New term chores list

Today is the first day of term with children for John and we are also back off to baby college today.  I have just been doing my Monday jobs.  I didn't really see do my chores thoroughly while it was the holidays, but started them again last week while John had a week of inset days.  I realised that there were some I forgot to do as I was no longer checking the list on the blog so decided to make a list that I could have out.  I sat down to do that this morning when I remembered the blackboard with days I had.  I also added on the other jobs that I have been wanting to do which I put down to specific days last week to help me get them done.

I am still enjoying this and finding it manageable and helpful.

Malteaser Fudge

Lizzie sent me this link after she had made some for me and it was right up my street.  I made it myself once at new year and am about to try it again!

That link no longer seems to work so either try this one on twitter or I'll put the basic details here.

300g chocolate, melted in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat for 10 seconds until melted.
Mix in 375g condensed milk and 350g of malteasers.
Put in a lined baking tin.
Set in the fridge then cut into pieces.

Great Gifts - for baby!

We have been so blessed to receive so many fantastic for our lovely baby.  We are very grateful for our little girl and it's meant we haven't really had to buy anything for her ourselves.  I am hesitant to start this list, as it will imply that some some gifts we received weren't as great as these ones, but that is not my intention at all.  Everything we received was so appreciated. I love the sentimental gifts like the blankets.  I love the practical gifts like the baby wipes.  This is more a list of gifts that were perhaps a surprise, or weren't things I would have thought to give before.  Therefore I want to record those before I forget in the hope that I will then remember them to give to others in the future. And I won't be able to make and give a beautiful Fair Isle blanket so that's why wonderful gifts like that haven't made it on to the list! It's also a list of things that I don't think would matter too much if you had too many of them or they could be easily passed on - so "Bonnie" lettering hasn't made it on, or Peter Rabbit milestone cards. Hopefully that's enough disclaimers to get on with the list - but is still not enough for me to post it on the other blog!!

Clothes - we have received so many items of clothing, that we have only bought her two newborn Bambi onesies so far.  I think and hope it may be quite a while before we have to buy her any clothes as lots of people were thoughtful enough to buy bigger sizes too.

• Bundler - not sure if that's their common name, but found it on a label.  We had never heard of them before but made nappy changes so much easier at night!
• Swimsuit - would never have thought of as a gift - a bigger size was a good idea.
• Sun hat - if baby is born at that time of year.  Used daily!

Books - I am keen for Bonnie to be a reader so am pleased to be starting early!

• Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes - made me well up on first reading!
• Milo's Black and White World - first book she took an interest in and read multiple times during her third month
• Where's Mr Owl - love the felt flaps.
• Goodnight stories for rebel girls

Gifts for parents - definitely something I am going to try to remember to do!

• Cake! - yum!
• Chocolate bars/Celebrations - so appreciated!
• Flapjacks for night feeds
• The New Mum's Notebook - love this notebook and it's advice.  Think it deserves it's own blog post!
• Nursing tops - worn everyday!

Miscellaneous

•  Bamboo MuslinZ muslins - noticeably stronger, softer and pleasanter than normal ones.

Expanding weekly chores

I started my weekly chores and wrote the blog post about them not knowing how I would get on. I am proud to say that I have been doing them for three weeks now and haven't missed a day.  It has also really helped me to relax in between times knowing that I will see to it on its designated day. Sometimes I might have done something a day ahead if I know I'm going to be busy that day, which is a nice feeling.  Bins I have found hard to do when I am at home during the day with Bonnie so sometimes I have done that on a different evening, but it is a good mental check for me on a Tuesday to see if they have been done or still need doing.  I have also noticed the slight stress over areas that aren't covered on the weekly schedule feeling I ought to be seeing to them.  So I am keen to expand the list to include some additional chores that I will hopefully get done on the designated day.  So here is the new list:

Daily
wash up
laundry
prepare tea
clear work top area (as clear surfaces are good for John's mental health)

Weekly
Monday - clear out/clean fridge and freezer, clean microwave, kitchen cupboard doors
Tuesday - bins (empty and wipe out), tweezers, oven
Wednesday - bathroom (at least sink and toilet.  include these on a rotation, probably in decreasing order of frequency: end of bath, shower unit, shower screen, floor, towel rail, shelving unit
Thursday - Bonnie's room, bedding/towels wash
Friday - hoover (ready for any visitors at the weekend!), wipe room doors, tidy up lounge, patio window area.

I feel really happy about this list.  I think it has pretty much everywhere covered now and the days seem do-able.  I also really like the mentality that I don't have to do everything for the day every week.  As long as some of it gets done and I do the most noticable and pressing bits for that day, then I will feel good.  For example today, Monday, I have looked through food in fridge, cleaned one door shelf, wiped entire front of fridge and freezer, cleaned microwave, wiped one cupboard door.

I found it interesting that I haven't put anything down for the weekends.  That did make me feel rather lazy this weekend, especially as John had a big sort of some places.  But I do think I want to try and keep weekends flexible.

Hope to come back with an update at some point.  It's three weeks till the summer holidays so I would definitely like to keep it up till then, but not sure what will happen after that. 

Musical - Hairspray

Well I wasn't expecting to be writing about a trip to the theatre so soon after having Bonnie!  John very kindly bought me a ticket to see Hairspray in Oxford as a treat for looking after our little girl.  This was rather sooner than I would have left Bonnie (nearly 3 months old), but John wanted me to have a good time so I thought I would do my best not to think too much about what might be going on at home and enjoy the show.

I defrosted some milk, having no idea whether Bonnie would drink from a bottle or cup.  I fed her at 6.30 and unusually she fell asleep so I popped her in her bed and set off.  It was funny dressing and thinking that I didn't need a nursing appropriate top and I had to find a handbag to take!  I cycled to the theatre which was the first time in a long time - and sadly my tires were rather flat.

I made it and got to my seat.  The balcony was closed and the circle probably only half full which I felt was rather a disappointment for such a fun show on a Friday night. The show was really good.  I was expecting to enjoy the show as I had seen it twice before and know the music well, but it pleased me more than I expected. There were quite a few songs that I had forgotten about and found myself singing along to (in my head).  I loved the colours, clothes, dance numbers and general spectacle.  You can't stop the beat is still a definite highlight.  I find the story line and politics most interesting, and although the character motives are highly undeveloped I guess that's not the point of a musical.

And amazingly I got home at 10.30 and our little one had slept the whole time!!  What a girl!

Weekly chores

I'm enjoying blogging on my new blog, but felt this was a post more suited to here than there. I have now given the new blog address to two people and I think from the stats that one of them has looked at it, but that could just have been me!

Anyway, back to the chores.  When John first went back to work, my aim for the day was a shower and to do the washing up.  I had a list of other things I would like to get done at some point but they were non-essential and could be done at any point if the situation arrived. I was also really lucky that my mum and in-laws were very keen to help out and do jobs when they visited.  Aren't I a lucky new mummy.  So I started a list of things that I used to do, but wasn't doing anymore.  It included things like cleaning the inside of the microwave. 

