Joseph at Chester Zoo on New year's Eve 2008 (aged 6 months)

Happy New Year everyone!

Since I last updated, my parents came to visit, and we said a tearful goodbye to my mum, who is working in New Zealand for a few months. She flew out to South Africa on Boxing Day and is currently staying with my brother in Cape Town. She'll then spend a few days in Sydney before making her way to NZ. It's a wonderful opportunity for her, and she will have a fabulous time, but we will miss her very much.

We've also had an enjoyable festive season with ups and downs. I managed to pick up a tummy bug, which laid me low for a few days, Adam had flu, and Joseph got his first tooth for Christmas, which made him a bit cranky and put him off his food. We're all fighting fit now though, with the exception of Adam, who always an ailment of some description.

Joseph was thoroughly spoilt on Christmas Day, and had a mountain of presents to open. Santa was also very kind to Adam and I. We are currently drowning in a sea of chocolate! We saved Christmas Dinner for Boxing Day, as Adam wasn't up to eating it. It was quite nice to do things like that as it meant that we could focus more on enjoying the festivities without stressing about the food. This year we had roast duck, potatoes, parsnips, carrots and sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts. Joseph had the same (without the chestnuts and pancetta), just blended up, and he loved it.

We also travelled back to Leicester for the weekend, and spent some time with my dad, and Adam's mum. We also took the opportunity to do some shopping, and I treated myself to some underwear now that I am no longer breastfeeding during the day!

New Year's Eve was a quiet affair. Joseph was in bed, and Adam and I played Singstar and watched a bit of TV. We toasted the New Year in and then went to bed, after settling Joseph who had been woken by the fireworks.

So, 2008 was about as life changing as it gets. We started the year having just moved into our new house and then spent the next few months trying to make it a bit more habitable. Mum took me on holiday to Tunisia in February, as I was shattered from working too hard, doing too much at home, and being pregnant! I started my maternity leave in May, and spent the first few weeks putting together flat pack furniture and madly organising things. I then twiddling my thumbs in the blistering heat for a few weeks. Finally, our amazing baby boy was born on the 20th June after a fortnight of contractions and 4 consecutive totally sleepless nights!

We spent the next couple of weeks getting used to our little bundle of joy. Then Adam contracted food poisoning and I found myself with 2 boys to look after. How did I find time to work? September was a hideously busy time for me as a new mum - Joseph and I started Rhythm Time and Baby Massage, and along with Buggyfit and baby clinic visits, there was little free time. October saw our first family holiday, which was a bit of a flop. The weather was awful, the accomodation dire, and the location dismal. Still, we got to spend some time together, and that was lovely. The rest of the year continued to fly by, and culminated in a wonderful festive season.

So, what does 2009 bring? Well, I'm back at work in February, and will be working once a week in January leading up to that. I'll be working 3 full days; Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and Joseph will be coming in to nursery with me. This means that I have every other day at home with the little guy, and it's never a big deal to go to work, as there's no long period off. I'll be starting my NVQ when I start back, and my aim is to be qualified and promoted to Senior Nursery Nurse before the year is out. This may sound optimistic, but is definitely acheivable. I want to focus a little more on my career before we hear the pitter patter of any more tiny feet.

We also intend to start living a healthier lifestyle. We both need to exercise more, and our diet leaves a lot to be desired at times. I also still have around a stone of baby weight to lose. I want to acheive this by Joseph's birthday, which gives me plenty of time to do it slowly and sensibly. I have started to come to terms with the fact that my body shape has changed, especially my tummy after the caesarean, but I am definitely still carrying extra weight. Finally, we'd also like to move house, but it won't be easy, especially in the current economic climate, but it's certainly something we'll be looking in to.

Joseph at 5 months old - 20th November 2008

Lots to update, yet again!
We didn't go swimming, as Joseph's cold got worse before it got better, and Elliot caught it too. We had several very interrupted nights, but thankfully the cold finally left after hanging around for over a fortnight.

Mum came to visit us for the weekend, which was lovely. Adam met up with a friend in Manchester for the day, while we went to the sensory centre, and then did a bit of shopping, and also took Joseph for a photo shoot. It was a "free" one with a complimentary print, but the other photos we so good that, of course, we ended up buying more. I have vouchers for several more free sessions with a complimentary print, but I'm not sure I'll use them again, as it's just too tempting and the photos are so expensive. Joseph loved the camera and seemed to really enjoy the shoot. I'm looking forward to collecting the photos on Friday. They're mostly presents though, so we won't be keeping many ourselves. I have looked into modelling for him, as I'm sure every new mother does, but it doesn't seem all that lucrative, and as I'm about to go back to work, it's probably a no-go.

We now have a highchair, but Joseph is struggling with it as he is so lazy! If he is sitting upright it is too much effort for him to swallow, so we have to recline it if we actually want him to eat his food.

