Creche

I used the creche in the gym for the first time today. I took Jessie in her little carseat and off we went. Lovely staff and a cute little room for the little ones. I left her in there for 1,5 hours while I worked out in the gym. Ooooooh, the freedom.

When I picked her up (all in one piece and happy as a 6 week old can be!?) she'd been sick on two of the staff. Nice... At least it saved me getting a white patch on my left shoulder. Worth paying £2 for eh!?

Food

Well I spent this time to myself in a productive way in the end. I made a bolognaise sauce with pasta and put it in small containers for the freezer, ready to feed Ellen whenever. I have been slacking in the cooking department lately. Yoghurts and sandwiches seems to have been on the menu for the last 4 weeks.

And finally my lovely tea set arrived. Not impressed by Whittards delivery but hey ho, its here now and I am sipping tea out of a loooovely big tea cup.

Its oh so quiet

Its 13.30 and all is quiet... *deep breath* ... Both children are asleep and both dogs for that matter. We went to Mothercare in the morning to get some bits and bobs and then we had lunch and read books. Jessie spent her morning asleep in the carseat, pooing, then eating and then burping.

When I've got time to myself I hardly know what to do with myself. Because I don't know how long the peace will last I tend just to hover around...

I am heading for the gym again tonight about 8ish. Went to Body Pump on Sunday morning and piled on the weights as I am used to from pre-pregnancies. My thighs and calves are burning today but all in all I feel ok. Not as unfit as I thought I was maybe. Tonight I will be spending time on the treadmill and the rowing machine and crunching those abs.

Autumn walk

England can do beautiful autumns too. Took a lovely long walk round the Hanningfield Reservoir on Thursday with my mother-in-law and my two children. Wonderful weather and the woods looked absolutely stunning with all the autumn colours.

Miss Independent

Liking this at the moment.

Miss Independent

Sisterly love

Goodbye Baby belly

Today I am checking out the new gym I'm going to join. They've got a cheche where I can leave the children if necessary so I can go whenever I want.

Can't wait to do a bit of Body Pump maybe once a week to sort of the last of the baby bulge.
Hurraaaah!

Tea for two

I am into tea big style at the moment. Drinking more tea than I've ever done before. Its due to the first cup of tea I had after giving birth to little baby Jessie in hospital. The morning after they offered me a cup of tea and it was the best cup ever! I am sure it would have beaten afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason! :)

So, here's my new tea set with tea pot and two lovely cups complete with milk jug and tea tidy.

Chin chin!

Mummy code

Went to Boots today to get some anti-colic drops for Jessie and while I was there I strolled by the fragrance section to have a little look (smell). I tried the Armani code perfume and ooooooh how nice! Usually when you spray a perfume on your wrist the scenario is as follows:
1. First sniff - The smell of alcohol over-powers you
2. Second sniff - The perfume fragrance sneaks in and you nod and sniff again
3. Third sniff - Now you're picturing yourself wearing this perfume in different situations
4. After the fourth sniff you put the bottle back on the shelf and think: I'll let the fragrance sink in a bit and see how I feel about it after having worn it for an hour...
And for me, that's usually it. After an hour I am either hating the perfume or finding it completely too sweet, too strong or too something else...

But this one...I got to the "I'll leave it for an hour" bit and left the shop. I took 5 steps outside the shop and already the little beauty had started to seduce me. I stopped and thought, shall I go back in and get it? No, that's silly. Go back to your car. So I did. In the car, sniffing my wrist again...ooooooooooooooooooh, niiiiiiiice! It smelled so sexy and seductive I was just smiling to myself.

Anyway, I've just been on Cheapsmells website and ordered myself a bottle. Mums don't have much fun, so maybe this will make me feel all sexy and flirty!

PS. I will of course be wearing a dress like above to the next Mother and Baby group!!

Snacking

I am finding it very hard to find time to cook a proper meal at the moment. I find myself eating breakfast ok - me and Ellen sit down with a bowl each of Kelloggs Special K (that she seems to love for some reason) and great, breakfast is done.

Lunch - its either just a Soda Farl with butter, cheese and cucumber - toasted of course or other random things I find in the fridge that is QUICK!
Quick is the word and my absolute favourite snack at the moment are these snack-bars. Go-Ahead Apple and Sultana or any other flavours they do.

Pantone 373C

My sinuses are blocked big-style! My whole jaw is aching, I have an awful headache and it feels like my eyes are about to pop out of my head. I keep blowing my nose every 4 seconds and have now established that the colour of my snot is Pantone 373C.

I thought you'd be pleased to know that!

Storms & Blackberries

Hmm...not my brightest idea - picking blackberries in a storm! Well, almost a storm - very strong winds anyway. For weeks now I've been eyeing up the blackberry bushes in our garden thinking I'd go berry picking one day. And today was the day I decided. I took my little plastic pot, popped Jessie in her pram and shouted "walkies" to the dogs. All set for some serious berry picking! And yes, it could have been serious...I could have lost an eye! The winds were so strong the bushes kept swaying back and forth and the thorns on the branches were swoooshing past my head. Just as I was about to grip one berry, the bush would move and all I got was a handful of air, or the opposite direction and I'd grip the whole branch and hurt my poor fingers on the spikes. I managed to pick about 4 dl and several scrathes later I am now back indoors...
What a stupid idea, why did I have to do it today. Its been lovely weather all week and I decide to pick berries just as bloody hurricane "Gustaf" takes a detour past Wickford. Nice.

