Sunshine makes me smile...

The last few days have brought just a hint of springtime weather and I realised how much a bit of sunshine can lift your mood. I immediately start thinking of warm summer weekend evenings, glass of cold white wine in hand, sat out chatting in what will be our newly sorted garden (we've not been up there since October, it is going to be bleak).

With that in mind I photographed in the sunshine a couple of the gorgeous outfits that we have had bought for Mabel for when she is a bit bigger. A little Monsoon outfit from the Mackies (you can never go wrong with anything Monsoon, we also have a beautiful little denim dress from Phil and Claire).

And then these absolutely fab swimmers from Kerry. They were bought from a shop in Didsbury which is also online www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk

I expressed some milk for the first time today ready for a break from the night shift. After struggling to put the pump together (it was admittedly very easy but when I saw that the instructions had more than 3 steps my shutters went down. I tried to recruit G Kisby to help but he insisted that I stopped being ridiculous and did it myself. I think I was on dodgy ground since when he took in some forms to register us at the doctors this week they were so badly completely that they (as in the receptionist and himself) decided they needed to be ripped up and started again. I tried to blame baby brain but he knows me too well and replied that my issue was nothing to do with the baby and more to do with my low boredom threshold and not reading things properly. Too true.

Anyway, oh my God what the hell happens to your nipples when in that thing. I have never seen them get so far away from my body. I was seriously concerned that they may never go back to normal. In the corner of my eye I could see the look on G Kisby's face and it was one of horror. I have never felt so unattractive. The main thing is though that G Kisby can now feed his little girl which I am sure he is looking forward to immensely since I am the tired one and he is ready and raring to go...

Taken at approximately 8.30pm...

Unreasonable expectations, me? Never...

Mum and I had a lovely time continuing with making curtains yesterday and Mabel was fairly grizzly and continued her habit of not sleeping particularly well during the day. However, Mum thought she was reasonably well behaved for a newborn, which got me thinking. Perhaps, suprisingI know, I actually am expecting a little too much from her too soon (how much will I say that in the future I wonder). It is probably easy to say this now since she has been a dream the last few days (and don't get me wrong the crying didn't cease for long on Mon /Tue) but admittedly it is probably asking too much to hope that a newborn won't cry for periods during a day so I need to keep that in mind on the bad days!

And last night she had a wonderful sleep giving me a block of 5, yes thats right 5, hours. Bliss! I am going to make a huge effort not to complain about her grizzlyness and embrace the challenge.

We've had another couple of milestones today. Whilst in the shower this morning I laid her on a playmat in the bathroom so that she could still hear me and propped up next to her the lovely terrier which Fee and Al bought her for Christmas (see below, cute!?!)

We were talking about how pretty said dog was (I was explaining that money can't buy good taste but that luckily she had been born with good genes in that respect, hopefully) when suddenly she made a noise which was neither a cry a hiccup or a burp. It was a lovely ooh noise. A really sweet 'trying out my voice' noise which we've never had before.

Then this afternoon whilst being winded on my knee I finally got the first smile. Mum reckons that she got one yesterday when picking her up when she arrived but there were no witnesses so it doesn't count. For days now I have been putting in serious time on the smile front. I've taught her the words to a bit of Eric Clapton (Layla), danced her round the room to Mamas and Papas and generally made my face concort into every position possible. Nothing. Then today, I asked if she wanted her nappy changed and there it was. The smallest things. Al was next to me to witness, no wind, just a slightly sleepy but definite smile. Hooray! Well done baby.
I also dwelt today (on my 2.5 hr journey home from Manchester - nice) on the the fact that motherhood has actually given me some key skills that will last for life. They are as follows:
- The ability to literally whip round a room which is absoutely trashed and get it into a reasonable state again in about 5 minutes
- Same skill as above with eating (you just never know how long you've got)
- The ability to carry a million things downstairs in one go (Fee tells me this skill only improves and that in time I'll be able to add a toddler and a baby onto the list of things I will get under one arm)
- The ability to deal with apocalyptic poos in a swift and orderly fashion (yes we had another one last night which resulted in a full bath)

And finally, I have to admit something. This morning I ate shreddies over Mabel's head whilst in bed breastfeeding and accidentally, whilst shovelling them down, spilt some milk on her...