Adam and I went to see The Feeling in concert last Monday and had a great time. Sally and Shaun babysat for us. We took Joseph to their house, bathed him, fed him and put him to bed. We then made sure he was fast asleep before we left. The gig was great and apparently Joseph was very well behaved while we were out and stayed asleep. He was a nightmare for us though! As he now is most nights. He really struggles to settle himself when he wakes in the night, so we're trying to leave him to settle himself before his daytime naps now to see if that helps. I'm also trying and failing to cut out his 10pm feed, as I'm not convinced he needs it.

I've done two full days at work now and Joseph has stayed at home with Adam. It's gone really well for me, I've settled back in as if I haven't been gone, and the days have gone really quickly. For the boys it's a different story, but I think things are improving! Unfortunately Joseph is a bit of a mummy's boy, so he's not impressed when I leave him for a long time. I went to the crop for a few hours at the weekend though, leaving him at home, and he was absolutely fine, so maybe we're turning a corner.

I know I say this a lot, but I really must try and keep on top of my updating!

Monday 3rd November 2008, 19 weeks & 3 days

So once again I find myself with a couple of weeks to update on. Joseph loves his food, and now eats 3 meals a day. I haven't yet given him anything he doesn't like or that doesn't agree with him, so it's all good.

Joseph and I travelled down to Leicester last week to visit a friend of mine and her little girl. They emigrated to Australia at the weekend, and we went to say goodbye. We then spent a few hours with my nan, before spending the night at mum and dad's. We also went shopping in Leicester, which is something I miss, although Manchester is better, not that I go there often either!

A couple of weeks ago we discovered JJ's Sensory Play Centre, which Joseph really enjoyed, so we went again last week. It was good to find a play centre that we can go to while he is still little. Soft play centres are quite easy to come across, but we wouldn't get much out of it while Joseph is still immobile.

Tomorrow I am hoping to take the little guy swimming for the first time, but he's full of cold, so we'll have to see how he is in the morning. He's got a really nasty cough, and it sounds like he's really suffering, although he doesn't seem to be too bothered by it. He's a little bit grumpy and clingy, but on the whole he's coping very well. I was expecting to be up all night with him last night, but he actually slept the best he's done for a long time, and we didn't have to get up to him at all.

We went in to nursery yesterday and it was lovely to catch up with all the girls. Joseph is starting to get used to the environment now, which is great. While I'm on maternity leave, I can use up to 10 keeping in touch days, which means I can go into work and get paid without losing my maternity allowance. I'd planned to use them as half days, with Adam using half days holidays to stay at home with Joseph. We planned them all out, and apart from the Christmas fortnight I'd be working at least one afternoon a week from next week up until me going back in February. But, unfortunately I've now found out that I can't use them as half days. Each time I work is classed as a day even if I only work an hour. So now I need to sort something else out. I'm so disappointed, as I was really looking forward to going back to work, and for Adam and Joseph to spend some time together. The biggest issue is that I'm still breastfeeding, so being away from Joseph for a full day is a bit of a logistical problem, although work are legally obliged to allow me time to express milk. I'm sure we'll sort something out.

This week's big news is that Joseph has now learnt to roll from his tummy to his back. He did it twice on Monday, but not again since!

Right, I seem to have a spare hour, so hopefully there's time to write an update!

So, last time I wrote, I had 2 weeks left at work before starting at a new nursery, and Adam had just passed his Phd.

Changing nurseries was definitely the right thing to do. I am much happier now and it feels more right. Two days after starting, I found out I was pregnant. Although this was horrendously bad timing, work have been really good about it all. We were trying, but everything happened a bit quicker than we anticipated! Generally I have been fine, no sickness, bar one week of nausea. But I have been totally knocked out by it. I'm so tired when I come home from work its unbelievable. Still, I'm 18 weeks now, and things seem to be improving a little. I've set up a separate blog for the full pregnancy ramble, which is here.

We finally moved into our house at the start of November. Upstairs was decorated and carpeted, and we had laminate flooring fitted downstairs. But due to my weakened state, we hadn't managed to decorate downstairs, which left us with a lot of bare plaster following the completion of the damp work. Dad came up for a couple of days to help us move stuff from the flat, which was a great help, as we were both only able to take an afternoon off to move.

We were overwhelmed by boxes, but managed to get things reasonably straight by dumping most things in the "spare" room. But, as we only have 2 bedrooms, we knew we needed to get things sorted sooner rather than later. At the start of December, a visit to my brother and sister-in-law yielded a plethora of baby stuff, which was fabulous, but resulted in yet more stuff being dumped in the spare room. Pictures of the house, 6 weeks after moving in are on Flickr.

So, we both took a whole week off work this week to try and get things sorted. And we're getting there. We've been to the tip twice (and I suspect there might be another visit tomorrow) and have Freecycled quite a lot too. The bedroom now looks pretty good, as does the kitchen (bar the bare plaster), and there's space to move in the nursery. The lounge now looks pretty bare, but we're avoiding putting too much in as we plan to decorate soon. Unfortunately we can't afford to buy the furniture that we want/need for the room just yet, but we know how we want to the room to look, and have planned lots of storage, so we're getting there. I don't have pictures yet, but I'll take some at the end of the weekend and get them posted ASAP.

