sleeping like an angel. I hope this continues--Dylan never slept very much for a newborn!

Martin went back to sleep for about an hour after both kids got up, and I had the most beautiful moment with my children. I had just finished feeding Edie and she was on my lap. Then Dylan came up for snuggles. He perched on the arm of the chair and cuddled with me. There I was with both of my babies cuddled up in my arms, and I thought for just a second that I had a peice of heaven on earth. I love them both so much.

And with no further ado, I give you.....

Well everybody, I am sure you are all dying for me to tell you the big news! Today, at 13.44 GMT, in Scunthorpe General Hospital, Theatre D our new addition put in their first appearance. And what a corker. They weighed 9 pounds 10 and a half ounces (yes I have typed that correctly) and measured a rather grand 21 and 1/2". And it was a .... good delivery, with the doctor's doing and excellent job with Jamie. They removed the old scar on her tummy, so she did kind of get the little tummy tuck that she wanted and she is doing great. Jamie is planning on staying in the hospital until Sunday so that she can get plenty of rest, which I think is a great idea, as it would be really difficult for her at home.

Dylan was great at my Mum and Dad's, especially for so long. It is the first time he has been away from both of us for that long, but if I am honest, we could have left him for a week and he would have been just fine. He was very happy to see his Mom again though, and did take rather well to the new addition as well.

Ok, I suppose I should tell you what the new addition to the family is going to be called. We have decided, after much deliberation, and we did discuss it a lot, mostly whilst we are at the cinema, watching the credits to name the new member of the Gilbert family, who will be lovely to have around......Edith Alyssa. Hope everyone likes it. Kind of tough if you don't!

Just so you can see how lovely she is I have some pictures as well. Catch you all soon.