Now that I was 6 weeks into this new routine, I decided I could start a daily household chore and I lay in bed coming up with ideas.  So I wrote them down, stuck it on the fridge and I have now done a week of it and am feeling very pleased to have accomplished them all.  I am not giving myself a particular time to do it during the day, the hope is that just at some point time (or Bonnie) will allow me to do it.  So here's the list:

Daily
wash up
laundry
prepare tea

Weekly
Monday - clear out/clean fridge and freezer
Tuesday - bins (empty and wipe out)
Wednesday - bathroom
Thursday - Bonnie's room
Friday - hoover (ready for any visitors at the weekend!)

Now I don't have to clean the whole bathroom every Wednesday.  I just need to do a bit of it each week. So this week I did the toilet, sink, outside of shower screen and end of the bath.  Hopefully next week I will do some of those and the shower head or inside shower screen.  And obviously I don't only empty bins on Tuesday but I want to make sure I clean some of them on a Tuesday.

Last weekend I also redid the meal planner with two weeks worth of simple meals that I felt I'd be able to prepare, more or less anything without a recipe.  I did an online order and have managed to make some of them this week. Here's that list:

Monday - Vegi haggis, vegetable biriyani
Tuesday - CCC
Wednesday - jacket potato, laksa noodles
Thursday - meatballs and linguine, pancakes
Friday - sausage and mash, pasta bake
Saturday - salmon tikka, fish finger baguette
Sunday - veg lasagne, wraps

I did slightly more complicated ones (well, the lasagne) at the weekend, thinking we might be out and so I wouldn't have to make it that much, but if so would hopefully have more time!  I am keen to keep these meals for a while, but I know John tends to get bored of the same thing after a while.

I wonder how long I will keep all of this up?!

Parental Thoughts

Parental thoughts - written back in August 2017 and read again for the first time today.

With the possibility of being pregnant, I have been surprised how much I've been enjoying thinking about the future world of parenting. I've always found it a very terrifying thought before and still do really. The thought of being responsible for a whole human and how they turn out. What if I mess up? I think of the nice parents of the troublesome children at school - what if that happens to us? I know that really, I will mess up, lots. I've just got to hope it's not in too damaging a way. I also know that parenting is going to be hard and tiring and then tiring and tough some more. A few first time parents have spilled the beans and said no one ever really says how tough it is. We will struggle but I want to remember to invest in our marriage and keep that the most important thing and not to let the tiredness take over.

But enough of the depressing thoughts for now. With all these anticipatory thoughts I've been having, I thought I'd create a list of the plans I have.

Number one on the list though is, anything can change when you are in the position so don't judge and expect this whole list to get turned upside down when reality strikes, or maybe just when I've done a bit more research! When that happens, I hope this list will be a funny reminder of how naive I was!

2. I hope I will be happy about my child eating dirt. I remember watching M.W. putting stones in her mouth and her parents watching on quite contentedly. I'd rather not have to sterilise a spoon every time it drops on the floor.  I have buyed into the thought that we overly clean things so children don't build up immunity and that's why there are so many allergies etc now.
3. Laughing whenever baby gets a bump. I would love my child to brush off any knocks and scrapes without tears. C/o family B.
4. Fit the child around our life, not life around the child. Very easy to say but very hard in practice I imagine.
5. I'd like to be a laid back parent, and generally consider myself a carefree person, but given my anxiety around houses without stair gates, I'm not sure that will be me!
6. I don't want to buy any toys except maybe for birthdays. I'm sure they will be given plenty and probably don't need anything we don't have in the house anyway. As they grow I want to try and keep toys for birthdays and Christmas so that they really are a special treat. Books from charity shops will be ok though! S.L. and family M.
7. I don't want to spend a lot on baby equipment either in a keeping up with the Jones' way. I'd rather make do without or get second hand. I think family H are a good example there of not bowing to peer pressure.
8. A long term thing, but I'd love to do the character first monthly value scheme which I read about in a homeschool blog.

I am generally pretty worried of being clueless in handling a baby. I like to feel I know what I'm doing and can't really imagine going anywhere when I'm not sure how to manage. I want to be confident in getting baby and buggy in and out of car. I want to be confident breastfeeding in public. I want to be confident changing nappies. I can't at the moment imagine going by myself to a baby group but will really want to. I hope I can be brave.

Hehe - that was fun to read and I'm quite impressed with it really.  I think we are doing pretty well on the sort of parents we want to be so far.  I'll hopefully read again each year and see how things have changed and write a little comment.

2.  Well, she hasn't eaten dirt yet, but we have been laid back with cleanliness.  No one has had to wash their hands before touching her.
3. Ask in another year...
4. Feel we are doing that one really well at the moment.  Going to formal hall, flying to Orkney.  Loving that she isn't on a schedule at the moment so we don't have to fit around her.
5. So far I've surprised myself with how chilled I have been. My most anxious times are checking she is covered up from the sun.
6. We have been pretty good at not buying things so far.  I bought a personalised plate for the wall and two bambi items of clothing, but I think that's it so far.
7.  This one is quite incredible.  We have really bought so very very little for her.  So many friends have passed on the big things she needs and we have been gifted pretty much everything else.  We bought a sleeping bag suit thing which we don't use and lots of nappies, wipes and cotton wool, but I think everything else has been given to us.  So blessed.
8. Had forgotten about that one but a useful reminder.  

The final paragraph was special to read now.
I am generally pretty worried of being clueless in handling a baby. I like to feel I know what I'm doing and can't really imagine going anywhere when I'm not sure how to manage. I want to be confident in getting baby and buggy in and out of car. Check I want to be confident breastfeeding in public. Check I want to be confident changing nappies. Check I can't at the moment imagine going by myself to a baby group but will really want to. Check I hope I can be brave. Well done Mummy - I think you are :-)

Blogging updates

I've excitedly started my new blog for all the parenting posts: Blogging with baby.  I've copied over some of the posts from here and will continue on that blog for all baby things.  I'll still keep this one for musicals and other little things.

I've also backdated a post into August of my early pregnancy feelings.

Bonnie Anne - Two Months Old

John went back to work and it was time for me to go solo...  Mum was here for the first two days which helped with the transition. It's then been an up and down month.  Early on Bonnie seemed to have such pained wind that was pretty distressing.  That seemed better the following week and then Bonnie got her harness for developmental dysplasia of the hip.  At that time Bonnie's feeding seemed to become more problematic and we had a screamy baby for several days.  Then we settled back into a good routine for about a week, then came some unsettled nights with a tired mamma during the day. The month ended well with Bonnie's first trips away to Malvern and up to Orkney.