And I just rubbed it in to her babygrow....

Awful, truly awful!

What a few days...

The last 2 days have been really tough man. On Monday Mabel was having a 'feed in' so wanted milk about every hour, or so it seemed. She also suddenly stopped pooing. We did a quick trip to Asda in the afternoon in the hope that a car journey would lead to sleep. There were no mother & baby spaces and I learnt exactly why such spaces exist as I struggled to get the car seat out. It was also raining and I hadn't brought the car seat cover. To protect our newborn from the rain I dug out an umbrella, however whilst attempting to get said seat out I had to rest it on the top of the car only to then chase it across the car park a few minutes later. When returning to the car I found a new merc parked even closer meaning I actually couldn't get the car seat in. 'What a wanker' I muttered to myself whilst climbing across from the other side, fully aware that only 4 weeks ago I was myself said wanker. I wasn't hugely careful when opening my drivers door - you don't want to be parking your new merc next to a tired mother of a newborn who is driving a car they don't care for! (it was the chill G Kisby not the passat, don't panic).
Mabel then screamed as if she had never been fed all the way home, when actually she had only fed 1.5 hrs earlier. The night continued in the same vein. Mabel eventually fell asleep around 8.30pm. Gaz had gone out with the men from our NCT group. She then slept until 2am which you would think is worth celebrating but no, I then become completely paranoid that something was wrong and that she couldn't breathe properly. "Your damned if you do......"
Then on Tuesday the shenanigans continued. We had Vicky and baby Pippa round for coffee in the morning but from around 11am onwards the constant feeding carried on. I decided to drive to the baby clinic in the afternoon to get her weighed and ask the midwife about the lack of poo. Before doing so I did a quick feed and changed her nappy only to discover a large poo - hooray. However, as I cleaned the poo it continued to come out, and continued some more and oh yes, continued even more (think bright yellow poster paint being squeezed from a tube with some sort of force). Then she did a wee into the poo which by this point was actually swimming up the change mat. Oh my God, I have never in my life seen so much poo, I almost took a picture just because I knew Gaz would never understand how much there was, but then thought better of it since photos of your baby swimming in poo are probably not best seen by social services. I had absolutely no idea what to do. I had used various implements close to hand to prop us the sides of the mat since it was beginning to run on to the carpet. I literally just sat for 10 seconds and laughed at the situation I had got myself into. Eventually it stopped and with the help of about 3 huge towels, a large bowl of water and some scissors (had to cut off her vest) we finally got sorted.

At the clinic the midwife was pleased with her weight gain, now 8.12lbs, but in a less than helpful way questioned her 'mottled' skin. She suggested I made an immediate appointment with the doctor, then adding, "I don't want to alarm you". Yeah right. There are ways and means and although I completely understand her need for caution she had very few people skills and did little to re-assure me. I managed to get a doctors appointment for half an hour later then sped over to Honley doctors surgery panicking all the way.
The doctor (new one I'd not met before) was fantastic. He checked her all over including her chest since she has a bit of a cold and reassured me that she was fine. We just need to keep an eye on her but continue as normal. Thank God, the fear that something was wrong was overwhelmingly scary, feeling like I have never experienced.

Anyway last night was another good sleep night and today has been much better. I actually felt more positive after speaking to Mum last night. She talked to me about how I needed to regain control of the feeding (Mabel is clearly calling all the shots at the moment and has learnt that when needing comfort my boob will be offered pretty swiftly after a short whinge), use a dummy if it helps (Fee has been telling me that for days) and think of different techniques for getting her to sleep in the day (like rocking pram in the kitchen). I awoke with a new sense of determination and launched, "operation regain control".
Happy to report that things have been much better today. The following has helped:
- Dummy sterilised and at the ready
- Feed on one side, break for winding and nappy, offer the other side. Fill the baby up good and proper so I can feel confident that any crying is not hunger
- I went to Jodie's (NCT friend) today who gave me a demonstration on using the sling (I couldn't seem to get it right). Now feels really secure and I can see that she can breathe.

