20 week scan… and the big reveal…

Baby no.3 is…. ANOTHER GIRL!!

We had our 20 week scan this week and were excited to find out whether our new family member was going to be pink or blue… after two previous girlies it was no big surprise to hear the sonographer say: “looks like a girl to me!”.

Most friends and family had guessed it would be a girl, and Tony and I also suspected that maybe the girlie genes would be at work yet again.

Now we are left with an issue as we think we have run out of girls names that we could possibly agree on… and will probably spend the next five months dismissing each other’s suggestions! (So far he has said no to my brilliant ideas which have included Jasmine, Daisy and Poppy – and an all time favourite, Lorna, and I wasn’t overly impressed with his suggestions of Tia or Leah).

Other than that the scan went fine, up until the point when little madame decided enough was enough and curled up into a tight ball – despite asking me to walk around and tipping me up one way and than another on the bed the baby would not be moved so the sonographer has asked us to come back in a few weeks so she can finish off with the measurements she didn’t manage to take.

It was just lovely, as always, to see this little person on the screen. We saw really clear hands and feet – at one point the baby was pointing with both hands, and we also saw a very clear shot of two little baby feet side by side. The sonographer also commented that she kept stroking herself on the head – her biggest sister is a big fan of stroking her face to help her get to sleep too.

After the scan it was time to share the good news with everyone and I had to give the news to a colleague in work, whose little girl is due in a couple of weeks, that she wouldn’t be getting a bumper back of baby girl clothes from me after all!

Lilly was very excited to find out if she was getting a brother or a sister – she had really wanted it to be a brother and to call it Daniel, after her best friend, but she was much more diplomatic than you’d expect from a three year old and, although she was slightly disappointed, she soon warmed to the idea. Now she has been saying: “I like girls the best, girls are the best, aren’t they mum?” And she wants to call the baby Olivia.

So, there we go – a third girl! Wow.

 

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Two little lines

It’s funny how two little lines can turn your world upside down in an instant.

Two little lines can force you to re-think everything: the job you do, how often you do it. The car you drive, the house you live in. The money you spend, the holidays you go on. The commitments you have, the favours you ask.

Two little lines have made their way into our lives on two previous occasions, but it was different then. We knew (or hoped) they were coming. We planned for them in advance. We had some idea how we would manage, how things would work out.

But when two little lines popped up on Thursday night we were not expecting them. No, not at all. But, there they were.

It was the day after Isla’s first birthday. The test was only a cheapy one – picked up for 99p as an afterthought. It was meant to confirm that I wasn’t pregnant. I never, ever expected to see those two lines, ever again!

But there they were, clear as day, as soon as the test was done. We didn’t know what to think, how to react. A 10.20pm dash to a 24 hour supermarket followed, a slightly dazed purchase was made and a Clearblue Digital confirmed both that I was pregnant and also that I am “at least” five weeks so.

Oh. My. Goodness.

The last couple of days have been a blur.

 

We can’t afford a baby

We haven’t got room for a baby

We already have a baby – she’s only just ONE!

What will our families say?

What will my work say?

How on earth will we afford childcare for three?!?!?

How will we cope?

 

We still haven’t got answers to those questions, to be honest. But after a lovely night away for our anniversary this weekend, everything is starting to sink in a little bit more.

 

We can have another baby, we will find room, we will work out a way to manage.

 

What we lack in space or finance we will make up for with love – not only from us, but from this baby’s sisters and his or her extended family.

So, there it is. Our family of four looks likely to be about to be come a family of five.

YIKES!!!!!!!

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Working towards my goals

14.5.11

Back in January I wrote a post in which I set out some goals for myself for 2011. I promised that I’d review them every so often to keep on track of how i’m getting on, so here is the first of those tracker posts.

1. Teach Lilly to read - I have bought a set of Usborne Read at Home books and somebody in work has lent me another set of learn to read books. We haven’t made a proper start on this yet. However, Lilly is getting good at recognising the letters of the alphabet and she can spot her own name easily – even in the credits of programmes. Sometimes she will see a word starting with “Li” or ending in “lly”and she’ll say “that’s like my name!” So I just need to capitalise on this natural enthusiasm to learn I think. She has also started spotting squiggles that look like letters and numbers in her drawings and then tells me: “That looks like a 6, doesn’t it!?” And again I think it is time I started helping her with some basic writing too.

