I am happy to report that at five days old DS has regained his birth weight of 10lbs 1ozs !!!

I am so pleased as it took several months to get to grips with nursing my DD and we had many problems with thrush, cracked nipples, etc etc.

In contrast this time, we have no real problems, just one small milk blister (already burst and healing) and slight soreness of nipples whilst DS learns to latch properly.

Midwife expressed surprise that we had no idea when or how long I nursed for...I just go with the flow and if he asks I feed him.

And we had the standard 'he just using you as a dummy' with a tut. (Erm no he is using a breast for the intended purpose)

Anyhow just wanted to share my good news

My milk is in and oh boy I have giant cement filled breasts.

All I can say is thank goodness for nursing toddlers

Babychair has taken to insisting on walking upright down stairs rather than her usual bumping on her bottom method.

Worry, worry....Isn't she too small at 23 months to be walking downstairs.

She is growing up so fast.

I left Babychair for 2 minutes on her own in the living room whilst I cleaned the kitchen and in that time she managed to smear yogurt over both french windows in the living room.

I brought her a wet and dry cloth to clean up her mess and she was so delighted to be helping mummy (I had to smile). Sadly she was just making things far worse than they started, so when I thanked her for cleaning up and tried to encourage her to another activity so I could finish the cleaning properly, we had a major tandrum....sigh

I fell asleep on the sofa, for no more than a couple of minutes and woke up to....

...Babychair sitting ON the edge of the dining room table, feet on her small wooden table with an apple, which must of been taken from the far side of the table from the fruit bowl, shouting 'Mummy'

So in the two minutes I took my eyes off her, she climbed onto her little chair, onto the small table, onto the big table, crossed the big table and back to reach the fruit bowl !!!

I may never sleep again.

Breastfeeding still, Looking more and more likely that we'll be tandem nursing shortly.

Missing since Friday 4th April 2008

He's home !!!

Might not be for long but he is home at last, after being missing for 3 months

He is very clean, but sooo thin and in pain. He came straight up to me demanding cuddles and the kicker..he was found just 3 streets away. All the time I have spent looking and calling for him and he was practically around the corner .

The RSCPA picked him up and took him to the vets, who scanned him and rung us up this afternoon. Only cost us £15 so far and a referral to the RSCPA tomorrow for x-rays and properly an operation. We are going cap in hand to see what if anything the RSCPA can do to help us...fingers crossed.

62 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

DH has taken our oldest most beloved cat to the vets, at 18 years old with thyroid problems and a dodgy leg...he isn't coming back.

I just wish he could of had a nicer last day, he just slept in his upstairs basket and I took him food and water.

I was hopeing he could enjoy the sun, but no sun here today

I know we made the right decision but I miss him already and Tigs is going to be so upset when he notices him missing. They usually sleep curled around each other

So now we are down to six cats, we have recently lost Sandy (he escaped via the front door never to return)

But one cat can't replace another.

George would sleep on my head (pre child when we let him into our bedroom). He aways purred all the time and wanted so many cuddles. We adopted him as an older cat, abandoned in a multi story car park. He was terrified of traffic and didn't wander far from home (in our last house)

He enjoyed sleeping with Tigs and sleeping in the sun on the warm paving stones. He use to be 'top cat' and would inist on first dibs of sleeping and food arrangements. Even when he got older and gave up his role of 'top cat' he still kept his food and bed rights

Despite his bad legs, he still managed to climb to the top of the 8 foot cat tree and despite his bad ears, he still managed to hear the lid coming off the wet cat food.

He has had a lovely life with us and the rest of our cat herd, but the thyroid problem needed another operation and there was no way he would of survived it, so we took him home and loved him over the last few weeks and when he looked ill, we knew we had to take him in.

Not only is the potty back in favor, she is rejecting the toilet unless she requested the visit.

i.e. I use to be able to take her to the toilet with me and pop her on 'just in case' and a lot of the time she would do a courtsey wee but no longer. I f I try and put her on the toilet, she wiggles straight off into my arms.

