Today I feel a little bit fabulous. I know that sounds crazy coming from a mum of 2 under 2 but honestly after last night I do a bit. Rewind to 4PM on Monday and Seb decided to stick himself to my boob, he came off again at about 8PM last night. I’m really not exaggerating and sadly I think I’d forgotten the joy of cluster feeding during a growth spurt, so after literally no sleep for 2 nights after getting some actual sleep last night I feel as I say a little bit fabulous.

So, we are now 2 and half weeks into this new life with 2 little people to raise and I think things are now starting to fall into place as we establish some sort of new routine. To be honest it’s very similar to our old routine as Seb has pretty much just slotted in like a missing puzzle piece, it just means I’ve reacquainted myself to 2AM and Henry is yet to resume studying as we’re trying to find the best time for him to now do this. He’s off to Bodypower (think wedding fair but for fitness nuts like him) at the weekend so I expect Sunday will be when he picks up the textbook again when he comes back buzzing and raring to go in the personal training world again after a 3 week holiday.

There are crazy moments, of course. Last night while Henry was Facetiming his Dad, Seb was in his last stages of cluster feeding and Polly was running riot in the living room after tea with a

dangerously full nappy. She then filled the already full of wee nappy with the brown stuff and before either of us could change her she’d sat herself on my foot and started bouncing up and down, my naked foot. You don’t need me to tell you what the result was except to say Henry almost wet himself laughing so much while he wet wiped my foot clean and Seb carried on with his relentless feeding.

Going out just myself and the little ones also has its moments. On Friday morning we went for a little wander in Blackmoor gardens and Polly enjoyed a little squirrel walk, for approximately 8 minutes. Then she threw a strop about walking so wound up back in the pushchair having a little strop to herself and even had her hood up- taster of what to expect when she hits 13 I guess. But I have to say wrestling a toddler into her pushchair while she attempts to do the plank is great fun with a baby strapped to your chest is great fun, particularly in public.

Some nights have found a wriggly toddler back in our bed who is very intrigued as to why Mummy seems to be cuddling her little brother and feeding him when it’s night-night time. The result of this means that a couple of my mornings have started like this while Henry is on an early morning gym session.

Polly obviously has had her moments. Unfortunately, she’s gone back to hitting which has broken my heart and we are trying so hard to nip this in the bud for good as it’s adding a negative spin on this new change in our family life. At the same time, she adores her little brother, she comforts him when he cries and helps out with nappy changes, sadly he has not escaped the hitting which makes the whole thing even more upsetting. I know it’s been a huge change for us all but mainly for her as she didn’t really know what was coming and also didn’t get a say in it and she has been amazing with

understanding that I need to split my time between the 2 of them and she will happily sit and read a book next to me on the sofa while I feed him (again!). I know this is just a phase and it will pass and it will get easier for her as time moves on, it would be nice if she could just drop the face palming!

Well it’s been a little while since a blog post but in my defence I think I have a pretty good excuse this time. We welcomed Bear-bear out into the world last Sunday- it feels very strange to think this was over a week ago. I’ve had to change that sentence 3 times as it’s honestly taken me 5 attempts to get this post typed up. So, if you’re ready for another birth story then here goes.

The Tuesday before we genuinely thought it was time, I was exactly 38 weeks pregnant and started getting regular contractions after eating tea. They never got more than 4 minutes apart and after 3 hours of ‘is it?’ ‘isn’t it?’ we decided to go to bed and at least get some sleep. It was not. So, the week carried on as normal with me getting increasingly grumpy at the fact that nothing else had happened. Then Saturday morning I woke up and just knew something was going to happen. Henry was working so Polly and I headed out for a little walk which we timed terribly as it started raining, so we fled to the library for half an hour of colouring and reading before giving up on the walk and heading home. It was then at about 11 that something happened that didn’t happen last time. I started losing my plug. This proved great fun to discover with Polly in the bathroom with me as I thought it was just a harmless wee, of course she sensed something going on and decided to cause mischief while I tried to work out what exactly this ‘meant’. If you don’t know what a plug is then don’t for goodness sake google image search it! It basically looks like the contents of a tissue when you’ve blown your nose.