No more maternity clothes

Finally getting to get rid of my maternity tops and stretchy trousers that I've lived in for the past 5 months. Its been so depressing having to wear the same saggy tops and ugly maternity bras, day in and day out. So I am loving looking at clothes again and luckily new babies are very portable and just lie happily in the pram snoozing, while I go browsing in the shops.
My long legs need never worry again. New Look's Tall range is a life-saver and I am so pleased little Wickford has got its own New Look store. Got myself a pair of dark denim jeans with a brown belt today - perfect! I also found these other two tops along the High Street.
Its amazing what a little bit of retail therapy can do for an old wrinkly soul!

One month in...

Who would have thought I'd be as calm as a cucumber one month into having two children.
Who would have thought I'd got lots of sleep during the night
Who would have thought I'd actually have time to get dressed AND put make up on?
Who would have thought I would have lost the baby weight apart from 4 kilos?
Noooooot meeeeee!!!

I am so proud of myself and pleased that everything has been so smooth up til now. We've managed one month!

Little Jessie is the cutest little thing and sleeps like a trooper. We forget she's here most of the time and when she's hungry she kind of meows... Suits me!

I've just had two hours to myself as they timed their nap-time beautifully. Ellen asked to go to bed, just as little Jesselina had dropped off. Bingo-Stingo!

So I've had time for a snooze, done some washing, tidied the house, eaten lunch and surfed round in the net of inter! I've just heard some grunts from Ellen's bedroom so I expect her to wake up anytime now.

Its raining loads today and I am not too keen to be outside. However, Ellen has just got a new umbrella (pink with a little princess on top) from a friend of mine and she LOVES it. She wizzes round the house shouting Umbrella, and then points to the door pleading: Walk, pees Mummy! Raaaain!!!
Hmm...bad timing to get an umbrella that makes her want to go out in the rain... But its only water, so I expect we'll be out there in an hour throwing pebbles in the pond as usual...

Anyway, making myself a cup of coffee before it all kicks off again. But I am a bloody great mummy I am!!! Brag brag brag brag!

Ellen dictionary

Our little Ellen is adorable at the moment. I thought I'd jot down a few little things she's saying at the moment.

Nook! = Look!
What's that noisy-noise? (holding one hand over her ear) = What's that noise?
Goggie = Doggy
Oh, nook! Whazzis here?! = Oh look, what's this!?
Mummy Daddy Mummy Mummy = Mummy
Daddy Mummy Daddy Daddy = Daddy...!
E-o = Hello
Ice gweem = Ice cream
Kicka = Kaka
Bummie pee Daddy = Brum please Daddy (Brum being her favourite TV-programme)
Tat = Cat
E-board = Keyboard
Atteries = Batteries
Basically, everything looses its first consonant in Ellens world...

Baby days

So....

Little Jessie Sara Newman came to the world on the 3rd of September 2008.
5 days early, which suited me down to the ground (looking back at the previous posting...) as I was getting stabbed and kicked from within and was thoroughly fed up with the whole thing.
The labour was excellent and I found it really amazing this time. My contractions started about 2pm on Tuesday and I was roughly timing them etc. I knew things were starting, I just didn't know when things would really kick in. About 4pm I felt the urge to bake...so me and Ellen whipped out our aprons and baked a chocolate cake and a sponge cake. Well, Ellen ate most of the mixture while I was baking, but she was good company anyway! As I haven't been baking since 1943 I thought it must be a sign that things were happening.
We went to the hospital about 10pm and things kicked in about midnight and I was straight on the gas & air. And many pains, laughters and tears later little Jessie popped out at 05.32.
She was sooooo beautiful and I am still in awe of this whole baby-making-thing today.

Life as a mum-of-two is great. It is hard of course, but so far so good. Ellen is really great and Jessie has been behaving herself at night, so we're getting plenty of sleep which is the most important thing. I am trying not to overdo things and have been hanging round the house a lot, not buzzing round to see too many friends. But a few walks and visits have been lovely.

Today is the first day I am on my own with the two of them for the first time. Its 14:27 and both children are asleep, the house is tidy, I am dressed and got make-up and hair done, dogs are fed and watered and asleep (of course) and all is surprisingly quiet... I am great I am!!!

Going to try to get into Wickford today to get some errands done. Need some wrapping paper and birthday cards, lightbulbs and batteries. Plus some fresh air would be nice.

So do your best children - I am ready for it - Bring on the madness!

Martial Art Baby

The guy on the right is me and the guy on the left is the baby in my belly...
Around 10.30pm the baby starts practicing its mae geri kick and I am in absolute agony from it. Sensei Baby, please stop...

Chicken Pox

I belive my little Ellen has got Chicken Pox (svenska: Vattkoppor). I found one big spot on her leg yesterday and today she's got another 3 on different parts of her little body. She seems as happy as Larry still, no temperature or anything like that, so all good so far. Hoping its going to be a mild one.
I'm not 100% it is, but 96% of my motherly intuition tells me it is...

So I will update later on to tell you all how we're doing.
Thank god I've already had it.

Oh Rennie my Rennie!

"You lift me up
And I'm touching the blue sky
You lift me up
I'm on top of the world
I'm getting closer to heaven
In every little thing I love
You lift me up"

Sleep

I find it extremely difficult to get comfy at night now. First I try my left side but after 2 minutes I get kicked in a spot just under my right rib, the same spot every time, and its got really sore now. So, with great effort, I move over to my right side...all quiet for a while, then BANG, a kick straight into that same spot again. I bounce up and try to lie on my back. After about 10 seconds on my back I start feeling dizzy and sick, and slowly roll over to my left side again... and it all starts over again...Left, right, back, left, right, back...
Then I sit up, swear a bit, chew another Rennie Dual Action heartburn tablet...and lie back down. Huff Huff Huff...

If anyone knows of a sleeping position that I haven't yet tried, please let me know. If there is some kind of contraption which lets you be suspended from the ceiling by your heels, so that there is no pressure whatsoever on any part of your body...tell me!