When we got home this afternoon we did the new feeding ritual. She then sat happily in her bouncer and on the play mat for an hour or so before the rooting began again. This time I whipped her into the sling and we went for a lovely walk together. It is lovely to have her so close and hear her making odd little contented sighs as she sleeps. And also good for me to get exercising again through walking with a weight!

See below for Mabel happily asleep in her sling.

We will obviously continue to have our bad days but for now at least, things seem to be back in control!!!

What's in a name?

We are finally ready to register our baby - Mabel Agnes Bryce-Kisby.

It has taken much debate but we are finally there! We took a gamble today and went for a walk before feeding her. She was pretty much asleep as we left the house so we thought that rather than wake her she would sleep in her pram. However, for the first half of the walk she proved us wrong and screamed, which did not make for the relaxing Sunday morning we had planned and meant that we pretty much didn't talk except to chide ourselves for making the wrong decision. Luckily eventually she tired of crying and we were able to finish the walk without feeling guilty at starving our child:

Before we know it she will have grown even bigger so have photographed her gorgeous tiny feet so we can remember just how small she started out. 4 weeks ago tonight we were woken up with the start of an adventure that would completely change our lives...it feels like she has been here forever...

Cheese and wine night!

Tonight we are having a cheese and wine night, consisting of all the forbidden cheeses during pregnancy. A baked camembert and stilton amongst others, crusty bread, olives, crisps and a large glass of red wine. Mmmm healthy.

We have had a few more visitors at the end of this week which has been lovely, I've never been so popular (think it may be something to do with Mabel?) Granny Babs was 'released' from jury service on Friday so came on a trip over. Whilst here she did our entire ironing pile, apparently she really likes ironing, brilliant (no, she cannot be hired out and yes, I am aware how lucky I am to have such a lovely mother in law).  Aunty Vicky and Uncle Dave then popped round today for some soup and a cuddle - again Mabel not me, that would be a little odd.

We also went to our first 'baby' group on Friday at a church hall just down the road. A couple of the NCT girls were there and it was nice to meet some other mums. Only thing was that at the end we formed a circle and sang some songs. I have to admit I couldn't do it. I tried but the words to 'twinkle twinkle' just wouldn't come out my mouth. All I could think of was Gaz's reaction if he'd been there and when my life turned so bizarre. When I admitted this to Babs she suggested she could get me a CD of childrens songs to help. I think she thought I meant I didn't know the words. Couldn't really explain that the issues were much deeper rooted.

We have a few jobs on this weekend including a big clean, choosing a middle name for Mabel (I know, we are a nightmare, no child benefit amongst other things till we decide) and sorting out the now huge pile of post / cards / bills etc that has been growing in 'that drawer' in the kitchen for a few weeks.

Mabel is growing every day. There was a brand new newborn at the baby group and Mabel just looked huge next to her already. Here she is after another successful bath night and some tummy massage (I say successful, she was really enjoying it until she relaxed so much that a huge poo suddenly came out and we had to abort the mission pretty swiftly at which point she was not happy):

A couple of milestones...

Mabel was 3 weeks old yesterday and there are a couple of points I thought it worth noting:

- Her cord has finally fallen off (it should have done much earlier, I fear that our lack of washing did not help the cause, strangely Gary 'cleaner than clean' Kisby is not a huge fan of bathing her. Think it was the trauma of the first time? Having just read this part of the blog he has asked that I don't make it public that we don't bath her)
- She will now sit in her bouncer for at least 10 minutes - result!
- She has continued to pile on the calories and is now 8.2lbs, having put on a whopping 9oz in just 6 days. When I text Gaz to tell him this happy news his reply was, verbatim, "fat git" - too harsh man.