2. Book another holiday for us – We had a lovely holiday in Center Parcs at the end of March, and we’re going to France with the inlaws in a couple of months, which we’re really looking forward to. Finances are a bit tight so we’re not sure whether we’ll get abroad next year, but I think we’ll decide nearer the time. Mind you, there are some early plans for Tony’s sister to get married next year, possibly abroad, so if she goes ahead with that, that’s the decision made! 

5. Be superorganised to help the transition back to work – We had just about settled into our routine of Tony on morning duty and me on afternoons / nursery pick up, when his shifts changed at work and everything had to be juggled about again! Now he works early morning into early afternoon – so the half days are out of the window, and instead I work four full days, monday to thursday. Nursery had no extra days for the girls though, so at the moment me and MIL are using leave to cover the additional Tuesdays with the girls. This will probably be until August, and in a way, it’s a real blessing as I get more summer days at home with the girls this year!

7. Keep the kitchen table clear of clutter – Not been doing too well with this one. As we speak there are piles of laundry ready to be ironed and bottles of water etc living on the table. Maybe I better go and clear them off in a minute…

8. Swim a bit more -  Two weeks ago I swam twice before work. I didn’t manage it this week for one reason or another, but the intention is there and I have worked out how to fit it into my week. So now I just need to get on with it…

9. Lose weight – Probably most successful one to date… I have lost nearly 2 and a half stone since the end of January by joining Weight Watchers online. Honestly the best thing I have done in a while! I could rave about it but that’d be a whole seperate post… but I have dropped two dress sizes so far and hoping to go down one more before my holiday. Hubby joined in too, when he saw me losing weight, and he has also lost over 2 stone. Magic!

10. Use my Wii Fit more – Actually I probably use it less, as hubby is home in the evenings now so we tend to flop out and watch TV before getting an early night ahead of his 3am start! But if I keep up with the swimming, the lack of Wii-Fit won’t matter, will it?

11. Get ready to move house – This one is probably on indefinite hold! Finances just couldn’t stretch to a house move at the moment. There are some jobs we need to do around this house, but in reality I think we’ll be staying here until both girls are at school.

13. Brush up my French – French holiday coming up very soon and French still in need of a “brushing” 

14. Make the most of my afternoons off – Well, it’s day/s off now. We have had some really great days out and (most) of the time we’ve managed to do more than just errands and trips to the supermarket (although that’s exactly what we did yesterday, hehe!)

15. Spend more time with hubby (alone!)  – We haven’t done too well. No trip away for our anniversary of meeting. But we did have a really amazing night out in Liverpool in, erm, January, and treated ourselves to a stay in the Malmaison. And we have booked it again for our wedding anniversary in July. But a definite ‘could do better’ on this one…

16. Use my new camera and learn something about photography – I am using it, but I don’t know if I’m getting better. The photography book remains unread… maybe on holiday…

17. Cook lots with Lilly – Hmmm, no, need to do better… problem is, being on Weight Watchers, we’re obviously eating a lot less cake! But I wanted to get Lilly more involved in general cooking, and I still need to make more of an effort here. 

19. Go on more family days out – and blog about them. Go back to our favourite places and discover new ones. Make the most of our weekends – Yep, I think we’re doing well, no complaints!

20. Weaning Isla – She has come on well with her eating now, it was a slow start but we now have successful toast and sandwich eating, and she is better all the time with lumps. She still does the occasional terrifying gagging thing that scares me to death, but it is much less frequent now.

21. Help nurture a good relationship between my girls – Not sure how much credit I can take but I am very happy to say that, at the momement, the girls have a really lovely relationship and genuinely seem to adore each other. Everytime they’re laughing at each other, or kissing and hugging each other it makes everything worth it! 

22. Keep our family photo albums up to date – Move along now, nothing to see here…

23. Be a better blogger - Actually I’ve found it difficult to be even just as good a blogger as I was last year. There just aren’t the hours in the day / week for all the things I’d like to do. But essentially I’m writing this blog as a record for my children and us in the future. So I am trying to make sure I record all the really lovely things we do, the important milestones and funny things, the development of the girls. If I get any spare time I’ll think about all the other things I’d like to add too. Still need to remember to date my blog posts!

24. Revisit my goals regularly to see how I’m doing – Well, this is the first time i’ve done it, so not exactly monthly! But its the thought that counts…

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Isla’s Christening

At 18 weeks old it was time for Isla to be Christened.

