Catching Up
I'm sure that you're not surprised there's not been much blogging in the last week or so. We've been very busy with the newest addition to our family - little baby Will. Or Baby Woo asd Jo and I continue to call him following Will's big brother's lead.
Last week was tough for all manner of reasons. Firstly there was the obvious addition to our family of a baby. He's pretty easygoing as babies go - sleeping much of the time - but we've had major angst on how to feed him. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth we've settled on a pragmatic rather than dogmatic approach and everyone seems much happier, especially little Will.
Then there are issues of how two toddlers will cope with the little interloper entering their lives. Patrick has been a complete star. His behaviou over the last week has been something to behold, he's fascinated by baby will but also seems to have grown up to fulfil the role of big brother. He's hardly been on the naughty step since Will arrived.
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The same can't be said for his sister. Kitty is rather jealous of Will and has taken to lots of attention seeking in a variety of forms. The most popular of these for her has been being as naughty as possible - after all being sent to the step is attention in her mind. Happily though she's growing increasingly fond of baby Will and today has been really helpful, rushing off to get the change mat, wipes and nappy sacks at there merest hint that Will might be getting a change soon.
The real star of the show has been my wifey though. It's been a rough few weeks for her and brining Will into the world was hardly straightforward. But she's been an amazingly brave girl who has constantly impressed me with her get up and go, whatever the situation. In fact her get up and go is the only problem, she had a c-section last week and I have to constantly stop her picking things up or doing way to much.
I should also mention Jo's parents for whome we couldn't have managed the last couple of weeks at all. If we were still living in Northolt I've no idea what we'd have done. But with the amazingly generous help of Jo's folks we've got through a rather stressful time.
How am I doing? Not bad actually. Getting more sleep than I thought I would and surprised how much I can remember about looking after newborn babies despite my memory of Patrick & Kitty's first few weeks being very hazy. What a contrast it has been to bring baby Will home to a loving and complete family, compared to the emotional catastrophe that was Patrick & Kitty's birth.
And what a contrast too in the wonderful care given to Jo, Will and myself by the brilliant staff at Dorset County Hospital. They really were amazing and brought into stalk contrast the murderously negligent care of Lanie at St John's in Chelsmford that left me a widowed father of newborn twins two years ago.
As I feed or change Will I often think gosh this is so much easier than I remember, forgetting that I was on my own with twins having just been widowed. Feeding a newborn alligator with greasy snakes would be easier than than March 2007.
This coming week brings new challenges. I'm official back at work - though I did some work last week, my colleagues that were supposed to be covering me didn't - but this week it's full steam ahead. Thankfully I work from home - which means I'm on instant call for any help Jo needs. The only real difference between this week and the last is that I'll in the study when called for help rather than on the sofa downstairs.
Will is a gorgeous little star. He's on the whole a very cheerful placid baby so far. He's already doing well holding his head up for a look around and joined me on the sofa this evening to watch Top Gear. He really doesn't like wet nappies and let's you know it - and he's also very good at telling you when he's hungry - again that's rather helpful. Despite the many stresses and strains that we've had over the last few weeks I think both Jo and I are getting more sleep than we ever expected at this point, but obviously not as much as we'd really like. So I've no idea why I'm still sat here waffling away.
So enough waffle, I need to get some sleep. Though having just done the late night feed I think that means I don't have to do the 3am-4am one (yay me!).
Before I go I want to say thanks to all of you who have sent cards and gifts. We will of course send proper thank you notes, but obviously we've our hands full right this second. You kind thoughts during this time have meant a lot to us.
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