Highlights of the month

• seeing smiley happy girl.  She particularly seemed to smile at night which always brightened the bleary eyed mother.  In the last week she has smiled more and more and made me feel very special by seeming to smile particularly more at me
• when bathing our girl at the NOC during the first harness change, it felt so special to see how tiny she looked again with no clothes or harness.
• baby college lunches. Having braved the ridiculously named Baby College classes, I was rewarded by a lovely burger Monday lunch out with really nice other mums.
• royal wedding.  Very exciting to watch especially as it was in Malvern with a family party with bunting!
• Brasenose chapel and formal hall.  Far beyond my comfort zone, but we were invited and encouraged by kind people so we went with it and enjoyed it! It also encouraged me that we can do lots with Bonnie - just got to go for it and not worry!
• reusable nappies.  I did read beforehand that you can find yourself enjoying reusable nappies and surprisingly it's true! I have enjoyed talking to people about them and sharing the benefits and also find the joy in having them drying them on the balcony and folding them ready to use.
• trying out groups. Definitely a nervous endeavour but feel proud of all that I've been to.
• Being in Orkney.  A wonderfully restful holiday delighting in the tranquility of Orkney.  The weather was beautiful: clear skies, fresh breeze and even warm.  Special time with Aunty and an amazing time finding Happy Valley.

Tough bits of the month

• Bonnie's very pained cries after feeding and not being able to wind her.  The first week of the month was tough and a lot of time spent walking and patting her after each feed.  Pleased and surprised that that has died down and she seems to burp herself now.
• Finding out she needed a harness as her hips aren't correct. Quite a shocker at the NOC when we thought she was just having her turning in feet checked out.  The ultra-sound revealed her right hip socket was flat rather than round.  The physios were very efficient and put the pavlik harness on her explaining everything to us. It's really good that it was picked up early and should be corrected in such a non-invasive way which doesn't bother her at all.  But it still left me sobbing in the afternoon while cuddling her not wanting her to have to have anything wrong.  It definitely made me feel like a mummy.  And I was grateful for the reminder of just how precious she is and how fortunate we are to have her with us and so I gave extra tight cuddles.
• screams when trying to feed, not latching. It was a tough few days when the harness came as feeding seemed to go backwards and we weren't really getting there.  I asked John to get up the first night each time as I didn't feel strong enough to do it on my own and wanted the support.  Fortunately after a few days, feeding got back on track.
• back and shoulders and arms.  The first month I was concerned about my back aching when I was breastfeeding.  That's generally better now but still aches after I hold her for more than 10 minutes or so.  Now it is my shoulders that hurt more.  I have been breastfeeding her with my arm between her legs since she has had the harness and that has particularly seemed to trouble my left shoulder.  And has also moved down my arms sometimes.  I have tried one upper body post natal youtube yoga video, and I should try find time to do that more.
• In the last week I have started to feel more tired.  I had a couple of more disturbed nights with Bonnie and noted the after effects in the day and even managed my first afternoon snooze.   I had been feeling rather guilty at not feeling as tired as everyone suggested I should be!
• Baby acne.  You were covered in spots all over your face and chest as well.  It got to the stage that your cheeks seemed just one big roughness but now you are spot free and soft cheeked gorgeousness again.

Eating
After the trouble in the middle of the month Bonnie is so much stronger and knows what she is doing compared to month one.  Well done little one! Or not-so-little-one as you are growing so well with your eating.  She definitely seems very chunky now but I guess a lot of that could be from the harness.  Generally speaking you are feeding every three hours.  Sometimes it's more often but we have learnt that is often just snacking and doesn't reset the three hours!  It's usually one side but sometimes two, although the second side can result in a lot of sick up on the breast!  You don't feed for very long - 5-10 minutes.

Sleeping
Most nights are good nights I think.  You usually wake every 3 hours for feeding and then there is settling time.  The settling time has reduced which means my total awake time has gone from an hour, to 45 mins and now more often like 30 minutes and we even managed an 11 minute one this week! It has helped that you are not needing so much winding as at the beginning which tended to wake you up and then require lots of walking the carpet. Now sometimes I don't even get out of bed at all if the pram is right next to me. School nights we spend in the spare room to allow John to get some good sleep which seems to work. I have really enjoyed eating lots of snacks in the night feeds.  I feel now that I don't actually need them, so it is really best for me if I don't head into the kitchen at night!  A bad night would involve more frequent get ups than every three hours, and a girl who is awake after a feed or even so awake that we have a two hour wander/netflix time in the middle of the night (only a handful of those so far).  You still only go to sleep in our arms, or out and about in the pram or car.  The sling also works really well usually at getting you to sleep and we have had several meals with you in the sling snoozing while we drop food on your head! There is the odd indication where you might be making progress in falling asleep in your pram when awake; you've settled yourself when waking when we've put you down a couple of times.

Likes
Happy on the changing mat now.
Looking at ceiling lights whether they are on or off.
About 15 mins play mat time of looking at the hanging things and occasionally batting them.
white noise played by Alexa.  I'm slightly worried you will think your name is Alexa rather than Bonnie!  You even seem to settle now when Alexa says 'white noise to help your baby sleep, sleep through the night by baby white noise, from spotify'.
car journeys- you are even chilled awake now sometimes!
Being held out in front of you.
Just at the end of the month we had the first thing that seemed to create a smile in you.  Singing 'row row row your boat' with the verse that Aunty Helen taught us: 'if you hear a hissing sound it might be a snake, sssssssss'.  After the ssssss she smiled on at least 3 repeats!

Dislikes
Arms being put in clothes.
Lying down to go to sleep.

Changes (a new category for things that I can't seem to put in the other subheadings!)
You are liking licking the back of your right hand as a sort of comfort when you're fussy.  You are getting closer to putting fingers in your mouth.
You are just outgrowing size one nappies and finding size two roomier!  We still change at most feeds, though not quite as consistently anymore.
You're losing hair - like your daddy you're thinning on top!
So much more alert this month.  You will spend a long time looking at us. Special!

I realise the grammar in this is totally random with me sometimes referring to Bonnie in the third person and sometimes writing to you!

Packing with baby

Last weekend we had our first nights away with Bonnie.  It was quite a big undertaking loading everything in the car but there wasn't anything I felt like I had forgotten (unlike today where I didn't have the changing mat or purse at the hospital - fortunately I managed without). I made a list to help me remember everything to load, so I thought I might copy that here and add to it as I think of more.

• changing bag
• nappies, 
• wipes, 
• mat
• muslins
• bucket

• sling
• hippie

• Bonnie clothes 
• hats

• sun cream 
• calpol
• thermometer

• pram
• pram cover
• parasol
• spare matress covers
• blanket

It's OK

Writing about enjoying life with my Bonnie, made me realise how much I have appreciated hearing the struggles that others go through, so that I know when non-ideal things happen to me that 'It's OK'.  And being a list liker, here I will try to record them.  These are all things that we have heard from others, either since having Bonnie or from before but I've remembered, and we have found to be true. I feel if I was on twitter this is where I'd start #itsok.