On the plus side she loves using the potty on her own downstairs and though she signals 'Toilet' and says 'T' to me when she want the upstairs toilet for poos, the rest of the time she goes and fetches the potty places it where she wants, wees and brings me the full potty

Yesterday she had her baby doll using the toy potty, whilst she was on the big potty...awww, how sweet.

Strangely we are having far more wee misses outside the house, as she won't tell me she wants to go until the last moment and if I try and take her early she rejects the toilet..Argghh.

But this is a positive forward step because she is doing it all herself and with the exception of a bout of diahora last week (which had a small amount of sloppy poo in her night nappy. first dealing with poo in nearly a year !!!) all the poo still goes in the toilet. Which in itself is worth ECing for.

Babychair has prefered the big toilet for ages and has been flatly refusing to use the downstairs potty or travel potty.

Today for no particular reason, she has started using the downstairs potty. !!! We are having a lazy morning in the house and three times this morning (much more frequently than usual for wees) she has used the potty.on her own.

Each time she has walked to me and clearly signed 'Toilet' and then gone to the dining room to fetch the potty. Place it where she wants in the living room, sat on it backward twice and stood over it once and wee'd., wiped herself with the tissue I have provided and run off to play.

I feel this is a step forward in her toileting awareness, as she is not responding to my requests to 'if she needs the toilet' but taking full control of her own needs. The only thing she needs to learn now is pulling pants on and off in conjunction with using the potty. She can remove and put on her pants but prefers to signal for help from me, which is fine she is only 21 months old.

Nice to know if she is naked on the bottom half and near a potty she is independant...bless her.

Thinking of buying a toilet seat with steps for the big toilet, so she can use the toilet on her own at night...maybe, maybe not. Not sure if we are ready for a wandering toddler at night.

Thanks to my wonderful parents

My parents have been tidying up the garden with my limited (6.5 month pregnant) help and they have done a fantastic job. We have decided to move the cat poo hut (outside shelter with litter trays) to the bottom of the garden next to the biodiesel shed and fence off that section.

My father with my mothers help, has built 2/3 of the fence structure out of the spare wood we had hanging around and will be back next week to do some more (bless him)

I am planning on repainting the fence and wooden outside furniture with help from DH and/or parents and in the next month or so replace the patched cat fence netting with a stronger net but that might have to wait for a couple of paydays yet.

Hopefully once the above stuff have been done, we can actually relax a bit in the garden rather than keep running after Babychair who is trying to play/eat/spill unsuitable things and the cats get a third of the garden to themselves.

Long term planes include eventually moving the cat poo hut to around the back of the biodiesel shed and I hope to build some kind of cat friendly scratching post, sunbathing platform thing next to the shed. Maybe have a couple of raised beds for a few flowers/herbs. But we have plenty of stuff to do in the meantime

Babychair can not only put the right shoe on the right foot (bit hit and miss about this bit) but she can thread the cross strap under the first part of the buckle !!!

Wow, my little girl is learning so many new skills

Interesting.

Recently when Babychair signs her adapted BSL 'Toilet' sign, I ask if she wants to go.
She says 'No' and runs off to play, to have a miss shortly after.

I realised that she is not actually aware of signing 'Toilet' and that is her automatic subconscious reaction to needing a wee but she'll will say 'No' as she doesn't want to leave the fun things and go to the bathroom.

So now when she signals, I'll just scoop her up and say time for the toilet and just take her and get catch a wee every time. So we are back to completely dry days again, of course she is still clean.

I can not remember the last time we had to deal with a poo, they always go down the toilet, thank goodness.

I am amazed at the amount and variety in Babychair's vocab.

Recently she will parrot nearly any new word spoken or read out loud to her.

She has always understood most of what we talk to her about, but to date I had suspected a lot of the understanding was linked to context, our tone of voice and understanding the odd word.

Now she really responds aptly and promptly, even if the conversation wasn't aimed at her, to our great amusement.

She really is turning into a little chatterbox No wondering where she got that from.