The afternoon progressed with a few spicy Braxton Hicks contractions and me getting more grossed out with my own body every time I went for a wee. Henry came and went as he was on a split and I hoped baby stayed put till the next day as Auntie Jen was at this point in London and she was our Polly watcher. Of course, baby didn’t stay put. I gave Polly a bath and put her to bed and waddled downstairs to do the washing up, then at about 8:30 those Braxton Hicks suddenly switched to genuine painful regular contractions. A few frantic text messages later and Georgia and Gyan were on route to our house as Jen wasn’t due back for another few hours. Then came the phone call to Henry. I tried not to panic as it took 5 attempts to actually get hold of him as it was a busy Saturday evening, but I did get a bit snippy with him when he said he’d try and get home as soon as he could, my app was now telling me it was about 3 ½ minutes in between the contractions and I was currently home alone with a sleeping toddler upstairs. Luckily, we have sensible managers at work who told him to get his arse home sharpish. Georgia and Gyan arrived shortly after a couple of conversations with the hospital where they’d said come in when you can’t talk through the contractions. This happened sooner rather than later.

We arrived at the maternity unit at midnight and I was examined and deemed enough in labour to stay- thank goodness! I was in the pool as soon as I could, no pretence of trying to retain modesty this time as I was straight down to just a bikini top as soon as the pool was full. The 2 midwives who looked after us were amazing, one of them was a student which meant double the examinations but luckily there wasn’t the need for too many of them anyway and who knows next time she might be the one in charge of delivering the next baby Woodard so I wasn’t about to make a scene by telling her I didn’t want her getting involved.

While I was labouring away with the delightful gas & air Jen arrived at ours to take over the Polly watch and Georgia made her way to the hospital to join Henry for some serious tea drinking. Then just after 4AM the pressure I was feeling reached breaking point and my waters burst, it was a bit like a balloon going off in the pool and I honestly thought that was baby’s head coming out- sadly not, the ring of fire was still to come. Lucky for me I only had to wait another quarter of an hour for that delight. Bear-bear entered the world at 4:38AM into Daddy’s safe hands. He was a bit tangled in his cord, but Henry still got that amazing moment where he was the first person to hold his son.

The whole experience afterwards was so different to last time, I mean I only lost half the amount of blood but still had to have a little stitch up session, but the placenta behaved itself and there was no ambulance dash, so everything was so much calmer. Georgia said it was quite eye opening to see everything that happens afterwards from her being my shower helper to the delights of me having my who-ha stitched back up again while giggling to the songs on the radio while back on the gas. It was amazing having her there and I know Henry appreciated her company, she was planning on taking some photos but the lighting just wasn’t in favour of that, more dimmed in favour of a calmer environment and as it was dark outside the result was only one picture of me in labour but she did manage a few ‘real pictures’ of the aftermath.

After some tea and toast and a few phone calls we headed round to the ward. The facetimes in particular were an amazing moment as we woke various family members up to show them what we’d been up to during the night especially as none of them even knew I’d gone into labour, my brother’s face summed it up in the screenshot I managed to get.

The next magical moment was when Polly arrived to meet her little brother. Jen reported that she’d had a brilliant morning after waking to find she’d had a sleepover friend without even knowing it, involving play doh and a trip to pick up Henry’s Nanny before going to track down her Mummy and Daddy and the new addition.

We were cleared to leave mid afternoon and after a KFC diversion we headed home to begin life as a family of 4. The next day someone else also gave birth to a little boy, this one happens to be a Prince so when they left the hospital like us a few hours after birth, there were a few people watching. I was one of those watching and although at that point I was in my pjs and my hair was up in a messy bun and she looked amazing, not at any point did I feel bad for myself. For some reason, even though it’s happened with previous royal births, there seemed to be a lot of opinions on Kate being ‘forced’ to get dolled up and how unrealistic this image was of a mum who’d literally just given birth. Well when we left the hospital yes I waddled out and my hair had not been done but I felt on top of the world and would happily have shown off my mini me to a camera or two if they’d been there, so I like to think I would have looked just as radiant if someone had done my make up for me and actually done something with my hair instead of the straight out the shower plait I’d opted for. I’m not sure why some people tried to make such a positive happy news story into something negative, surely we should be celebrating the fact that by the looks of things this was a normal, healthy birth where we can see first hand that ‘mum and baby are doing well’, what’s more positive and uplifting than that?

So, what’s it like with 2 under 2? Well, it’s still early days and I’ve only had one day with Henry at work but (touch wood) we seem to have things under control. I know there will be tough days and yesterday, the first solo Mummy day, all 3 of us shed tears at some point but it was a successful day. Polly is besotted with her new sibling and wants to help with everything from changing his nappy to holding his hand when he cries. Of course, there have been a few tantrums and the fact that she’s had a cold hasn’t helped but all in all I think she’s going to make a good big sister.