And on a very positive note, from my perspective anyway, she has completely mastered the art of latching on and my nipples are finally feeling o.k. I am now able to have a shower and not have to cup them for protection - hooray.

I am feeling much more confident out and about with her now. On Monday we did a whole load of errands no problem. Evenings are continuing to be a challenge, so much so that the health visitor suggested she may have a bit of colic. On Friday someone is coming round to teach me some massage strokes we can do to help with her wind. It is hard since G Kisby and I have just  a couple of hours together on an evening and they are often spent walking around trying to get her to settle and eating tea with one hand. However, currently nights are quite good with her feeding around 1-2am and then not again until around 6. I think I would take an easy night given the choice and you can't have everything. Tonight we tried a different approach and at tea time she came in the bath with me which she seemed to like much more (even though I must have said, "argh I'm going to drop her" about 50 times. G Kisby is going to do it next time). This was followed by some nappy free time and skin to skin feeding in a nice calm environment upstairs. Needless to say she has been much happier so far tonight so fingers crossed...

Today we had a lovely time over in Manchester. The day was cold but sunny and we went for a walk at Dunham with Granny, family Bryce-Clegg and family Bryce Yang. G Kisby and Mackenzie were the only ones not there - and we did really miss moral compass and mini moral compass. I didn't have my camera but Fee did so photos to follow. Mabel didn't wake up but if she had, and if she could talk, she'd have said, "what a lovely day I've had!"

One year of wedded bliss!

Today is our 1st wedding anniversary - can't quite believe a whole year has passed already. We knew it was going to be pretty low key (gone are the days of a hot night in a hotel, champagne, breakfast & papers in bed...) but we still wanted to make it a nice day. So we went to our lovely farm shop 'Hinchcliffes' for good coffee and breakfast, watched 'Boardwalk Empire' (Sky Atlantic, so much good tv) and sort of have a romantic dinner planned - rack of lamb and a good red wine, possibly eaten with one hand since Mabel will obviously become grouchy when she smells it is ready. Comfort with food! And we wonder where Mabel gets it from..
We then plan to watch our wedding video tonight. The highlights are still on the Lenik Media blog:
http://www.lenikweddingfilms.com/blog/?p=203
Fee has also added some reminder wedding pictures on her blog:
http://chippernelly.blogspot.com/

Whilst taking last orders at the milk bar at midnight last night I rreminisced that at the same time last year the wedding was just finishing. I was able to give myself post wedding blues a year later - impressive I thought?

I have had a lovely weekend with G Kisby being at home. Yesterday morning Mabel was particularly well behaved and we had breakfast in bed with her lay happily between us on the bed. We then had our lovely friends Ben and Jen come up for a visit from Brighton where Mabel had some great cuddles from both. Followed by a trip over to the Milton's in Manchester where all were congregated to celebrate Ben's 30th birthday.
We only stayed a few hours since the number of children (the twins were also present) did not seem conducive to the start of a big night drinking and we were very conscious of not ruining Ben's birthday.

I think last night was the most tired I have been and at around 8pm I was literally falling asleep eating my Sat night treat pizza. I don't think my cold is helping, having been ridiculously well during pregnancy (only 2 paracetamol the whole time) I can now feel my skin returning to its normal spotty self, the lack of fake tan has led to the look of 'dug up' and my whole body feels pretty knackered. So we headed to bed early. Unfortunately our luck with Mabel's sleepiness during the day led to a very restless and awake baby in the night. By 1am, after a massive feed at 12, I was literally wondering how I was going to get through it. G Kisby was brilliant though and whisked her off for a middle of the night 'match of the day' viewing downstairs to let me sleep.
This is the second time that when she has been out and about (in the car etc) and slept for long periods between feeds in the day, that the night has been really hard work. So, although very little and too young apparently for routine, we have decided that we have to try and get her to know the difference between night and day.
So today when she has been fed or had her nappy changed we have tried to do some entertainment and keep her awake as long as possible. Poor Mabel, at one point she was literally asleep in her bouncer with her head on her shoulder as we continued to turn on the vibrate every time she opened one eye.
Mum says it might be a slow process, think she might be right!