The service took place at our local church, St Catherine’s, which is where Tony was Confirmed, we were married and Lilly was also Christened, so a place where we have a real connection.

The service was at 12.30am so in the morning we had to get the girls bathed and dressed in their finery – everything appeared to be running smoothly and we planned to get there a little bit early to greet the family and just generally be organised. Obviously, last minute nappy changes / bottles for Isla and tantrums by Lilly because I binned her last tiny bit of digestive after she dropped it on the floor took their toll so in reality we only actually arrived five minutes before the service was due to begin. Ah well!

The service went very smoothly, it was only a small gathering of close family, and had a nice intimate feel. Isla didn’t grizzle at all (although she has a very placid nature so we knew she’d be fine), but she flinched a little when the water was poured over her hair! Lilly wanted to be at the centre of everything and the Deacon was quite encouraging – when the parents and godparents were called upon to mark the sign of a cross on Isla’s forehead, he asked Lilly if she wanted to do it too – which she did!

Overall though, Lilly was very good – she was delighted when we went in and there wasn’t anyone else there: “We’ve got it all to ourselves mummy!!” and she sat quietly while the Deacon spoke. At one point she did get slightly bored and started doing Ring-A-Ring-Of-Roses with her cuddly cat, but she did it very quietly!

Back at Tony’s parents house we had a bit of champers, a nice buffet and some chocolate Christening cake made by my mum. It was funny as when we were standing around with our glasses of champagne about to do the toast Lilly piped up “I need a wee wee” right on cue! After that incident she enjoyed eating her own body weight in buffet and even tried a pickled onion which she pretended to like but then rather forcefully refused another one!

Isla was very patient being passed around the family – she had one nap in her cot when we first got back and later, after the guests had gone, she fell asleep and dozed for a while on Nanna’s lap.

Both the girls have gone to bed a little earlier than usual – Lilly was almost delirious with tiredness. But I think they’ve both had a nice day and there’s been loads of stimulation with different places, faces and events.

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We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo…

… in fact we’ll be going to the zoo many times this year as we decided to buy an annual pass for Chester Zoo.

We’ve been quite a few times since Lilly was born, and we’ve always thought it was a really nice way to pass a day, even though it did seem a little bit pricey.

But when we looked and realised that we’d only have to go four times in a year to save money on an annual pass, it made absolute sense to go for it.

Anyway, today was our second trip as annual pass holders. It was a lovely autumn day, cold but sunny.

And we just had such a lovely family day, the kind of day you imagine before you ever had children when you wistfully imagine what it’ll be like. A day when Lilly’s behaviour is just brilliant (as, to be fair, it has been for a few weeks now), and the hours fly by before you really realise what’s happening.

Highlights today included seeing a new baby elephant

A monkey getting up close and personal with Lilly

The lions eating their dinner, lunch and a run around in the Roman Garden

Fish in the aquarium (this being the only bit that really interested Isla, she seems to love watching colourful fish swimming in tanks), butterflies in the butterfly house (which has a great wooden bridge Lilly likes to run up and down hundreds of times)

We also saw a butterfly that looked just like a leaf

And one even landed on me!

(Not a very good photo, as I had to take it myself – hubby is scared of butterflies so didn’t join us for that part of the trip!!)

All in all, a great time had by all and I know we will definitely be making the most of our annual pass this year!!

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My little girl is growing fast

Lilly is just two and half months away from being 3, and in the last month or so she seems to have started growing up fast.

I think it all started when she got her first haircut – we were stunned at how much of a little girl she looked with her cute baby curls all chopped off!

And of course, becoming a big sister has probably been a big factor in her sudden transformation into “Big Girl”.

Every single day she seems to do something that makes me think Wow – she’s getting so big!

She is now fully toilet trained, and hasn’t had any accidents for weeks and weeks. I am getting more used to making sure we always know where the nearest toilets are on our trips out, and Lilly is getting better and better at giving plenty of advance notice that a trip to the loo is needed.

In the last week or so, she has become determined to dress and undress herself. It started with her socks – I was pretty stunned when she picked them up one day and just put them on! In the right frame of mind, she’s getting pretty good now at putting her knickers, trouser and even t-shirts on all on her own. 

The transformation hasn’t been lost on her either. She is always keen to “be a big girl” and insists on eating a banana “like a big girl” (i.e. holding it in the skin, rather than me cutting it up on a plate for her) and eating her toast “like a big girl” (i.e. having it cut in half, rather than in four triangles).