I feel like this has been a long one so I’m going to sign off now and hopefully update again quicker than last time to give more of an insight on how things have changed now there’s another person under our roof.

It’s been just over a week since I finished work and I’m very much in the swing of mat leave life, the

only thing missing is the toddler groups which have stopped over Easter, but they will be back from

Monday. It’s very strange these weeks in between finishing work and the baby’s actual arrival. I

mean you’re basically just waiting around for some sort of sign (so every little thing is a sign!) to let

you know that it’s time to push a little person out of your who-ha. Not knowing when it’s coming

certainly keeps you on your toes and like I say every little sign must be the first sign of labour. It also

means that most messages start with “Baby here yet?” and when you catch up with people in person

in the street they give you that knowing look of sympathy as you waddle by. So, yup I’ve very much

reached that stage where things could happen at any time but at the same time I’m very aware that

it could be another 4 weeks if this one decides to surprise us by arriving late (this shouldn’t really be

surprising as this is a family trait).

This week has also seen the nesting kicking up a notch which I find infuriating. I really do want to put

my feet up a bit, spend some time with Polly and watch some crappy TV while bouncing on a giant

gym ball eating Maltesers. However, this ridiculous urge just creeps in and I can’t help but pull out

the duster for the tenth time. This stupid concept of prepping the house has seen me rearranging

the dining room furniture in my pjs while Polly finished breakfast, rearrange the conservatory and

scrub it’s floor on my hands and knees before teatime, remove all the balls from the ball pit to clean

inside it while trying to stop Polly throwing them round the house and has seen me using the hoover

at least once a day. All this cleaning has had some perks though, the main one being the ‘lost’ items

that have reappeared including a piece of train in a flattened box that was waiting to go to the tip in

the corner of the conservatory and the best one of all- the DVD remote that had been missing since

Christmas, of course the culprit was predictably the little person in the house who had hidden it in a

bag in her toy box. I’m hoping though that once I’ve tackled the last room on the list- the kitchen-

which I’m planning on pulling to pieces tomorrow, that this instinct calms down a bit and I actually

feel happy to just put my feet up for the 10 minutes a day I can with a toddler running around.

In other news, my sister and her husband have now moved in to their new place and are now living

20 minutes away which is great news. My parents have gained a new family member, an adorable

bundle of fluffy cuteness who Polly loves to squeal at over FaceTime- ‘Cat, cat’. Henry is trying to

squeeze in some reading and assessments before our world is flipped on it’s head shortly which

might set him back a week or two. Well time to sign off now as a little trip to the park is in order

before I come back and hoover yet again as the girls are coming over this afternoon for a catch up, I

mean I’d still be doing it even if no-one was coming over but at least that can be the excuse for it

today.

Today has been my first day of maternity leave. It feels strange as it’s come round so quickly. It’s nice to be finished as I don’t think I could have worked any longer but I will miss one big thing and that’s the people I work with. They are a great bunch but the turn over of staff in the hospitality industry means just because I will be going back later this year it could be to a totally different team of people, so naturally I got a bit emotional saying goodbyes yesterday. I did very much drag myself through the last few shifts though as physically I’m feeling it a lot more during this pregnancy. So a special shout out to those who helped drag me through those last few shifts, particularly Clare who realised before I did that my Friday night shift needed to come to an early finish as she didn’t want to have to get a crash course in midwifery over the phone as I really had pushed it too much that day. So, Dukes, thank you for 6 months of fun, I’m sure I’ll be down there enough with the little ones over the summer!

This morning we also waved away another visitor. My brother had replaced Georgia and Gyan on Friday and spent the weekend watching one of us come in from work and the other disappear over the Easter weekend, this did mean that we had a babysitter on tap so Polly didn’t need to come down for each of these trade-offs. Oh and he won’t be offended by that as he loves spending time with her and we know she’s the real reason why he made the 300 mile trip in the first place! It’s strange having an empty house after a week of other people being about but I can feel a strong urge creeping in that I can’t fight anymore. I need to clean. I need to nest. Of course this would happen as soon as I hang up my waitressing apron! I keep looking at totally ridiculous things that I want to scrub and clean, like the greenhouse. I honestly looked at it while making a cup of tea earlier and had to fight the impulse to go out there and give that a tidy too. I mean I understand the whole nesting thing helps us get the house ready for baby, but honestly bear-bear isn’t going to be anywhere near the bloody greenhouse so why on earth do I want to go out there and dust off flowerpots. This is why our guests vacating has probably come at the right time so I can do a bit of unnecessary cleaning and organising without the concerned looks from my family.