We also managed to take a day off from house on Thursday as it was my birthday. We started with a trip to Ikea, before heading in to Manchester to spend some birthday money. Adam then took me out for a lovely meal at our favourite restaurant, which happens to be a mere two minutes walk from home.

Tigger is settling in to her new surroundings very well. She loves that we have stairs, and thinks it's great fun to trip you up on them. She goes outside now too, at every opportunity and is having a whale of a time. She's also more relaxed and affectionate now too, when she's inside, which is fab.

Right, time to sort some lunch, before I get cracking on the house again!
Back soon - I promise

Last week was quite a nice week at work, and I felt really bad to be leaving. This week is the week from hell and I'm so glad to be leaving!

Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry. I am a bad bad bad blogger! Hopefully, I'm now back, for the time being at least.

The house is coming along – the damp work is finally complete. The builder came and had a look around and thinks a loft conversion is a great idea, so we’ll probably be going with that in the New Year. We need to get up there and have a proper look around, but it’ll definitely be the master bedroom, and hopefully there’ll be room for an en suite shower room too. We had a brick pillar built in the living room this week to support the stair case as it was starting to sag. It looks really nice, but has taken quite a lot of space out of the room, which is a shame, but not unexpected. We’ve started to plan the layout of the room, and it’ll be lovely and cosy.

We need to get the floor leveled downstairs before we can lay the wooden floor, and decided last night that we’ll probably go for underfloor heating downstairs to free up a bit of space, so that’s the next job. We’re also in the process of arranging for someone to replace the floorboards upstairs, which will hopefully be within the next few weeks. Then it’s just a case of getting the carpets fitted and then we can move in! We’ll be giving all tradesmen a deadline of the middle of next month, meaning that we’ll have plenty of time to move in before the lease on the flat runs out on the 4th November. Then it’ll be time for Christmas!

I have a new job, which I start on the 8th October. I just wasn’t happy where I was – too many people just wander off all the time, and there’s not a lot of team work or communication, which was making things very awkward. I’ve never been able to see myself with the company long term anyway, as the it's just too big, with the focus on making money, not caring for the kids. My new job is working for a very small local chain – at the minute they have two nurseries and are opening a third in January, with plans for more in the future. I went for a look around before I applied and loved it. The facilities are amazing, and everything is very modern, and, more importantly, the focus seems to be on what’s best for the children. The uniform is much nicer too, which is a bonus! I applied, and went for my interview and got on very well. They understood all my problems with the current place and assured me that things are very different there. They will also support me fully with my training, and are keen to get me qualified quickly. I can really see myself progressing there.

I think that's all the news for now!

I'm probably going to regret starting this blog at 10.50pm, but never mind! I've just got home from a night out at Pizza Hut with the girls from work, and I don't really feel tired yet.

So, you probably want to know what's been going on in the 8 weeks since I last posted! :o We took a couple of week's break from house hunting, and arranged 7 viewings for the weekend that Adam moved to Bollington. 5 were new viewings, and we arranged to see the under-budget house, and the one with the spiral staircases again. Mum and dad came with us this time, and saw a few properties with us, including the two we had seen before. We saw some nice houses, and some not so nice houses, but at the end of the weekend, we decided that the most financially sound choice was the one that was considerably under-budget, and we had an offer accepted on the Sunday afternoon. We've seen nicer houses, but this will only be a short term home and it has the potential for us to improve and make some money. The others all needed too much work, or no work at all, meaning that we wouldn't make back any money that we spent on it. You can see some pictures of it here and pictures of the local area here. We're waiting for the results of a few reports, but hopefully it will be full steam ahead very soom.

Our flat went on the market about two weeks ago and there has been no interest yet, which is very disappointing, but fortunately, not our problem.

Work is going well for me. I am really enjoying it and learning so much. I am still working with the tiny babies which is really interesting as the children develop so much. Fortunately I have been able to arrange a transfer to another Leapfrog nursery near to the new house. They were happy to accept my manager's recommendation, and didn't ask for an interview. I have been for a look around (at my own request) and it seems like it will be nice. The nursery is smaller, the staff were very friendly, and it seemed quite quiet, which will be ideal for working on my NVQ.

Adam's job is also going well, and he is enjoying it, although he is finding living on his own to be a bit lonely at times. I did take Tigger to see him last weekend, but she kept trying to climb out of the windows, and in a second floor flat that was a bit of a worry, so I brought her home again!

Well, I think that brings us up to date (we did spend a lovely week in Cyprus on a family holiday, but that seems so long ago now!) and bed is calling. I hope to start posting again more often (I know you've heard it all before) now that things are beginning to calm down temporarily.

PS - thanks for you advice, bro - can anyone tell me how to save a database to my computer using 34sp? I know where to find it, I'm just not sure how to save it! TIA

PPS - just remembered the real reason I turned to computer on! The phone line is dead, but the internet works, so was going to see if I could report a fault on line....