And there is just the slightest hint that perhaps her behaviour is just a little bit better at times. For instance, she can be trusted just a little bit more not to run off. Twice she has been to the supermarket and walked with me or with her Nanna, rather than riding in the trolley, and both times she has been good and not done a disappearing act (which, just a few weeks ago, would have been a certainty!) And yesterday I took her to the garden centre with Isla, a place where she has previously run wild, leaving me frantic chasing after her. It was a rainy afternoon, and I was stuck for inspiration on places to take them. Before we left, I had a chat with Lilly and told her that, if she wanted to go, she MUST be good, not run away etc, as I would have Isla in her pushchair to also look after. She promised she would, and she was as good as her word. We had a really lovely couple of hours, a nice chat over a drink and cake in the cafe, and she came home without any fuss.

Ooh, and another exciting clever thing she does now is draw smiley faces!!! The first time I saw it, I was unbelievably impressed. Yes, they’re quite basic (obviously) but they are clearly eyes, noses and mouths. A couple of weeks ago we were making paper plate versions of Mish, Moosh and Mogo from CBeebies’ Same Smile (Lilly’s major obsession at the moment) and she added the noses and mouths all by herself!

Of course, programmes she once loved like In The Night Garden are now SO babyish for her!

But one of the best things about Lilly at the moment is the way she wants to help me with Isla all the time. It’s so cute to hear her talking in “baby language” to Isla, or calling her “darling” because she’s heard us doing it. She said today: “I wish Isla was a grown up like me!” She can’t wait for Isla to be able to play properly, not that she lets that put her off, because she always plays with Isla, no matter what Isla wants to do! Although we have had times where Lilly plays up because she’s jealous of the attention Isla is getting, she has never taken out that jealousy on her sister. It makes me feel so proud of her as it becomes obvious that she loves her baby sister unconditionally.

In addition, she can now peddal a bicycle, clean her own teeth and wash her own hands pretty well. Her vocabulary continues to expand at an amazing rate, she makes us laugh all the time coming out with very grown up phrases in a matter of fact way.

Although I’m sorry to see my little baby growing up it’s so wonderful to watch. Every day she does something that impresses me, makes me laugh, and fills me with pride. She’s my little superstar!

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Plans plans plans

When we thought about having another child, we always knew one of the biggest issues was going to be childcare costs.

Before I went on maternity leave, I was working full time and Lilly was in nursery four days a week – Tony’s mum looking after her on the other day.

We tried to bury our heads in the sand about how much it was going to cost to have two children in nursery four days a week, and consolled ourselves with the thought that Lilly would be 3 by then, and therefore would qualify for 15 hours free.

However, it has come to the point where we can bury our heads no longer. I am going back to work in January, and had planned to return full time, but using annual leave to make the return more gradual – so starting on three days, then four, then up to five by March.

But at the end of the week, a brainwave struck. Perhaps there was a way for me to go back part time, meaning the girls won’t have to spend four whole days a week at nursery, and I get more time with them.

My plan is simple. Return to work four days a week, but instead of taking a full day off, take two half days. Tony works shifts, so he would look after the girls two of the mornings, and I’d have them in the afternoons. That way we save two days of nursery fees per child per week! Basically a saving per month of about £450 in fees – which is less than I should lose in salary after tax by dropping down to four days!!

It’s just perfect – and now all I need is for work to agree! I have spoken to my boss this afternoon to suggest the plan, it seemed to be received ok and I just need to apply formally and see if they say yes.

I feel really excited about it – two afternoons a week, every week, with my girls that I wasn’t expecting to get! My mind is already racing with things we could do all together those days. And, to prove I’m really getting carried away with myself I’ve been thinking “that’ll also be really great when Lilly goes to school and I’m doing the school run” – bearing in mind that is nearly two years away!!

The only potential fly in the ointment is T’s work. Like everyone in the world at the moment, we can never be sure how secure his job is. He currently works afternoon – evening, but that could change and he could be asked to do mornings, or even 9-5 which could scupper our plans completely. And, once I’ve asked to go part time, there’s no guarantee that work would allow me to return to full time in the future if I wanted to.

But, for now, if work say I can do this, I’ll be over the moon.

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Three months in

Well, here we are – Isla is three months now, and Lilly is motoring very fast towards three!