What a week...

So much so that haven't even had a chance to blog. How on earth does a 2 week old take up so much time?

Following the tears of Monday afternoon and the 'car incident' we have had good and bad days. On Tuesday angelic baby was taken on a trip to visit Amy (NCT friend) for coffee then around Asda to do a big shop. All went swimmingly.

On Wednesday little monster baby was in town and the afternoon in particular was spent pacing the floor to try and get her to sleep. The sling worked well but then caused me issues since I was limited as to what I could do with her being carried around. When G Kisby eventually got home (it felt like forever) I uttered the words, "I think you should be the house husband, I will go back to work tomorrow". Mabel obviously awaited his arrival then slept soundly for the evening making me look like an absolute drama queen.

Thursday brought back the angel and we had a lovely day with Granny and Auntie Fee in Manchester. We bought gorgeous fabric to make curtains for her room (will photo once we've made, Mum is teaching me) had lunch in Waitrose cafe and coffee and cake from Barbikan in Chorlton. I breastfed in public for the first time in Waitrose cafe. It was a good place to start since as Fee said, "you'd probably be asked to leave for using a bottle in Waitrose and the service is so good they will probably offer to hold your boob for you". It was absolutely fine. See below Fee trying to educate Mabel on where she should be shopping in future (I did remind her that under the circumstances she will have to be an Asda girl). 

Mum also changed her nappy on her knee in public at the table, don't think I'll be trying that one anytime soon considering every other one covers me in wee. We also popped in to meet her other cousins and Uncle Mark and Auntie Janet on the way home. As always, Janet had bought lovely thoughtful gifts for her, including a black and white cow toy which is now hanging over the moses basket which she is mesmerised by. 

Then finally today was a mixture of both angelic and monster baby. This morning I had to go for a walk to retain sanity since nothing else would calm her down. We also had a nappy incident which led to a full change of clothes and almost real tears, which made me feel sad. So sad that I offered up a nipple in condolence which she gladly sucked on for comfort (yep, I got played again and lost the power battle). However, this afternoon was much better and she is currently happily sat in her bouncer allowing me to blog whilst drinking a large glass of wine, my first proper glass in 9 months. It tastes amazing despite me having a very sore throat.
 
Mabel is getting much more alert all the time which is just lovely.

When awake and happy she is really starting to focus and she is awake much more every day. Not too long now until we get a smile...











And that was our week. First one complete without G Kisby and without too much drama. I've learnt a few things:
- You need to keep busy and get out the house to retain sanity
- I am in a power battle with a 2 week old which is currently pretty evenly split. Fee has given me a new mantra about retaining control
- When you are breastfeeding you can completely justify cake

Mabel visits the Hudd!

Today Mum and I ventured into Huddersfield for our first trip out with Mabel. We delayed slightly to get her fed before leaving the house so that we were set up for success, so to speak.
I learnt a number of new things which had never occured to me before, such as the fact that stairs are an issue with a pram, 'mother and baby' parking spaces are a joy and it is best to continue reading to the end of the pram instructions for the bit which shows you how to put on the rain cover (yes thats right, it rained, we couldn't get it on, we had to just place and hold it on the top to stop Mabel getting drenched).

But all went well, we had a lovely home made scone and coffee, bought a couple of things then head home.
Unfortunately it all then went slightly wrong as I somehow reversed our new family saloon into the house (it now needs a new bumper, what the hell is wrong with me) and we had some further projectile vomit which meant a change of clothes for both parties.
I was upset about the car but have since been given a stern word about it only being a tin box and keeping perspective - the most important thing is obviously that Mabel is o.k. Once I had got past the car damage I then became more obsessed with the fact that I had checked the car before checking on Mabel and that I was a bad mother.
Luckily neurotic parent has now moved on and let it go!

