… got his contract renewed for another year!

;)

Despite spending most of the last 3 of 4 days in bed & having C at MIL’s today (& J sleeping last night) I don’t feel any better. Not one little bit. My mum said she was really proud of how well I’ve done since J was born, I’ve had no help at all & C hasn’t left my side. The house is clean & reasonably organised , we’re well fed & in budget, C is engaged & busy, J is adored, Simon & I occasionally have conversations, we get out most days. That meant a lot, probably because I’m so knackered but I’m feeling just a little bit sensitive at the moment. Anyway I don’t think it’s normal tiredness & I’m definitely feeling metabolically challenged so I’m ending my longest-unmediated-period-since-we-were-married and going back on the metformin. The plan was also to be back on aspirin by 3 months but J still isn’t going long enough between feeds.

Anyway I knitted & washed clothes today; J’s tank top is coming on nicely (I love knitting cable v. meditative).

C also did some knitting - MIL helped her, I am *so* impressed, she’s really quite quick too

And some more pictures:

J grabbing things - you can just see his new cashmere boots as well

Building the path en famille (C in princess garb wielding a spirit level in the background)

J just because he’s cute

Managed to finish both teddies & a pair of booties that actually fit J - yay! Simon laid a path in the garden, we blitzed the house & managed a visit from the in-laws (& C asked to go theirs on Tuesday - yippee - major step foward) so pretty good weekend.

I am dog tired but resolve to be nice to C all week.

I have so much ongoing atm - January was crap (my eye didn’t help, it still hurts sometime ), a hat for J, one pair of socks & a pair of booties finished.

Knitting - teddy bears for C & J (supposed to be for V’s day), both knitted need assembling & stuffing.
- cabled tank top for J, need a circular needle
- cotton sweater, need to get the contrast colour
- I have 6 little dollies in pieces that need assembling as well.

Sewing - kitchen blinds (cut need trim)
- sitting room curtain (have fabric need to cut)
- dress for C x2 (need to cut)
- any-way-you-cut-it quilt (have some practice squares cut but I reaaly need a rotary cutter)

Rolled over front to back yesterday

4 months old today

bit drunk here - Jasper is asleep (& before the alcohol as well ).

C had her GB disco this evening & had a greatr time - I had to remove half the makeup she put on beforehand (think Danny LaRue (??sp) crossed with Bride of Wildenstein (aagin ??? sp)); never goes out without her slap that girl. The only other thing she wanted to do tioday was maths (with Duckey the pet robo-saurus) so we did lots of maths.

Had an argument with Simon about my desire for a behemoth - his principles versus my comfort. Then whether Marc Anthiny or Brutuis has the biggest cock. All good fun.

TFIF

Having a great time here! I took C into town on Wednesday to spend her pocket money the toy shop had half price K’nex & she brought an absolutely brilliant robot stegosaurus set that she has been playing with ever since (she’s set up a training ground in the garden)!

I managed to get J a top in the GAP sale (97p ) and some sewing patterns (stuff for Claudia) because I’ve fallen in love with this site & need an excuse to buy fabric. We went around to A’s house for a Valentine’s tea party after shopping - it was divine, V’s cakes were perfect . The afternoon seemed to go really quickly - I’m not used to lighter evenings yet.

On Wednesday morning when we were doing maths C suddenly realised that she understood the base 10 stuff (”but its so easy!”) which was a pretty fab moment, she also tried to read Journey to the Middle of the Earth (managing the first sentence), such ambition . Her note writing is still prolific - last night’s list of clothes for the disco was scarily easy to read (she likes vowels now )

Yesterday we had Lily here all day; J had a really bad night (screaming interspersed by hysterical laughter for 2 hours) & I was still in bed when she & my mum arrived. Mum took pity on me & skipped her first lecture to look after J so I could have a bath & pull myself together, that was heavenly. Lily & C Xboxed, played in the garden & watched films for most of the morning & after lunch we went to Costco (very exciting) & Lidl then came home & cooked masses of pizzas. Mum & Simon arrived back at pretty much the same time so I abandoned the baby with them & had a few of glasses of wine (hugely restorative ). We watched a couple of episodes of Rome after C went to bed (I now like Agrippa - bit young though).

J as usual didn’t sleep much & C was up at 5am, I’ll survive!

I’m so tired, really, really tired. We’ve only had one whole weekend at home since Christmas (as our finances attest ), we’re supposed to be in London next weekend but I’ve cancelled (then it’s my birthday). The ’sleep when your baby does’ thing doesn’t work well when you’ve got a nutty 6yo as well.

Jasper is 17 weeks old today & now weighs 16lbs , he rolls over, smiles, laughs, chats, looks at his hands, reaches for objects & tries to sit; he sucks the same two fingers that my sister did as a baby (almost indescribably cute!). He can go a scarily long time between feeds (preferring to par-tay than eat ), but likes to snack (running buffet) all night given the chance. He’s happy, content & ever so sociable but his hatred of the car-seat-torture-device knows no bounds.

Claudia is fucking insane but I’m learning to adapt . Since you can’t be a little bit autonomous and we’re going with daily don’t-bother-trying-to avoid-it maths, reading, Getty-Dubay & copywork, I guess we’re not at all autonomous. Some days I’m on the precipice of despair but C mostly likes it & it seems to be working out better than we we doing before. I haven’t really got any plans for the future we’re just doing what works for now.

I’ve run out of energy now so I’ll leave to to Ree to sum domestic life up

Poetry of a Madwoman, Vol. 4

If I ever lose my mind for good
It won’t be because of
The mundanity of my daily existence:
The clothes folded
The spills wiped
The dishes washed
Or the floors swept.
No, the abject tedium of domestic life
Will not be the death of my wits.
Instead it will be
That I was never allowed
To finish a thought in my head.

Seeing an idea through to completion
From beginning to end:
That is my solitary ambition.

Ree
Copyright 2006

We (J & I) were here. Missing Joyce.

First the snow man

Then a note from Claudia!

“Fr tel me the bala is in red but theat is just stoopid idu.!”

Translation - for telling me the ballet is in Reading it was a stupid idea (the it was in London).

and

“inroo theat wonn I sentr you los of lof fom Claudia”

Translated - ignore that one I sent you, lots of love from Claudia.

I love my girl

We’re off the the ballet in a little while (the boy is not very happy though - he had another set of jabs yesterday )