Lastly, on what I realise has been a very much pregnancy themed post, we had a strange deja vu this morning relating to guess what- pregnancy of course! Henry called this morning to say he hadn’t made it to the gym as he’d noticed a flat tyre (bloody pot holes!). This made for the 3rd inconvenience late on in pregnancy that we also experienced during the Polly pregnancy. Two years ago, the last time I resembled a whale the boy decided to write off our car so we had a car drama to deal with again. This came after the annoyance of changing midwives late on which has now happened again. And obviously the third inconvenience was one of the delightful pregnancy bonus features making a reappearance a couple of weeks ago (see number 9 on the list from a few posts back). All of these issues were much worse the first time and have only been slight inconveniences this time, it just made us chuckle a bit this morning when we realised the third deja vu had happened- you’ve got to find something to brighten up your day after shelling out £100 before you’ve even had a shower.

Another week slides past and I have to wonder where time is going. It’s almost April. I have 4 more shifts at work then I’m on maternity leave. The baby is due in 5 weeks. People are asking what to get for Polly’s second birthday. Ahhhhh! Time please stop for just 5 minutes so I can catch up.

On the plus side it’s Easter this weekend which means pregnant me has been loving the shops for the last few weeks in my need (it really is a need!) for chocolate and lots of it. I love Easter egg chocolate and will quite often sneak a cheap £1 egg into the basket at Tesco just to snack on once Polly is in bed. They taste so good why would I pass up the opportunity to eat them when they are right there, it’s like people who say they love pancakes yet only eat them one day a year, if you like something and it’s there then hell just go for it! That’s my justification for tallying up about 30 Easter eggs already.

We have visitors back with us now, fresh from their Asia travels Auntie Georgia and Uncle Gyan are staying with us while they house hunt nearby. I realise now they are back how much we all missed having them about, Polly especially. It’ll be nice to see them settled in their own place soon as I know how similar my sister and I are in that we like to have our little place to call home.

Henry is now moving on well with his course and is booking in days to do assessments. Not that he needs to go anywhere further than the dining room table but it’s more that he’s letting me know to disappear with a certain little person so he can concentrate. Luckily the toddler groups work beautifully for this, not sure what we’ll do once the Easter holidays start at the end of this week, pray for the sunshine and head to the park maybe. I’m just not keen to stray too far as the pregnancy weeks slip by and I have wild images of my waters breaking while I’m 30 miles from home without my hospital bags and a wild toddler in tow. I’ve also got a little issue with driving. It’s weird as I passed my test before Henry so for a good couple of years I did all the driving and I loved it, our first car was an estate christened Precious and I was happy to trek out for adventure days right down to Land’s End- literally. But, since having Polly my driving confidence has gone through the floor. I will make any excuse to not be behind the wheel of the car, even going as far as leaving my glasses behind and ‘forgetting’ to put contacts in. I just feel like I can’t do it anymore, which I know is stupid as I obviously have had to drive but I’ll literally only do it when there is no other option. I have spoken to another couple of mums who have had the same drastic change but as of yet haven’t attempted to solve the issue. I mean 8 months pregnant means I’m not the most comfortable so trying to get comfy in the drivers seat can probably wait a couple of months but still I know it’s something I need to address sooner rather than later.

Finishing on a positive it has been a nice week or so. We finally got our arses over to meet Henry’s cousin’s newest little one who has stolen everyone’s hearts. We also met up with Henry’s brother and his girlfriend to celebrate his birthday which was a really nice evening. And Bader herself has been on top form on the cuteness front like usual, truly outdoing herself last Wednesday when she imitated the hamster running in their wheels at Pets at home. I’m seriously considering sending the video in to ‘You’ve been framed’!

So, I’ve finally gone with it and packed a hospital bag (well 2) ready for that big event that seems to be creeping up even quicker than before. I hit week 33 this week so it seemed like a good time to do it, also a couple of babies have arrived in the May Facebook page I’m on so I’m very aware that that big mound under my top is actually a fully functioning human being and not just a ramp for Polly’s cars. I figured I’d dedicate an actual post to the old hospital bag as a potential reference that others could use, and I might in years to come when we hope to expand our clan even more.
So, what’s made the list and why? Well, bag number one is mine and contains:

• Clothes for me- 3x loose tops, 2x loose trousers, 2x PJ bottoms, 1x PJ top, nightie, slippers, dressing gown, 5x basic knickers, 2x nursing bras, bed socks, zip-up hoody. These are all to wear after the main event, you’ll notice the word ‘loose’, very important to remember that it’s only A-listers who vacuum that baby bump away before they grace OK magazine, the rest of us mere mortals are left with a deflated balloon and the chance to see how many stretch marks were hidden under the bump. I’ve pretty much packed the same stuff I used last time, most of it picked up at Primark as I wouldn’t advise taking your favourite comfy slippers anywhere near a maternity ward.
• Toiletries- hair ties, head band, brush, shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, lip balm, contact lens solution & spare pot, towel (not white!), flannel (not white!), flip flops. The shampoo etc are the mini ones you get in Boots for going on holiday with. You’ll also notice the ‘not white’ instruction- very important as you really don’t wanna be looking at a towel that looks like it was hanging over the rail in that horror film scene where she has a sad end to her shower. The head band I found great during the main event as it might come as a surprise that during labour you can get a bit hot and bothered so the last thing you want is your hair stuck to the side of your face when you’re trying to concentrate on your breathing.
• Items for the main event- bikini and loose-fitting t-shirt (actually a men’s t-shirt). Fairly self-explanatory really, I’m hoping for a water birth again and am literally packing what I wore for it last time. I mean I don’t recall actually putting the bikini bottoms on and the t-shirt came off at some point while in the pool, actually the bikini top came off too once I was on the bed doing the old skin to skin. So basically, by the end of my labour I was naked- this actually just occurred to me! In the photos though, someone has at least covered some of my modesty with a sheet, I mean the fact it’s taken me nearly 2 years to realise I was starkers (and for goodness knows how long after) just shows I wasn’t too concerned about that shred of dignity that I might have been retaining.
• Essentials for afterwards- soft bum wipes (honestly the only thing that might actually be as scary as childbirth is that first poo after delivery, take every little comfort you can get, I’ve actually treated myself to Andrex ones instead of the basic Aldi ones you can usually find in our bathroom). Maternity pads and breast pads- I mean it’s amazing how many different things come out of you after childbirth, so these are 2 packs of items you don’t want to forget. Carrier bag- to shove all the ‘used’ clothes items afterwards so they don’t need to make contact with the inside of your bag and can be easily transferred to a washing machine (or incinerator) whenever you’re up to the challenge.
• Extras- empty jewellery box (just somewhere safe to stick my rings & necklace should they need to go somewhere safe in a hurry). Phone charger. Snacks. Sign for the car saying ‘Wife in labour, will move A.S.A.P’- just in case. Maternity notes. Change for parking.
  Surprisingly this time I’ve actually not only packed considerably lighter than last time I’ve also had the sense to pack the things in the bag in the order that they’ll be needed- screw you baby brain you haven’t taken my mind completely just yet.

The bag for Bear-bear is even smaller:

• Selection of baby clothes- 4x long onesies, 4x short onesies, 2x hats, 2x cardi’s, 2x socks, 2x booties and a specially bought coming home outfit that will probably get forgotten about. All these are in neutral colours as we are going ‘team green’ and were of course all worn by Polly at some point.
• Pack of newborn nappies- I took one out just to look at again and actually used the phrase ‘shut up’ as I’d forgotten how small they actually are. And yes, a whole pack as those little monsters literally shit for England in those first few months.
• Changing essentials- pack of nappy bags, wipes and a pack of cotton wool.
• Blanket- It’s the same cute elephant one my parents bought for when Polly was born so it seemed a fitting one to pack.
• 4x muslins- these should be top of the ‘need to buy’ list for any expectant parent and I had one over my shoulder for the first 6 months of Polly’s life.

All I need to do now is dust off the car seat and stick the newborn inserts back in and we will officially be ready to have a baby. Well apart from setting up the Moses basket so baby has somewhere to sleep when they actually come home. Now it’s getting more real. Now these 2 bags have taken up residence in the hallway it’s become a lot more real.

So it’s been a busy week or so- this is my excuse for slacking on the blog front. We’ve been up to visit family and friends in Suffolk and although I took my laptop with every intention of posting an update I just never seemed to get round to it. Before we went we had a fairly typical few days apart from the snow storm that rocked up at the end of the week. Fairly ironic that we had actual proper snow just a couple of weeks after we went on a snow hunt. When we moved down to Devon over 7 years ago we were told that snow was a very rare occurrence in the West Country, so of course that first winter was the worst winter in years. So I guess if it’s only going to do that sort of weather every 7 years then I think that’s a fairly accurate summary, let’s hope it stays a rare occurrence. The snow came with it’s usual emotions, first off the excitement- ‘oh doesn’t it look pretty’ ‘let’s go for a little walk in it’ ‘do you wanna build a snowman’ (I really hope you sang that last one like I did as I typed it). This however moves very quickly to, ‘please piss off now’ after being snowed in with a toddler. Even the cat tried to escape the house at one point! The snow did create one particular amusement though- Polly couldn’t say ‘snow’ properly and just kept running around shouting ‘nooooo’. See even she knows it’s bad news really.