• It's ok to drop food on your baby's head as you eat dinner while cuddling them or having them in a sling. I found a pea wedged in Bonnie's neck once when taking her out of the sling.
• It's ok to take night shifts if you're baby won't sleep in the night.  John and I did this for most of Bonnie's first week home from the hospital as she wouldn't sleep if we put her down.  This wouldn't have occurred to me as acceptable if I hadn't heard of others doing this for several months.
• It's ok for the husband to sleep in another room, or even another house.  Just because they are not up in the night as often, doesn't mean an uninterrupted night's sleep isn't incredibly important to them and ultimately to you. It isn't a bad reflection on your marriage.
• It's ok to love your baby so much but also have times that you would like to through them out of the window.  I haven't felt this yet, but I appreciate hearing others say this.
• It's ok to be out in public with baby sick on your clothes.
• It's ok to answer the door in your dressing gown, or even breastfeeding!
• It's ok not to be able to cook.  I couldn't even take salad out of a bag and put it on plates!
• It's ok to eat cake and biscuits in the middle of the night. A lot.
• It's ok for your baby to go to sleep in the same clothes they wore during the day. No one told us that one... we've just gone with it.
• It's ok for your baby to wear any assortment of clothing.
• It's ok to achieve nothing around the house and to have nothing to show for it at the end of the day except a baby who is alive.
• It's ok to go to a baby group and for your baby to sleep through it all.  It's good enough you're out the house and you might make some friends.
• It's ok for your baby to cry in public.
• It's ok not to know what you're doing and make it up as you go.
• It's ok to spend so long jiggling your baby that you don't know how to stay still.
• It's ok not to be on time for anything, best to give yourself an arrival window of an hour and any time within that is a success. (23/5/19)
•  
• It's ok not to shower.

Blogging with baby

I have had quite a few blog posts running through my head whilst out and about with Bonnie.  I like the thought of keeping a blog through this wonderful adventure of parenthood but realise that actually making the time to record may not be that easy, but I'll have a go making a start.

Bonnie is currently nearly 8 weeks old and I am trying hard to appreciate this time, as I feel I have got it very good at the moment.  Funnily enough, at that point Bonnie started screaming so I had to get up and come back to this a bit later! She is in a sling on my front and for now she is breathing heavily and is asleep.  So back to this being a good time and appreciating it.  I feel this is the time that I am going to be able to do most 'me' things as she sleeps for most of the day and is non mobile so when she is awake, I can still go to the toilet etc without her getting up to mischief!  I also feel we have a good girl who sleeps pretty consistently at night (whilst waking every 3 hours to feed), travels happily in the car, is feeding well at the moment and an usually can be settled to sleep quickly in the sling to give me hands free time.  Also, we have been encouraged to have Bonnie in the sling a lot to help her hip so that's a bonus.  Our baby isn't on a schedule so we can pick her up and travel about doing what we would normally do without too many considerations.  Way to go Bonnie!

I have been delighted with how much I have been enjoying life with our girl. The feeling of love for her is so immense and such a fantastically special feeling.  But I think you can still have that feeling, without enjoying this stage of life in the here and now.  I have been mulling it over and think my enjoyment is probably due to two reasons.

1. Bonnie is a good baby.  Lots of people have asked 'Is she a good baby?' and my answer is usually 'I don't really know because we don't have anything to compare her to, but I think so. We are going to keep her!' 
2. My expectations for this time were really low.  A new parent, a few years ago said:  'No one says just how hard it is'. That stuck with me and tallies with things others have said (most commonly 'sleep when baby sleeps') so I was really expecting to be beyond tired with a constantly crying baby and getting nothing done at all all day.  Also, all the messages I have had from recent parents since having Bonnie, have shared the tough things they have experienced too. With this in mind, I had low expectations so anything I have achieved has felt super exciting and worth congratulating myself for and left me feeling happy even though I might not really have done that much.
3. OK I thought of a third (Four Weddings Flashback) although it is pretty closes related to the second. I have allowed myself and given myself permission to take it easy.  I had a morning where Bonnie was being quite tetchy and wouldn't settled and we had not had a particularly good night.  I had been jiggling her around trying to get her asleep and also tidy the kitchen.  About midday, it occurred to me that maybe it was going to be one of those days and I should forget about going to rhyme time in the afternoon and instead call the day 'a cuddles and box set on the sofa day' and then I relaxed and we had a nice day together.  And I think Bonnie probably settled once I was more relaxed too.

Now the trouble with feeling happy and enjoying this time, is that I can't really say that to any other new mums.  I don't want to be the annoying mum who is so upbeat and appears to have everything together with the dream baby and so makes everyone else feel bad and hate them.  I don't think I really have it all together, it's just that thing that my expectations are lower.  And less selfishly, but more importantly, a big part of feeling good is knowing it's ok to have low expectations because others have or are experiencing the same things.  The encouragement and empathy have I received have really carried me through.  Whether it's texts from my friends reminiscing about their early parenthood days, or mothers at groups marveling that we are out the house, it has all helped me to feel good about where I am at.  At the lunch after the baby group on Monday, a mother with a 3 week old 'confessed' to leaving her baby crying while she showered.  We all sympathised and said its fantastic she showered at all.  She then said that it wasn't until speaking to us that she realised it was ok not to shower or have a baby crying.  It made me sad that she didn't have people telling her it was ok to be struggling to do stuff and so I'm keen to share as many of my struggles with others as possible!  There's another idea for a post!

So I shall try to commence a few little posts I have had in mind while Bonnie still sleeps in the sling, but to be honest, I shall probably just eat my lunch (which I made while jiggling around in the sling to get Bonnie to sleep) and watch ER!

Flowering Cactus

Six years ago I was giving a flowering cactus by a somewhat tricky boy in my class as a Christmas present. What a nice idea and it had lovely flowers.  It moved here when we married and I even repotted it at one point into a bigger pot.  It has spent some time on the balcony and got somewhat munched until I rescued it and brought it back in.

When we came back from the hospital, I wondered if my eyes decieved me, or were there some tiny tiny pink buds on the ends of the leaves??? After a few days I felt confident enough to ask John if he had noticed them.  And now, a month on, we actually have some flowers!!  And lots of buds! How exciting that it has finally flowered after 6 years.

Exceptional ER Episodes

While I was pregnant I finished watching all the seasons of ER.  When I was on maternity leave waiting for our baby to come, I decided to start from the beginning again and watched a few episodes.  Today I decided to carry on and watched Season 1, Episode 10, Blizzard.  It was one of those that makes me go wow and shake my head in admiration.  I love ER but sometimes an episode takes it to the next level and really stands out.  I decided to make a list of those episodes as I go through the 15 seasons again.

• Season 1 - Episode 10 - Blizzard

I love the larks the staff get up to at the beginning while there are no patients during the blizzard (Mark and Susan casting Carter, spinny chair basketball) and then the drama of the preparations for the arrival of the mass casualties.  And then the discovery of Dr Bob!


And when I have made it to the end of them all, I will try read this article and see how many of these were on my list: 10 episodes that will remind you why ER was the top drama of the '90s

Bonnie Anne - 1 Month Old

I have read baby milestone posts on blogs for quite a few years and decided it's time to have a go at doing one for my precious little girl, Bonnie Annie Grace.  She is now actually 5weeks and 5days but I will try to think back to her being a month old.  Fortunately Mum gave me some really cute Peter Rabbit milestone cards so I have the incentive to take photos every month so that should spur me on and remind me to record on here too.