And finally for today, I think our baby has the start of teeth. Not proper teeth but from what I can see there are two tiny white spots on her bottom gum. G Kisby claims I am making it up but today Mum mentioned that she saw the same. Maybe I've got an excuse for my sore nipples???

Maternity leave starts as paternity leave ends!

So tomorrow feels like the start of my actual maternity leave, time away from work with a real baby. Unfortunately it is also the end of G Kisby's paternity leave and I'm not sure which one of us is going to find it hardest. As you can see Mabel has become very attached to her Daddy and vice versa (though she did projectile vomit onto his t-shirt after this photo was taken).

Obviously I would much rather that Gaz never went back to work but since I know he has to I am looking forward to getting into some routine. I've been looking into the sort of classes we can attend like baby yoga and aqua babies. I also have visitors and visiting planned for most days so it's not like we will be stuck for things to do. However, I haven't been out on my own yet with wee Mabel so that will be a bit weird and no doubt involve some drama. When going out for a walk to the farm shop for lunch with Col and Kate I didn't even think to take the changing bag. Luckily G Kisby was there to pick it up. It's that kind of thing that worries me!

Mum is over tomorrow for moral support on my first day (and I'm sure because she wants to see Mabel) so we will head into Huddersfield to do a few errands and maybe have a coffee in M&S. How bad can it be...???

Ah the highs and lows...

After such a great night on Wednesday we were clearly giddy about our 'good' baby and looking for more of the same. Unfortunately last night someone swapped our angelic baby for one happy not to sleep - ever.

By 1 in the morning, after trying everything to appease her and feeding pretty much every half hour from tea time to no avail, with sore nipples and empty boobs, I cried. Luckily, as is pretty much always the case, I could still see the funny side and G Kisby was quick to scoop up the pesky baby for some skin to skin daddy time. Lo and behold she was asleep in about 5 minutes and happy to go into her bed - hooray. I do wonder if it was too much stimulation over tea time since the minute G Kisby's back was turned the bouncer was back out. As long as you watch that she doesn't fall out (she seems a little small for it) and don't put the vibrate on (still just a little too scary) she can manage not to cry for at least 5 minutes. Picture proves it (that mouth is a cry of, "does this go faster" not, "oh my God get me out")

We went for our first walk yesterday and tested out our pram. After saying I had read the instructions and figured out how to use it whilst waiting for Mabel to be born I really felt the pressure. Luckily I managed to give the impression of someone half capable. Mabel really enjoyed her first walk (she didn't even open one eye) and equally revelled in the farm shop visit for lunch (again, not so much as a whisper).

It was very surreal seeing Gaz and Colin pushing prams, how / when did this all happen?



Today we had a visit from Amy and Matt who brought Mabel the really thoughtful present of a memory box. She has a magazine so that she can look back in years to come at the fashions as well as a cd with the song at number one when she was born.

Unfortunately that song was Bruno Mars with the hit, 'Grenade'. Neither Gaz nor I know what that is now, there is no hope for us as cool parents in the future. Amy had tried to see if the number one album was any better since, "I can't see Bruno being a musical legend in years to come" - no me neither. And the album was Bruno too, dam it.

Talking of legendary they also brought us one of Matt's banana loaf cakes...our kind of visitors!

And finally we had the midwife today so Mabel had another weigh in. She was 10g off being back to her birth weight, that's our girl. I was changing her nappy as Julie arrived so took the opportunity to ask her about nappy rash. As I picked up her legs to show her bum to both Julie and the student nurse she did a hiccup which made her do a huge trump (Granny's genes?) which then followed through into a tornado poo. Somehow, and I really don't know how, it got right the way up to the top of my leg and all the way down my front. Who on earth can poo that far??? Her face was not unlike this one here...not such a good look.

They do say babies look like little old people. Another below, just to end on a high...

Baby carrier fun!