The snow also meant we very nearly didn’t make the trip across the country and was the reason I was sat on the highways agency website at 2AM on Saturday morning. The journey wasn’t actually too bad and the worst bit was the M5 where the snow on either side meant the rain had nowhere to go but once we were past that it was a fairly typical journey up with a couple of stops to break the journey up. The last stop actually being in Suffolk when we let Polly loose in a soon to be closing toys r us. Oh and it was actually Henry’s birthday- which bad wife forgot about until we were 2 hours into our journey! Oops!

The week itself was a well needed break and a chance for us to do some things together before 3 becomes 4. Henry bagged 2 birthday meals out of it and we had a couple of trips to soft play centres. At the boys request we also visited a couple of farms that sold raw milk where Polly had great fun meeting some cows, very politely saying ‘hiya’ to each of them in turn. It was nice to catch up with friends and family but by the end of the week I was ready for own bed again as sleep doesn’t seem to be coming easy anymore now I’ve reached the size of a small whale. Polly was also ready to get back into some sort of routine where she woke up and went to bed again in the same house. She definitely had a fun trip though but by the end of the week was certainly pushing her boundaries after getting away with murder for a few days. We’ve had a fun couple of days since being back as we try and re-establish some sort of order.

I can’t complain too much though as she did treat me yesterday to a bacon sandwich and a nice candle.  The bacon sandwich was very much needed before returning back to work on mother’s day and the busy shift almost broke me after nearly 2 weeks off (stupid snow causing chaos before we went).

I feel like I’ve really skimmed over a lot, I am struggling to write this post a bit as someone already mentioned is being a bit of a diva. She was sat next to me happily reading a book but then randomly started ripping the pages, see just little things like that where she’s pushing the limits- really need to nip this in the bud before bear-bear arrives though. On a cute note to finish though she is now attempting to say her own name, only problem is she thinks it’s pronounced ‘bader’, no idea where this has come from but it is pretty amusing.

Another week flashes by and there did seem to be a hint of Spring in the air but that seemed to go out the window on Thursday and we are back to bed socks in bed and forcing Polly to keep gloves on for 5 minutes. We’ve had an alright week though. We caught up with our friend Sophie on Tuesday afternoon who Polly adores which made for a nice afternoon. We’ve had fun at the toddler groups and went on a playdate yesterday morning. The highlight of the week was a trip over to Prickly Ball Farm on Wednesday with Pati (one of Polly’s Godmother’s) and her other half George. It was a great day where Polly roamed free in her wellies petting any animal that dared come close to her. She was very unsure about the actual hedgehogs though and much preferred the lively ferrets who she actually told off for some unknown (well only the toddler knows) reason.

We did have one moment of sheer terror though on the outdoor play equipment that she had been confidently playing on supervised by 4 adults until she did something very out of character. Polly has been pretty good about obstacles and will pause at the top of stairs and fling her arms out waiting to be carried or assisted down them, she even demands 80% of the time for you to hold her hand when she goes down slides. I think also having more adults about lulls you into a false sense of security that between you, you can keep said child out of danger as there are always a pair of eyes on her, but this of course means that everyone is thinking the same way. So when Polly went up on the platform for the tenth time we all presumed she would walk across it to the slide where Pati was waiting for her little hands. Parenting mistake #428- toddlers are as unpredictable as the great British weather. She went to the right and walked straight into the abyss of the metal ring tunnel thing that has huge gapping holes between the bars (not sure what it’s technical name is and google doesn’t seem to know either). I have no idea how Pati moved so fast but she leapt round the corner and grabbed Polly’s last disappearing arm, while catching her with the other arm. It was an awkward catch with a metal ring in between the two of them but it was one of those catches worthy of making a YouTube near miss compilation video. I have no doubt she saved us from an afternoon spent in A&E and instead after a quick cuddle on the bench with me she was actually squirming to be let loose on the playground again- which of course we did as we don’t want her developing the fear of anything that scares her the first time. I mean all 4 of us were literally following her every move after this and I definitely got the ok from the universe that following her around the park is very much a necessity still.