  (I knitted this penguin when I was pregnant and it certainly turned out larger than I was expecting!  Hopefully useful though for size comparison photos over the months)

I am also recording in other ways too:

• I have a Peter Rabbit baby book for Bonnie for a keepsake. 
• I have written down my memories of birth and being in the hospital in a notebook. 
• I have been really enjoying jotting things down in the New Mum's Notebook I was gifted just before Bonnie was born. 
• Keeping a brief daily record of the things we do each day in a diary.

I described the first month like this to a friend yesterday:
Week 1 - living feed to feed on the three hour cycle, never really feeling we could look further ahead.
Week 2 - taking a deep breath and trying getting out and about a bit.  Each outing was a big deal.
Week 3 - feeling more confident that we can actually manage to get out.
Week 4 - yay - let's go on adventures and enjoy life as a family of three.
It has been so special that John has been around for the whole first month of Bonnie's life.  We have loved being all together and learning together.

Highlights of the month

• having baby girl on me for the first time. It was amazing after 35 hours of labour to have our baby lifted up to me and put on my chest.  Made all the labour and pregnancy worthwhile instantly.  It was a short while till we knew if she was a boy or a girl.
• every time I have looked at her and been amazed that she is ours and we get to keep her and feeling overwhelmed with love that I am brought to tears
• not having to cook for a month! Between gousto, very generous and super chef parents, and a two week meal rota from CCC life has been wonderfully cooking-free for me.
• choosing and sharing her name.  We narrowed it down from the short list of 27 girls names and on day 9 she was finally named.  And we are very happy with her name.
• having her sleep on me.  So lovely when she looks all snug and sleepy.
• watching the commonwealth games with her - perfect timing having 10 nights of entertainment just after she was born.  I became a big fan of the netball.
• feeling excitedly free when Bonnie slept in her pram for the first time.  As precious as it is to have her sleep on us and nice to know that's what makes her feel safe, it was great to have her asleep in the pram so John and I could do things at the same time, including sleep at the same time!
• being humbled by the number of cards and gifts sent to us.  Wow.
• watching our little girl lap up her milk from a cup - who knew that was a thing?!
• then feeling we were nailing this feeding malarkey! Woop woop goodbye pump and now feeding out and about.
• feeling confident enough to go on adventures as a family of three: Cotswolds walk, National Trust house, Crazy Bear farm shop.
• not having to take gaviscon any more - amazing realisation the first morning after she was born that I hadn't been up in the night and then clearing out all the bottles back home.  And enjoying chocolate again.
• midwives being amazed that Bonnie had put on 170g in 2 days
• learning things to do that sooth Bonnie and feeling we are beginning to know our baby girl.

Tough bits of the month
I think I'm a very positive person in life and that hasn't stopped since having Bonnie.  I feel we have been blessed with a wonderful baby.  We haven't got anything to compare her to, but hearing other people's stories, I'm pretty sure we have a good one and we are keeping her!  That said, I think it helps to realise how good you have it, if you also record the things that have maybe been struggles.  It also stops me being one of those really annoying mothers that everyone gives evils to at groups as they are sugar coating it all to appear a supermum! And also, hearing about things that have gone wrong or been hard for others has really helped me.  I think that might actually be part of the reason why I feel things are going so well: I have pretty low expectations and was really expecting it to be hard and had been told that tough is normal.  Anyway, here's a list:

• losing a litre and a half of blood
• being in pain and exhausted walking to Sainsbury's
• not knowing if we would ever be able to put Bonnie down
• struggling to feed our baby girl
• expressing into a syringe when really tired
• flinching as I turned on the breast pump
• trying to comfort our baby crying in pain and not being able to wind her

Eating
 First two weeks was mainly expressed breast milk whilst always offering her the breast.  I kept detailed notes of how long she breast fed, how much she drank from the cup, and how many ml I pumped.  By day 5 Bonnie had lost 11% of her birth weight so the midwives put us on a feeding plan and referred us to the infant feeding team at the JR.  We also went to a baby cafe and by two weeks she was back to birth weight and we were then able to reduce the amount of pumping until she was just breast feeding by the end of the month.

Sleeping
Interesting... by the end of the month she would sleep in her pram, but only after falling properly asleep on someone or if we were out for a walk.  She would wake every three hours for a feed in the night and I would usually be back asleep in an hour.  I did a lot of paces around the lounge.

Likes
Classic fm.
Being jiggled by daddy, including on the bouncy ball.
Bumpy terrain in the car or pram - the more pot holes the better.
Being snug in the sling - usually sends her straight to sleep.

Dislikes
Being on the changing mat.

Early days writing

One of the special things after having a baby was sharing the news with friends and family.  We were inundated with messages and although most people said 'no need to reply' I still wanted to be in touch at some point but just struggled to find the time to write.  I ended up writing a long generic story of the early days to share with those that expressed an interest - usually recent mums.  I thought I would record the message here:

Just found some time to message so here are a few updates on life so far since delivery.
Labour itself was ok - at least I’m not thinking too detaily about it now! 36 hours since start of contractions but alright. She weighed 3.23kg when born at 8am on Friday.
I lost 1.5 litres of blood after birth. A really horrible time for John as I was fairly out of it but we were really impressed with care at the hospital. Baby was fine which was so wonderful and I was on observation ward till sat morning. My heart rate remained high but came down to an acceptable level. Moved to regular post-delivery room Saturday. Fainted once on Saturday (when I was about to change my first nappy 😉) and so had an iron iv infusion. Came home Sunday afternoon with antibiotics and blood thinning injections.
Baby girl has been really good, just kept an eye on a little jaundice but that is going with more regular feeding. My state and her sleepy jaundice made breast feeding tricky but we are trying and it’s improving. John and I were both wonderfully impressed with the staff and the care we were given, felt thoroughly well looked after and reassured.
So that’s the medical side... otherwise we are all happy and loving life with her. Totally in love and so excited to have her here. Loads to learn, but excited to be trying and getting used to being tired! 
Grandparents and lizzie (first visitors) stopped by on Monday and looked after us well. Had a gentle day at home Tuesday and Wednesday.
Well thats the detailed update. Sorry if you got more than you bargained for!!

Thank you for your messages, love and support; it means heaps. Have you enjoyed your easter weekend? Hope you’re well. Love from us 3, xxxx


Having sent that to lots of people, a GP friend then asked more questions so I wrote some further details which I shared with a few other medical friends:

Thanks I. for your super message and also the note about not needing to reply soon! It is funny isn’t it how such lovely messages and replying becomes like a chore on the to do list. Sorry that my replying time is at night when she is sleeping on me in the sofa. Although miraculously she did do two one hour stints in her cot today so I’m going to try her there again shortly when I hope she’s sound asleep!
I love that you asked all the medical questions. I will try my best to answer them. Yes I think they think fainting was low haemoglobin. It was 129 at last antenatal check, 100 when checked after blood loss on Friday and then they found out on Saturday after I fainted that it was 79. On Friday I’d made it to the chair at the end of the bed and felt dizzy so didn’t venture further. I also felt dizzy the one time I sat up on side of bed. Doctor asked if I had a sore throat and I said oh yes a bit but I actually think that was more the after effects of all the entonox - loved that stuff! Dr then came back and said he’d checked my white cells and they were a little high so that’s when started me on antibiotics as they were looking for ways to get my heart rate down - think it peaked at 140 and was usually 114. But only once while I was in hospital was my temp slightly raised so my non-medical opinion was that I probably didn’t have an infection at all but was very happy that dr was being cautious and giving me them. Oh a funny thing to me, on Friday night I woke and was leaning over comforting baby in cot and thought my hand was a little sore and looked at canula and realised there was now something attached to it (the antiobiotics) that hadn’t been there when I went to sleep and also now had a pulse monitor on my finger - made me think I must have been so tired not to wake to any of those goings on! They talked on Friday about possibility of iron or blood transfusion and were monitoring to see if needed. After faint on sat they decided on ferinject with the possibility of blood transfusion later. Not sure what caused them to stop there and discharge me in the end, guess because I was no longer symptomatic? I had had some iron tablets at hospital which there was talk of me carrying on at home but in the end no, think because I’d then had ferinject? I’m medicating myself having a green smoothie a day though now at home! Hope that makes some sense - I may well have got a lot confused!!

