Yarn Along

 The giant rainbow ripple blanket is rippling along beautifully, on to the second repeat of colours now and it is starting to become unwieldy for taking out with me now! When lying flat, it is about two metres long. Len likes feeding out yarn from my ball, Miri lies on my knee entranced by the bright colours. Fliss keeps wrapping herself up in it like a giant scarf. I love how much love the blanket is getting already!

I do all of my reading on my ipad these days, so no book picture. Snuff is the wonderful Terry Pratchett's latest. This is my first re-reading and I am reading it out loud to Chris in the evenings (Chris is dyslexic and can't read for pleasure) and enjoying it even more this way!

Clare

This moment...

Joining in this week, Fliss at the National Wildflower Centre.

While I'm rocking the baby...

Other stuff happens. Despite their frustration that I have to spend all day, every day rocking Miri in the sling. I snatch moments to grab paper, paint, to help with the computer or provide more snacks. Constant rocking, I am standing and rocking now. When she goes to sleep, I rock or she wakes. 

 I am bone achingly tired. The bags on my eyes are almost jaw level. I fantasise about being able to just sit down. I feel that a day more will shove me right over into depression and I don't have the energy to do any of the things that could get me out.

Finding our new normal

Our beautiful Miri is five weeks old now and we are feeling our way towards our new normal as a family of five. The days begin to feel comfortable, getting out of the house with all three girls on my own feels easier and less fraught, Miri's periods of longer, settled sleep in the sling are more predictable allowing me more time for the older two.

 We have time for baking and I find that at some point in the last month, Len and Fliss can do it by themselves if I tell them how much of each ingredient to add.

 Gratuitous cute baby yawn picture!

Len's National Geographic Kids magazine ignites an interest in Ancient Egypt when it comes with a kit for making a plaster of paris death mask.

Fliss joins in the painting.

 This photo sums up my lovely Chris. He has just walked in from work, been handed Miri, he is holding Len's lion while she is on the loo and you can't see that Fliss is hanging off his trousers.

 We manage a museum trip with friends, (matching outfits unintentinal!) Miri enjoys the walking and sleeps the whole time, Len and Fliss make friends with an Iguanadon, watch the fish being fed in the aquarium and Len asks lots of questions about Mummies in the Ancient world section and gets all of the answers right in a quiz in the hands on section, impressing me and the member of staff who gave us the answers!

Full days, busy, making me so tired I'm dropping by tea time...but just so much fun!

Clare xxx

Baby mooning

 Wonderful Miranda is 10 days old. She is a peaceful, quietly happy baby who doesn't sleep much during the day, she prefers to punctuate her constant nursing with periods of staring calmly at whoever is holding her. At night she nurses every few hours without really waking up.

While we get to know her, we are also enjoying being at home together, having Chris off work for so long (just under a month altogether with Miri's perfect timing!) is so wonderful. We have had snowball fights, lots of the usual imaginative play, enjoyed lots of visits, a Christmas party, some crafting, plenty of Christmas films and a lot of time spent just staring back at the newest member of our family. We are so very in love.

Clare xxx

Miranda's birth

I started having mild rushes at 3am on Friday morning, my usual pregnancy insomnia time, so I couldn't get back to sleep. Happily waved Chris off to work and phoned my Mum and S (my doula) to let them know I thought it would be soon.The girls and I had a pretty normal day, continuing with irregular contractions right through Chris' work day, tea time and getting the girls to sleep.Then I called my Mum and doula round at about 8pm to keep me company as I had sent Chris for a sleep. The rushes weren't getting any more exciting so the three of us cleaned the house! They went home at about 11, I got Chris up.

At about 1.30 my rushes got more intense so we put the pool up and got my doula back. She settled her 4 mth old to sleep on our sofa then she and Chris took turns in holding my hands, joining in my singing and shoving hard on my back. At 2am we rang the midwives and my Mum who arrived at 3am to watch me have transition, where I decided vocally that I was not having a baby and wanted a wee.Soon, the rushes slowed down, and I started to feel pushy, so after spending ten minutes laughing at myself because I'm silly and I like pushing, I got out of the pool and faffed about with different positions until I decided to get back in.My waters went bang as soon as I tried pushing in the pool, then we had a few scary moments as the mws thought we had a cord prolapse. On flipping over so they could see better, it just turned out to be a squishy bit of head, so I roundly yelled at the midwife for scaring me, then pushed Miranda out in two more pushes. Doula's baby woke up as Miri started to yell, she picked him up and brought him over to say hello. He thought it was funny!

I picked her up, felt a huge rush of love and exhilaration and spent a good ten minutes laughing until she started rooting so I fed her and by the time her cord had stopped pulsing, I pushed again and delivered the placenta in the pool. Miri has been latched on constantly since (when she isn't shouting about farting!), we had our prosecco and woke Leni and Fliss. Both are delighted with their baby sister! She weighed 8lb6, a whopping 2lb heavier than my previousheaviest and was born at 5.55am.

Clarexxx

Blessingway

38 and a bit weeks pregnant, my wonderful doula threw me a Blessingway yesterday. Lots of chocolate cake, happy children and gorgeous babies and my lovely friends.