I was thinking this week about writing another ‘parenthood reality post’ and I promise I will do another one soon but as I was trying to think of some new ideas for it a little scenario played out that sums it up in one story. I’m not sure of many other reasons why a couple would be working like Henry and I do where we can’t work the same shifts and do a toddler trade off a couple of times a week in the bar. I’ve decided to share with you what happened yesterday afternoon as a taster of what this can really look like in reality. Pre-children if I’d had a text from Henry 45 minutes before I was due to start saying that he wouldn’t be home and we would be swapping at work instead of with an hour’s crossover I wouldn’t have battered an eye much- I had no real reason to. 45 minutes is plenty of time, right? Let’s throw a toddler in the mix and the answer soon becomes a frim no. I was over half way through doing tea for us all thinking we would get a 10 minute window for a meal together at the table. Here’s what actually happened, firstly Henry received an expletive filled reply before I ran upstairs and threw my uniform on, redid my hair and put my contact lenses in when I really should have done a quick oven check. If I had I would have realised the temperature needed to be up a few degrees. Instead when I got in the kitchen to plate up I realised the pork needed another 5 minutes, so I sat down with a plate of new potatoes and broccoli and a very confused toddler at my knees wondering why hers was still in the kitchen. I then ate my pork steak stood up in the kitchen with a wailing cat who suddenly thought he hadn’t been fed in 6 weeks- his emotional blackmail worked and he finished off the bit I didn’t have time to eat as I needed to plate up and foil up the other 2 plates of food. I then headed back into the living room to get the toddler ready for the winter wonderland outside- roll on summer where I don’t need to wrestle gloves and a hat onto a octopus mid exorcism. She shared her frustration by wiping a trail of snot across my work top. A few minutes later we  were actually by the pushchair, sadly as I was putting my shoes on Polly heard the familiar tune of Peter Rabbit coming from the living room and proceeded to run back in to watch it while bouncing up and down like those mischief making bunnies do. I then literally had to run, rugby tackle her and wrestle her into her pushchair before doing a fast walk down into the town. I was fairly impressed at myself for managing to clock in 2 minutes before 5. That story alone pretty much sums up what it’s like having little people in your life- you have to find different ways of doing things! A snap shot of Henry’s experiences trying to do weights for example!

Half term. It’s amazing that even when your child isn’t actually at school yet the school holidays still seem to have a big impact on our normal schedule. The main change being that most of the parent/baby groups don’t run so you have to find other ways to entertain little people and as it’s half term the big soft play centres etc etc are an absolute last resort as they’ll be full of families with the bigger kids trying to do the same thing. This usually means a week of playdates and trips to the park thinking about how in a few short years you wont get a choice on the manic, hyper-children filled soft play centres in school holidays, as that will be the only time to take them and you’ll be counting on that time to let them burn off some holiday steam. Until then we’ll stick with a muddy puddle walk to the park.

The library has provided us with 2 mornings worth of entertainment this week. On Thursday they ran their normal singing session- minus the singing sadly as the usual lady was on holiday, so instead we listened to a nursery rhyme CD and chatted about our weeks while the little people pulled out books and instruments. The day before they ran a storytime session that I thought we’d pop along to just to see how long Polly lasted. She surprised everyone by staying put on my lap for over half an hour while the nice man recited various stories. Even more impressive as it was packed (the rain had bought half of Sidmouth out to the only dry family friendly activity in the town that morning!) and the lure to run around with the other kids, most of whom were bigger than her, was very evident in her look of wonder as the other children roamed free and mean Mummy kept her sat still as she is very aware that given half a chance she would cause more mayhem and destruction than the rest of them put together. A photographer then came in and re-jigged us about so we were relegated to the floor for the remainder of the session but luckily this was near the story props so Polly’s attention was still held for the last 10 minutes with help from a bag of vegetables from the story of the hungry caterpillar (going through the ‘won’t eat unusual veg stage’ at home… tries to eat a whole turnip at the library- that’s just toddlers for you).