John broke up for easter on Thursday. He went in in the morning and I called him home at 10am so he almost made it to the end of term. Wonderfully he now has two weeks Easter holiday and then gets to take his two weeks paternity leave so we will have a month together trying to figure this baby thing out!

Right, time to see if baby fancies continuing to sleep in her cot!

Love and thanks again xxx

Wittertainment Baby

Another Witter-fail:

Dear Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham,

As an LTL and MTECNYRO (many time emailer; correspondence not yet read out) I have a similar story to many wittertainees. I was inducted into the siblings' side-chapel of the church by my sister, Catherine, more than 10 years ago and since then we have played the all too common andrenaline-filled wittertainment game of 'will they/won't they read out my email'. Since joining the church, we have emailed about foolish long distance sporting events, far flung podcast-listening, wittertainment related real-life instances (WRRLIs) and even occasionally about films; so far with no success. On writing this email on Thursday evening Catherine has just headed off to hospital to give birth to her first child- a task for which she feels wildly underprepared as even reading the chapter titles of the childbirth book made her feel nauseous. Although hopefully the worst will be over when the show airs, in case it's not, her only 'birth plan' involved listening to the podcast so I know she would very much appreciate some encouraging words on how you give birth to a baby and how to be a parent from the only doctors she has faith in.

Love the show Steve

Lizzie from Bristol
MSc Global Health
BSc Occupational Therapy
Blue Peter Badge Holder

Baby is here!

Two weeks ago I was in labour and now I am propped up in bed with little Bonnie Anne Grace lying on my chest sleeping away.  She had been a bit fussy this morning so I tried feeding her (and was successful!) and then she fell asleep.  I popped her back to bed in the pram but she started fussing again so I brought her back to the spare bed and decided to relish in the time of her sleeping on me.  Happy days.

I have been watching the commonwealth games, but it is now the men's volleyball final between Australia and Canada which is not interesting me oh so much, so I am working through my list of jobs.

On Monday we went back to the hospital for an appointment with the infant feeding team.  While there we went back to the wards we had spent time on to drop off some cards and chocolates.  Having written the cards, I decided to photograph them and put them on here for a record. The care we received was phenomenal and we were keen to recognise it.

For the midwives on the Spires where we had our little girl:

For Dr Pedro who sewed me up after birth:

 For the midwives who looked after me on the observation ward:

 For the midwives who looked after us on the post-delivery ward:

And here is what I wrote on the online feedback:

Maternity Labour Ward

I had been unsure about using the Spires Unit, but am so pleased I did as I was so impressed with the staff the whole time who made it a great experience.  From ringing MAU during the early stages of labour, I was impressed with the care they took on the phone to listen to me and give me detailed advice.  At the Spires, our midwife Sandra, took the time to make us feel comfortable and gave us reassurance when needed and gave us time to ourselves when needed.  Immediately after the birth, I lost a lot of blood, but throughout that traumatic time, the staff (there were somehow suddenly about 5 of them in the room) remained calm and professional and explained what was happening to me.  I was taken quickly and calmly down to Level 2 to be stitched up, where I continued to receive excellent care. There seemed to be so many people in the room, but everyone communicated calmly and efficiently with each other and talked to me when needed.  Dr Pedro sewed me up and I was ever so impressed with his bedside manner throughout. 

Maternity Postnatal Ward 

Having given birth on the Spires, I was brought down to Level 2 for stitches and then spent 24 hours on the Observation Ward on Level 2.  Ceri was the midwifery student who helped look after us immediately after being stitched.  It was wonderful that she took the time to be with us and reassure us and helped us with our first breast feeding attempt.  We loved her demeanour and presence in the room with us.  It felt a very special time. In the observation ward we were looked after by midwife Chloe.  We were impressed and felt confident in her medical care, but it was her personal care and friendly nature which meant the world to us.  She took the time to be with us and was always smiley and calm which really helped us during this overwhelming time.   We were also grateful for the visits of Dr Pedro to explain my continuing care.

Maternity Postnatal Community  

I have been fortunate not to have to use the NHS very much and I had no idea of the postnatal community midwife service available till I gave birth to my daughter on 30th March.  I was amazed and delighted by the high number of visits and the phone calls I received during these two weeks.  Most of the midwives were so warm and encouraging and it was a wonderful experience to have them visit our home.  Being a new parent, everything seemed turned upside down and was so new with lots to get used to, that I really valued the midwives' visits as something to aim towards each day and to live off their encouragement.  I was particularly impressed with Alice who visited and called more than once, and also with Miriam who visited and with the students who came.  I was very impressed that there was a session in Florence Park on a Sunday where we were able to go to be discharged. 

I was very grateful to have the support with breast feeding my baby.  It was not a straight forward start and Miriam and Alice really encouraged me through this time.  I was very grateful to be provided with the breast pump and shown how to use it.  I was well prepared by Alice for my daughter to have lost more than 10% of her birth weight by day 5 and the feeding plan was already in place.  There were occasional differences in advice over feeding technique but generally the advice was the same.  I was really pleased with the referral to the Infant Feeding Team at the JR which was very useful to go to.

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Reading Recommendations

Last week at parents evening, I was asked by one parent if I was the Harry Potter fan.  It turned out he was pleased how addicted his daughter now was to reading HP and was wondering if I could suggest something she should read next.  He mentioned Alan Garner so I was pleased to be able to say my Alderley Edge connection to them, although I didn't actually enjoy reading them as a child.  I said I would have a think and make a list of recommendations which I did yesterday.  I decided to photograph the HP postcards I had written and record on here in case it's useful in the future:

Pre-baby maternity leave schedule

This post has pretty much become redundant before I have even written it.  Now that I have settled into maternity I have found that having things to do during the day has made me feel better.  John was also surprised how little I could manage to do during a day.  I then came up with a little mental schedule for myself which I was going to write down and decided to blog it instead.  It has now got to the stage where Wednesday is going to be my last empty maternity leave pre-baby day as John then breaks up for Easter on (Maundy) Thursday.  I feel I will still record what my plan was anyway and hopefully fill in a few things that I have been up to over the last two weeks.

