Friday 29 April 2011

girl meets boy

Two weeks on from child numbers two's birth I thought I'd better write about how the older child has reacted.

The reason I gave it a while (apart from laziness) is that there hasn't been much to report.

Her maternal grandfather and partner brought AG to the hospital to meet TC, my parents were already there, she simply walked up-to TC, said hello, donated her woolen blue elephant toy to him and gave him a kiss and a hug.

She then preceded afterwards to point out and name his various limbs and organs, it was all very cute (even though she was worryingly close when pointing out his eyes).

She is really very caring to toward him, he gets lots of hugs and kisses, and is constantly re-presented with his elephant and he's on of her first visits whenever she wakes up.

From a writing perspective it'd be useful to have something more dramatic to work with but from a parenting point of view, I couldn't be happier.

Monday 25 April 2011

Chuck Norris in a floral-print dress

just got from the soft-play centre were AG had a whale of a time clambering around, it's a great place she really enjoys and its only real drawback is the "boisterous" older kids who feel the younger ones shouldn't get in there way.

Normally AG takes this in her stride but today she decided to take a stand as a girl twice her size tried to clamber over her on the first steps of the ladder to the top of the slide, AG calmly looked back and gave her a gentle roundhouse kick to solar-plexus, the girl wasn't hurt but did seem more respectful to the smaller kids for the rest of the of the time she was there.

Sunday 24 April 2011

plagarist

my bubble has been burst by one of AG's cousin (who is not much more that a toddler himself).

He pointed out the lyric that AG loves so much is from an excising rhyme, it describes the explosive demise of a bathing turtle that ate a bar of soap.

On the upside, she clearly likes macabre dark humor, so that means my daughter is potentially a goth!

Saturday 23 April 2011

Lyricist

AG has written her first song (or at least I think she has, I've never heard it elsewhere)

It has four words and actions, you must start with you hands together by the third have them out in a messianic pose and at the fourth clap them together loudly.

The lyrics are :- bubble, Bubble, BUBBLE, POP!!!!

clearly she is going to be the next great lyricist, is it too soon to buy an outfit for her inevitable successful award ceremony's?

Tuesday 19 April 2011

back home

I'm back home on paternity leave surrounded by my newly extended little family, but how did I get here?

Well it started on 2:30am on Thursday morning, AG woke with teething and I noticed CK was up already and had been since ten minutes early when contractions had started.

After quick call to the maternity ward we found that they were full and we'd be in the posh "Oasis birthing centre" instead and that we'd would have to worry about coming in for another hour.

Well, a few minutes later the idea of us waiting an hour when out the window when the time between CK's contractions dropped from 6 to 2 minutes, we raced to car (well waddled quickly in CK's case) then flew toward the hospital (with only one wrong turn due my addled brain).

So far so good then halfway there, CK said we needed to phone them as she felt the baby was close, then a few minutes on she could feel his head between her legs.

Thanks to the cars handfree kit as we screamed into the car park the midwives were waiting, as mounted the car onto the pavement the team surrounded the car and ordered the security staff to get some privacy screens as he was going to be delivered in the car!

Luckily it seems if an animal is not happy with their surroundings they can temporarily halt a birth, thanks to this, he popped his head back in and we were able to get CK upstairs and on a bed, a few seconds later, I was a dad again.

Lessons I've learnt is to have all the hospitals numbers in your phone (we had to pull over to get the numbers from our bag) and to check the pain relief machine actually turns on, not just the battery's work.

Really it was a bit of luck he came in the middle of night as if we'd been any more time getting there I would have to have delivered him myself.

14hrs later were sent home exhausted but happy with a little boy called TC

Thursday 14 April 2011

still waiting

despite some hopeful tingles last night there is still no sign of baby, so back to work I go for another day of waiting.

drums fingers....

I then phoned CK that afternoon and she said she had feeling like mini-contractions but not contractions, so I headed home to work from home for the rest of the day....

I arrived home out of breath to find CK asleep when she awoke, when she did she announced that after the nice little sleep they had stopped.

so back to waiting for daddy.

Wednesday 13 April 2011

14411

Everyone we know, even strangers in the street are asking when he'll arrive, even CK's sister has been locking herself in cupboards at work so she can skype us about it.

The latest from the hospital is CK has nine points out of a potential ten that say she's ready to go, he's in position she's more dilated than ever before (3cm) and now we are just waiting for contractions.

I hope it'll be on the 14th as it'll be quite an easy date to remember and I am told by other people it's a great time to have a birthday as you get a heady mixture of presents, party's, time off school and chocolate.

anyway, fingers crossed

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Hat-on Hat-off Hat-on Hat-off Hat-on Hat-off

AG like me and especially CK is very fair skinned, so it it important on our unusually sunny April days that she wears a hat.

Now given that she will pull on her winter woolly hat when she wants to go out you would think that the transition to a nice pink sun hat would be easy.

Well..no, the whole of Sunday was spent replacing it on her head, you would think it was something to do with comfort but her woolly hat is quite tight now and her cycle helmet is ungainly but she has not problem with either.

We have even all tried demonstrating how cool it is to wear, even CK's father had a go (oh the dignity of parenthood)

Perhaps its the rather unfashionable elastic chin strap or bubblegum pink colour, whatever it is we are currently doomed to retrieving the hat from wherever she has last discarded it and spoiling her triumph by replacing it on her head.

Hat-on Hat-off Hat-on Hat-off Hat-on Hat-off

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Glimpse of the future

Yesterday morning at 2am AG wakes up, we tried everything we could tag-teaming between us all the way, eventually CK gets her to sleep at 5am by "rebooting" her by repeating her bedtime routine.

I realise that although this little episode was caused my another molar pushing through, this sleepless night was a glimpse of our future for the next few months.

There was a second glimpse in the evening when CK felt some unusual feelings around the baby and wondered if it was time, however it was just a false alarm and we spent the night asleep at home rather than in a birth pool.

However with tomorrow being the due date, it won't be long now...