Day 9 and still going o.k. Yesterday we had Amy, Neil and Imogen (NCT friends) round to compare birth stories and generally reassure each other that everything happening was normal. Mabel, although born slightly later, was clearly much chunkier with little chubby arms. Amy had a small issue with lack of breast milk so was encouraging me to feed myself up - I would normally say this wasn't a problem but despite being more thirsty breastfeeding I am really finding I can't eat a full meal and in fact even left some cereal the other day, unheard of.

Over tea time Mabel was incredibly fractious and we worried the honeymoon period was over. Not sure if it was the fact that we tried her in the bouncer which appeared to terrify her. In fact last night was the best yet on the sleep front (funny how small amount of trauma tires out a baby). I managed 4 full hours before getting up and another 3 this morning - funny how the smallest things become so important with a newborn. I will take a difficult evening for a good nights sleep any day. Did I mention night sweats? Happening every night, must look up whether this is a common issue...

Yesterday I ordered a baby carrier from a company based in Huddersfield, apparently run by sisters (which of course means I am a big fan):

http://www.sabebabywear.com/dept.php?stid=1&dept=14

The website really doesn't do them justice. One of the girls from NCT had one last time we met up and basically it goes on just like a wrap over top then baby slips inside. It isn't nearly as bulky as a proper baby carrier (which we do have for when she gets a bit older and we go on a walk etc) so can be used just to nip into the shops or for when she is particularly pesky and needs to be held whilst doing other jobs. If I was a baby I think I'd like to be wrapped up warm in a carrier like this!
It also doubles up as a feeding top which can be used to pop your baby inside when feeding in public. I do need to remember that not everyone is comfortable with me whopping out my boobs - although I am obviously fully prepared for the day that someone tells me I shouldn't be doing it!

Katie, Colin and their boys are over today so we are going to debut the pramette. Just need to work out how to get it past the cars on the drive first...

Emotional rollercoaster anyone?

Mabel is a week old today - can't quite get my head round where that time has gone. We are holding our breath but so far we seem to be doing o.k. The nights are hard work, she has clearly got confused with night and day and feeds loads between 11pm and 5am. I know I need to get better at napping during the day. We actually had a good routine last night with G Kisby keeping her downstairs (he was watching some football thing) whilst I grabbed a couple of hours before the night feeds started. In the middle of the night I was completely planning how we'd turn this routine around but G Kisby has reined me back in reminding me she is still too little and new. She was weighed by the midwife yesterday and had only lost 2% of her body weight, our little Mabel is now around 7.5lbs.

Following her first bath on Friday, which Gaz described as 'traumatic', we tried again tonight and it was better. She still wasn't a huge fan but slightly more tolerant of her novice parents.

We went on our first trip over to Manchester yesterday where she met her new mates Ted and Oscar for the first time. This was indeed the best of a number of attempted photos, you can't keep 3 newborn babies still and a second afterwards Ted fell off the cushion and Mabel was fully squashed by Oscar.

We also had a visit from the Miltons on Sunday which was lovely and helped us to feel normal again. Just a couple of hours not talking about babies and labour was great. When discussing the question of whether you should taste breast milk (you have to just give it a try, surely?) Paul Milton came up with a great game of milk roulette. He named it, "Jug it, jug it, jug it....jugs' - love it!

Talking of jugs, my God my boobs are huge, hard and tender. Someone should invent something to protect your nipples in the shower, ow.
Fee described them as a pair or ripe melons. Couldn't say it better myself. And I have had a couple of incidents of baby blues, luckily short lived moments so far and I am able to identify that they are just a reaction to the huge amount of hormonal change going on. We have named them wave one (ecstatic about the change) and wave two (no one likes change) - with the aim of achieving a wave 1 sandwich wherever possible. In talking to my very supportive sister about these moments I described them as, "weirdly feeling a bit like you've had a bereavement". She later added, "you have, your grieving having lost your life' - luckily the use of humour is always encouraged and acceptable in our family, no matter how inappropriate the timing!