9am wake up.  breakfast. shower. read.
10am do a job from my jobs list.
11am go for a walk.
12-2pm lunch, watch, knit.
2pm read how to have a baby
3pm do a job from my jobs list
4pm fun time
5pm bake or make dinner

Today (Monday) I had two nice phone calls of about an hour.  I also braved going to the cinema showing in the community centre.  I almost chickened out several times but made it in eventually to watch Victoria and Abdul.  Not a great film but passed the time and allowed for some eyes closed time!  It was also the first day after the clocks went forward and there was a definite feel of Spring coming.  I walked to Sainsbury's then the post office and then had lunch on a park bench!

Friday Had a walk to the river in the morning.  Then quite a lazy time - should have had my schedule in place!

Thursday After a lazy start went in to local shopping centre and got my haircut.  Had a nice jacket potato lunch at a cafe there.  Then went to hang out with a friend and her two children at her house. Made scones.

Wednesday Let the plumber in to fix the kitchen tap at 8.15am - what an early start.  Then drove to Newbury to pick up a parcel.  Lunch at Costa near school then on to school for Parents Eve.

Tuesday Made a carrot and apple cake. Parents Eve at school in the afternoon.  Big event!

Monday Got the bus into town to do a few shopping jobs and had lunch at the Nose Bag.  Came home very tired.

Friday GP appointment in the morning. Made muffins. Lunch date and nature walk with friend and son.

Wednesday and Thursday. Went to Malvern. Had brunch with family.

Cleaning my iron

I have a few posts planned but I am jumping in with this one as I am so delighted with the results and want to make sure I record it!  I had burnt a clothes label onto my iron whilst trying to mend my pregnancy trousers earlier in the week. I watched a couple of videos on youtube and thought the comments on this one and the fact that it actually demonstrated it in the video, meant that it was worth a try. I'm so pleased I did as it worked perfectly like magic and will be telling any friends and family that will listen.

Pregnancy Feelings

I feel I want to do a post to cover some of the feelings I have had during pregnancy - before it is over!  I will be 39 weeks pregnant tomorrow.  For a few weeks early on I wrote down the feelings I had had that week, but that didn't last long and I had stopped before 12 weeks.

My main thoughts around pregnancy are that I have not enjoyed it, but I also know that I have had a very straight forward pregnancy with no complications or worries and that I should be very grateful for.  The parts I have suffered are annoying but only really physically, not psychologically.  I started feeling nauseous around 6 weeks and fairly soon it became a whole day feeling and I was being sick roughly every other day, at all different times and with varying severities.  Once we had told people we were expecting a baby, recently pregnant friends encouraged me that their nausea stopped around 16 weeks and overnight they felt normal again and enjoyed that stage of their pregnancy.  I was disappointed that that hadn't occurred for me spot on 12 weeks but was hopeful.  I also found the tiredness really surprising.  It was strange for me to come home from school and just sit on the sofa, not even reading or watching anything or checking blogs on the internet.  I couldn't face cooking or washing up (made me sick) and it wasn't unusual to be in bed between 7 and 8pm. I also found that I had to change my morning routine, as it became essential that I ate something immediately on waking otherwise I would be sick.  So I became the one to have breakfast first while John showered.  I also started keeping crackers on my beside table and would carry them or ginger nuts or crisps with me everywhere I went as eating something was the only thing that seemed to keep the sick feeling at bay.  I did find it very strange that I went off sweet food - I'm normally such a chocoholic!  All the chocolate we had been given at the end of term just stayed in the cupboard! 

I didn't find it as bad being at school as I had expected.  I definitely taught sitting down more than I had the year before and was eternally grateful I was in Year 2 rather than Year 1 where they could do more for themselves and weren't crowding round me as often so I could help my self to a biscuit or such from my desk!  I was only actually physically sick twice at school, both at lunch time and no one was around.

At the October half term, I started to go for minutes upto almost an hour in a morning without feeling sick which was pretty exciting.  Then the first day back at school after half term, 30th October, I was gingerly telling people that I no longer felt sick and I even went to Rose Hill runners that night. But then afterwards while I was having dinner I started to feel not so great and then was throwing up through the night with a sickness bug I'd caught over the weekend.  I even got a carpet burn on my ankle while dragging myself across the floor to the bathroom. I stayed home from school for two days. It felt most ironic that I had had one day of feeling ok before succumbing to a non-pregnancy related illness!  After that, I never felt as well again, always feeling some sort of sickness/nausea.  I wasn't being sick as often although whenever I said to someone that actually throwing up seemed to have stopped, I would then be sick that night!

At the end of November we bumped into some friends in Edinburgh Airport.  He asked if I'd started the heartburn phase of pregnancy yet to which I replied no, but then I started researching heartburn and realised that that might well be what the sickness feeling I had now was.  It wasn't something I'd ever had before and I realised it fitted my symptoms as no longer being nauseous throughout the whole day.  I checked up at the GP appointment who gave me a Gaviscon prescription and from Christmas that became my new best friend.  I have been taking it every night before bed and increasingly more often during the night when I wake up feeling very close to being sick.  A few times I haven't taken it quick enough and have been sick in the night.  The last time it happened it was about 37 weeks and it was far more uncomfortable hunched over the toilet with a big bump than it was back in the early months.  I tried to modify my diet in some ways to help with the heartburn but there didn't always seem to be much correlation.  I would try only to eat sweet things early in the day and would not eat anything after dinner at about 7pm.  It's probably been very good for my overall health that for so much of my pregnancy I have been limited on my eating through sickness or heartburn.  Still alarming though that I am 10kg heavier than pre-pregnancy and I lost at least 5kg early on in the sickness stage.


A few things that have been slightly pleasanter surprises during pregnancy. 

• It took a lot longer for me to show a bump than I was expecting. You still wouldn't really have known I was pregnant at 20 weeks and I didn't start on maternity clothes till around Christmas.  You would definitely know now and the bump has changed so much in position in the last month or so. 
• I haven't increased my toilet going as much as I was expecting.  I started going once in the night from the very beginning but not very frequently during the day.
• I don't feel that my emotions have been really any different.  I thought I might be very up and down.  On the day I finished school for maternity leave, I came home to a beautifully written card from John and I broke down crying and sobbing then.  I think his kind words made me realise what I had achieved in getting to this point.
• Sleeping hasn't really been too bad, in that I can still sleep.  I've often felt pretty annoyed with nausea/heatburn when lying down in bed each night, but it hasn't really taken me any longer to fall asleep.  I have really missed lying on my back from 30 weeks and resented being on my side.  And obviously being sick in the night or getting up to take gaviscon 3 or 4 times is a pain, but I've always been able to get back to sleep.

Well, I think those were all the things I'd thought that I wanted a record of.  I'm now 39w3d and still no baby!