Isla is still a very good baby – sleeps a lot during the day and has been sleeping through the night for about three weeks now. She remains extremely placid and chilled out in character – in fact, the only time she really gives me any ‘trouble’ is at night as she likes to fight sleep. I have just started giving her a bedtime bath as I think that has made the night time put down a little easier, but sometimes I have to push her in her pram or put her in her bouncy chair on the “vibrate” mode to get her off to sleep, transferring her to her moses basket later.

Development wise, she is smiling and very close to laughing – she finds my singing most amusing of all, and twice has given herself hiccups trying to chuckle. She is also reaching for things and grabbing them – she loves being under the playmat and batting at the toys hanging down. She has finally mastered the art of sucking her thumb – something I could tell she was desperate to do since birth. She will still have a dummy sometimes, but usually it is a poor second place to her own thumb, and sometimes it seems to make her even more frustrated. She can make cooing noises and is getting a lot better at holding her head up – although she violently hates tummy time!

I have been combination feeding (breast & bottle) but since she has dropped her night feeds my supply has been drying up, and I think it can only be a matter of days. After failing to breastfeed Lilly I am really pleased that I got this far, but she is quite happy on her bottles and as long as she’s happy, I’m happy. The only thing I really worry about is that, on those nights when she is very difficult to settle, only a breastfeed seems to work. Not sure what I am going to do when this is no longer an option!

I have also noticed that Isla has begun to watch her big sister with what I imagine is something like curiosity and admiration. Isla seems to really enjoy interacting with Lilly, and gives her big smiles, even on those occasions where I am watching nervously wondering if Lilly is going to accidentally poke Isla’s eye out or something. We have had a few incidents where Lilly’s “love and affection” has lead to screaming from Isla, but usually Lilly is more upset than Isla with the shock! Then I have them both wailing!

However much Lilly loves Isla though - and she really does love her, I think – there is definitely a hint of the green eyed monster there. She doesn’t take this jealousy out on Isla – it’s just when I am busy taking care of Isla, Lilly is much more likely to play up – doing things she knows are naughty, like climbing on the sofa, or asking for things and getting very angry when I can’t get up and get them for her straight away. Lilly has also started saying to me “I’m your special baby, aren’t I mummy?”, and I always hug her and tell her yes, she’ll always be my special baby, and Isla is my special baby too, which she seems happy with.

Yesterday, I was taking Lilly to Tumble Tots and Tony took Isla round to his mum’s house. Lilly and I were getting ready to leave and she started calling out “Isla! Isla Smiler!! Where are you!?” I said: “She’s gone with daddy to Nanna’s house, remember?”. And Lilly said: Oh, yes. I am very upset!”

Oh, and yes, I forgot to say that the two sisters are also conspiring together to get up bright and early the last few days – 5am seems to be the favourite time. Up until now, Isla had been sleeping in later than Lilly, to six or seven most days. But now the little one is taking hints from her big sister and has been the first one up the last two days. Aah well. *yawn*

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We’re not made of cardboard…

I’ve been really disappointed with this summer, because when I visualised life with a new baby and Lilly too I thought of spending days in the park and in the garden, playing in the paddling pool and getting loads of fresh air.

It hasn’t really worked out like that, has it?

Ok, it’s not been the worst summer but it hasn’t really been the best. And, as a family we can be pretty indecisive about where we’re going to go and what we’re going to do with our days, so when you add uncertainty about what the weather is going to do, we often end up not doing much at all!

The weather did not put us off trying out our new double buggy!

 

But last weekend we decided to laugh in the face of the rainy weather forecast and go for a walk around the Albert Dock in Liverpool with the girls – one of our favourite places to go. Often if it is raining we take shelter in the Maritime Museum, but this time we decided we wanted some fresh air, rain or shine.

When we first arrived, the weather looked ok. But the wind was blowing quite ferociously, especially as we were down by the river. We had decided to try out our new double buggy (purchased with our future holiday to Center Parcs in mind). It started off really well, with Lilly keen to get in the buggy to sit next to Isla… and to sit under the “tent” (raincover) which we decided to use to keep the wind off Isla’s face.

Soon though, Lilly was bored of being captive in her buggy, and wanted to walk. As we started to walk along the waterfront, the rain began. It was coming down in short showers, but when it rained, it rained, and we got drenched!! But we had the whole stretch to ourselves, even on a Saturday in August and it was great fun just running along in the wind and rain with Lilly absolutely loving the experience!