This morning we are planning on making the most of the nicer weather so it’ll be a walk along the river and a trip to the park, once I’ve done the hoovering that I’ve been putting off for the last 3 days. The trouble is I’m also now very aware that I’ve hit the delightful third trimester. Basically I feel like I’ve been hit by a train. It’s great. The combination of backache, needing to pee 382 times a night, surprise Braxton Hicks, falling asleep at any opportunity and the distinct start of a waddle would be ok to handle if it weren’t for the constant question of “How much longer do you have left?” It would even be fine if you didn’t get the raised eyebrow response when I sigh that I still  have just over 10 bloody weeks left! This does not make me feel any better about my now almost complete resemblance of a whale but thanks for your thoughts on how I look ready to drop at any moment Mr Stranger. Mind you I did get the little reminder last night when I came home from work as to what all this fun is for. Henry’s cousin had her little girl yesterday afternoon. The picture of this new family of 4 smiling from the hospital did come at the perfect time to make the discomfort and interrogations slip to the back of my mind- that’ll be us soon!

Oh and Valentine’s Day was this week too. Obviously Henry surprised me with a romantic boat trip and a dozen red roses. Nah! He did way better than that. First off he bought me back a sausage and egg McMuffin after his early morning gym session. Then during an unexpected nap I took while Polly had hers I woke up in a blurred state of pain at the beloved backache and he fixed me up with a hot water bottle in rapid speed so I then fell asleep again for almost an entire hour! He then cooked me up a steak for tea before I headed to work. Boy definitely did well this year.

Right, now I really do need to drag that hoover out or it’ll be too late in the day so it’ll get bumped onto tomorrow’s to do list, plus Polly has just upturned her entire box of brio so I need to get a move on before the floor becomes completely inaccessible with said hoover.

We’ve had a good week, with the highlight being a little drive up to Dartmoor to find some snow as Polly hasn’t experienced this joy yet. By the time we arrived most of it had melted but the little patches that were left were greatly enjoyed by our wellied toddler. We do love a drive up there especially on a day like that as it was so clear and there were plenty of animals to point out to Polly.
As it’s been a fairly typical week I thought I’d touch on a subject that is close to my heart. This isn’t some big rant or big declaration- hopefully not anyway! But I was chatting to one of my Mummy friends the other day and she asked what kind of a dad Henry was. This got me thinking about what kind of dad he actually is and I thought I’d dedicate a little post to him seen as he has actually started reading the occasion blog post.
I was honest with her and said that it maybe took him a little while to find his groove with parenting but that was probably due to the fact that he was pulling 14 hour days and never had a chance to do much solo parenting. I just want to state that at no point would I have described him as a bad dad, our life just meant he wasn’t getting the chance to let out his full dad potential. That has obviously changed big time over the last few months but now I find myself looking back at all the moments from when Polly first burst into our lives and I have a confession. He was actually doing a lot better job than I realised. Not only was he providing for his family, especially as I took more time off than expected, but also for all the little things. Even that decision when I broke down in tears and told him I wasn’t ready to leave Polly in nursery, he was amazing. He completely supported this choice and told me we would make it work- which we did.
Henry was the one who got her dressed for the first time when I was having my moment after delivery. He took her on her first car journey to meet me at Exeter hospital, doing the first family introduction along the way. He changed her first nappy while I was having stitches. He had the first projectile poo incident fired his way during one of those early nappy changes. He was the one who drove to big Tesco in the middle of the night when we ran out of nappies and then got up 4 hours later to go and do one of those 14 hour days. Yes, he might dress her in some questionable outfits sometimes (honestly boy I’m still baffled by the top and pink tights combo!), he doesn’t understand the concept of a laundry basket and he snores like a bear, but he does so much more to make up for this. He takes her to groups and to the park and actually enjoys doing it. He goes food shopping every Sunday morning while I work and takes Polly along for the fun. He introduced her to hot chocolate froth and pillow fights. He always takes her down the big slides at soft play. He makes her laugh. He taught her to play throw and catch (well throw and chase). He drove to the Lake District and back in one day so Polly and I didn’t miss out on a big family holiday even though he couldn’t make the whole holiday himself. He introduced her to Postman Pat. He dances with her. He has passed on a love of and caring nature for animals. He spent his last birthday at soft play because he wanted to take her and go down those big slides. He taught her to hop while we read her bedtime story of Guess how much I love you. He introduced the concept of a ‘Heart’ (radio) party in the evening to tire her out before bed.
And for all this and so much more, I am so thankful. Thankful I married a ‘good egg’. He is a great dad, like many others out there and the bond him and Polly have honestly brings a tear to my eye (not just because I’m pregnant!). I’m proud of him and the dad he’s become. I’m not really sure if there is a big message I’m trying to get across here (it sort of did accidently become one of ‘those’ posts even though I said it wouldn’t) but I feel like taking a moment to just salute all the good dads out there, all those ‘good eggs’ and to say thank you as I know I for one couldn’t do it without my partner in crime.