New Life in 2018 - Catherine's Christmas Message 2017

John got me one of the most unusual and special Christmas Gifts last year which still makes me well up, as I did the first time I heard it.  I mentioned back on the Return from Travel post that I had really enjoyed listening to Dave Henson's Leicester City Champions Song. Well, I continued to be obsessed by it and on one overnight coach journey in South America, I listened to it continuously through the night in my headphones until I had learnt all the words including the rap.  So for Christmas last year John contacted Dave and we were absolutely blown away by what he created.  Such a special song that really brought it home to me for the first time that a baby was on the way and we would be parents.  I am not sure I will be able to write my hopes and dreams down for our baby in the elegant way I see on blogs, but I feel this song sums it all up.

Now to find a way to get the audio on the blog. 

Waiting

It's been a long time since I have written.  I have mentally started a few blog posts and had it on various to do lists, but never got around to it.  There is really no excuse now as I am on maternity leave and am busy doing nothing!  So I have started writing this afternoon without any great agenda and I will see where I get.

This is day 3 of maternity leave.  I have been really surprised how tired I have been these three days.  I have a bunged up nose which I am blaming slightly for slowing me down.  I also believe in the situation that when you stop, that's when tiredness hits.  When you have to keep going, you have the energy for it and don't have time to realise you're tired.  Lots of people told me to make sure I rest in this time.  I was a little apprehensive about that as during half-term and snow days, being at home resting just made me realise how sick and heartburn-y I felt whereas being at school I was better distracted.  I have definitely been feeling heartburn-y but not as destructively as I feared.  John gave me a book to read on mat leave, and a lovely card that made me cry lots when I got home from school on Friday.  I started reading the book on Monday morning in bed and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I kept stopping during the day on Monday to sit on the sofa to read it for great chunks and by the end of the day had read 3/4 of it and finished it on Tuesday morning in bed.  Also on Monday morning I did a little sorting in the spare room and then took the bus into town, something I had been planning and looking forward to.  I went to the central library to see what had changed since the new shopping centre (not a lot that I could see!) and enjoyed reading in there for an hour.  Then I browsed the covered market and had a late lunch at Georgina's.  Tuesday I had a lazy morning and then picked up Mamma from the station.  We drove to Aston Pottery where we had a good lunch in the nice cafe and browsed the large shop.  We also drove on to Bampton to see the Downton sights.  Back at the flat we sorted through all the generous gifts I had been given at school, then I was exhausted!  Today has been mainly lazy again.  I drove Mum to the station then sorted through my hospital bag and then have been watching lots of episodes of friends while knitting. I am off to Malvern this evening to see family.

I had a nice end to teaching at school.  At the end of half term holiday, I was thinking that three more weeks sounded quite a lot of teaching.  So I was very pleasantly surprised that when I came back on the Monday morning, I discovered that my replacement was starting that day for a three week handover.  She was really nice and a great extra pair of hands to have in the classroom.  The first week she was mainly observing, then the second week started some teaching and then by the third week was doing most of the teaching.  She asked all the right questions and I felt confident handing my class over to her.  The final week was a little crazy with me covering another class for a few half days, but it was still nice.  Then I felt Friday was a lovely final day for me, and hopefully the class.  I had made some cakes the night before to take in for the staffroom.  I managed to do quite a bit of the final classroom sorting I had on my list of things to do before school. The day started with assembly and then I TA'd during English and also ran some errands.  After break in fruit time, I just about finished HP and the Philospher's Stone.  Then it was Big Write where all the class worked very hard which was lovely to see.  Lunch was nice and relaxed and also a few more jobs in classroom.  After lunch I had put up 'celebration' on the visual timetable.  That consisted of me opening the very generous gifts that many of the class had brought in which they were all excited by.  Then I read the final page of HP and then they loaded up their bags with home things.  We then went to the hall to do the Harry Potter Cosmic Yoga which they seemed to enjoy.  I carried on Cosmic Yoga during Golden Time then for the 15 mins before hometime, I gave the class a pep talk on carrying on being great and also gave them each a sherbet lemon and an Easter Lollipop.  I was just sitting down again after seeing the class out when head of KS1 and my pregnant buddy came to ask me to go to the spare classroom.  During the day lots of people had been asking how I was doing and I has always answered that I was fine and it wouldn't hit till at least Monday.  But walking into the spare classroom I was quite overwhelmed that they had set it up with pink and blue bunting and there was a whole spread of cakes and food and a room full of people. I made a short speech and mingled.    Then it was time to finished up in the classroom and make my departure.  I am planning on going back for Parent's Evening next week so I know I am not gone for good and have also promised my class that I will bring the baby in after Easter although they aren't impressed that I haven't given them an exact date!

Well I feel it is time to get off the sofa and to a little more sorting, just a little.  Hopefully I will be able to do another update before baby makes an arrival.

Musicals - Woman in White and Phantom of the Opera

This was a very exciting day living the theatre-goers dream: I went to a matinee and then an evening musical!  I was keen to get in some musical time before baby makes an appearance.  I felt I wanted to see Phantom again in case it should close before I can easily head to the theatre again.  I was also interested that the Woman in White was having its first (limited run) revival since its debut in 2004.  I realised I could maybe do them as a double and asked Mum if she wanted to join me for either and was delighted that she said yes to both!

The Woman in White

I went for this for the matinee mainly because the reviews weren't as strong and I felt it would be better to end the day with Phantom on a high. Although this was the final day of the 12 week run for Woman in White so the evening might have been special as the final performance. I had read the novel since the show first was done and loved the book.  I couldn't actually remember much of the story line by now, I just remembered the feeling of racing through the book and being desperate for my next opportunity to read it.  I did a bit of research on the musical and the revival and learnt that it was now in a much more intimate theatre and the critics said that was a great improvement for the show.

 At the Charing Cross Theatre which was small but very pleasant and comfy seats (I may even have closed my eyes at points!) and leg room.

I enjoyed it although not as much as the book.  There weren't really any memorable songs and it was one of Andrew Lloyd Weber's operatic sort of musicals, quite like Phantom in many ways.  There was a comical number for the Count in the second half which was fun and stood out as different and a break from the rest of the show.  The staging with the train tunnel and the smoky fog was very good.

Phantom of the Opera

After a Garfunkel's tea it was on to Her Majesty's Theatre.  We were in the third tier and there was still a balcony above us.  We were pretty level with the chandelier which was exciting.  The contrast in the two theatres that day was great: one small, comfy and intimate; the second wonderfully grand and full of an audience speaking many different languages seem quite appropriate for the French Opera House. 

I had seen Phantom twice before, once probably as a young teen, and then with a friend in our gap year.  Mum remembered seeing it early when it came out (1986) and has now found the programmes of when she went.

The opening scenes and music lived up to the hype I had given them and Mum and I clutched hands excitedly.  I do find the whole fact of the chandelier magnificent.  I had read the book at Christmas so was slightly more aware and interested in how they did the story line.  I think I prefer the story in the musical perhaps.  There are lots of good and memorable and especially rousing songs in Phantom which I really like and I am always a fan of grand staging so it was right up my street there.  I seem to remember thinking the second time I saw it, how surprised and impressed I was by the illusions in it.  That only really happened at the end this time, probably because I was looking out for it more. Interestingly, the more I have thought about Phantom since going, the more creeped out I have been by the show.  I don't think I will be going to see it again, but very pleased I went again while I still could to satisfy my curiosity and memory.