The lifeboat was out as the Mersey was so choppy

 

The wind was also making the Mersey really choppy and at certain points along the way the water was even splashing up over the path – cue loads of squeals of delight from Lilly as we jumped to avoid them!

We walked all the way to the ferry terminal where Lilly spent some time kissing and hugging the Beatles penguins (!) and managed to use the big toilet (twice).

The double buggy had to be called into action again when Lilly got a little tired and threw an impressive tantrum – poor Isla’s face as a screaming toddler was strapped into the seat next to her against her will was a picture!

All in all we had such a lovely family day and I hope it has taught us that we really aren’t made of cardboard. Next time we fancy a day out, perhaps we should ignore the weatherman, take our waterproofs and just see what happens!

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It’s been a busy week…

It’s been all go this week with appointments here and there for both girlies.

On Monday, Isla had to visit the hospital to have her hips checked. This was a routine appointment for any babies who were breech late into the pregnancy – she was only breach up to 36 weeks and then turned, but I was still referred. We were literally in and out of the hospital in less than 5 minutes, consultant checked her over, said all was fine. She barely woke up!

Tuesday’s appointment was a bit more traumatic – Isla’s first jabs. I was dreading it! In reality it wasn’t too bad, the poor thing did cry, which was awful, but she got over it fairly quickly with a compensatory bottle in the waiting room afterwards and was fine for the rest of the day – if anything she just slept lots.

Yesterday (Thursday) was Lilly’s 2 and a half year check-up with the Health Visitor. Our old HV has retired, so we met our new one for the first time. She seems fine, and mentioned that she once had three children under three, so at least she has had children of her own so might talk some sense (occasionally!). Again, all was fine, she just asked me whether Lilly could count, recognise colours, name body parts, walk up and down stairs, that kind of thing. Yes, yes yes, was the answer. Lilly also demonstrated her more “willful” side by having a lie on the floor tantrum at the prospect of being measured against the height chart. Cue me climbing on there myself giving a demonstration (fail), attempt at distraction technique (fail), promise of trip to the park (fail) followed by threat of confiscating crayons (success!!) I was starting to sweat a bit at this live demonstration of my parenting skills while HV sat and “observed”. Was SO glad when Lilly piped up with a butter-wouldn’t-melt “Sorry mummy, I won’t do it again” and took herself over to the height chart good as gold (aaaand relax…). After all that palaver I noticed this morning that HV didn’t even write the height into Lilly’s red book – seem to recall it was about 99cm but I wasn’t taking that much notice!

Aside from all our appointments, yesterday morning I took Lilly swimming.  It has been a long time since she went (probably our last holiday to Center Parcs, which was November, I think) and it was just so strange to be swimming with a little girl and not a baby! Wearing her new waterwings, Lilly was able to float in the water just holding onto my hands, instead of needing to be held in a cuddle or around her waist. It has made me think about how I begin teaching her to swim. I managed to encourage her to kick her legs but not sure where we go from there? Anyway, she really loved the pool experience and said she wanted to stay “for ever and ever”! It took a chocolate button bribe (the ultimate bribe which is only used in the most desperate of situations) to get her out!

I was also very proud of her because half way through the swim she said: “I need a wee wee. We get out and go to the toilet, and then we get back in”. So that is exactly what we did, and Lilly went on the “big” toilet without needing her seat adapter or anything. What a good girl!

I had also been thinking about taking Isla swimming. I was too scared to take Lilly on my own when she was a baby because I worried about all the logistics. But lately I had been thinking “what was I worried about, it can’t be that hard”. But having a quick glance around yesterday I realised why I had been reluctant. What do you do with the baby while you are getting dressed? How can you carry a baby and operate a locker, let alone put all your stuff in or out. There are only two “family” cubicles, the others are the size of a kitchen cupboard. If somebody’s using the family ones, where do you go? And, how do you get in and out of a pool on your own while carrying a baby? I continue to have a lot of respect for those mums and dads who do complete this amazing feat on their own week in week out – think I am still not quite brave enough and Isla’s first swim will have to wait for a few weeks until we are at Center Parcs again.

And, on the sleep front, Lilly has been a little better the last two nights. She has only had one or two small wakeups, although she has started getting up at about 5am, which isn’t too great. And, two nights out of the last three Isla has been asleep for the night by 8pm, which has given us a couple of more relaxing evenings to ourselves. Great!

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