TITIANMACS BABY DIARY

[titianmac]

I'm back!
Thanks for all your support and well wishes regarding the upcoming arrival of myself and Andrews little babe...
Due to popular demand here it is-

TITIANMACS BABY DIARY!

The story so far....

3 years ago i finally met the man i was destined for. Andrew and I married last November on the 12th and dispite everything thrown at us we had the best day ever and are living happy ever after



We did things slightly back to front on the family front- on August 16th 2003 we had our first child, Emily


She proved star attraction at the wedding and we couldnt imagine the day without her




We decided to try for our second child after much uumming and aarghing and used the wedding as an excuse to try- good old honeymoon baby stuff. We managed it much to our joy and horror rather swiftly and expect no2 on September 13th- thats just over 5 weeks from now. Life as ever is chaos as you'll soon find out

This is us now...


and this is Emily now...



And this is our world.........

[titianmac]

Titianmacs baby diary
Saturday 6th August 2005

What a momentous day in little Emily's world, she spent her first night in her new bedroom. It was amusing to say the least- we've spent weeks getting it ready, the transformation from spare junk room to trendy toddler pad is ace but has taken some work I can tell you. As with everywhere in this house there's no such thing as a quick lick of paint and tada its done- oh no, its stripping 3+ layers of paper etc, replastering chunks of wall, new skirting board and door frames, fresh floorboards, new wiring and extra sockets, fresh light fittings etc THEN we get to paint, varnish and carpet before adding furniture which also typically all nedds to be built! Saying all that though she adores it. There's been no problem getting her in there, in fact she nodded off in there the other night and managed 3 hours before rolling out of bed and being transfered back to her cot in the nursery. We'd have left her but for the fact the blind wasnt up and the sun blasts into the room at a rediculous hour way earlier than im ready to be getting up anyway!
Well, today we officially tucked her in and shut the door- blinds up, furniture built all ready to go at last.
The ceiling is painted sky blue with a sunshine around the pendant and clouds fluffing about and at night theres a glow in the dark moon and stars. Sadly and typically Emily was so full of beans that eventually she nodded off in the car while out for an adventure with Andrew and was transfered to bed sleepily missing it all.
So, did she stay in bed? Yes actually- well sort of- she didnt try to escape but equally didnt stay still!
9pm Bed
11:46 CLONK! Still asleep but on the floor. Popped her back in bed and decided to put the sofa cushions next to her bed. Its not far to fall and she stays asleep but it seemed only polite!
12:30am We go to bed and check on Emily. Shes asleep on the cushions. Put her back in bed again.
4:05am Get up to pee. Quite amazed that i've managed 3 1/2 hour sleep as its mad at the moment. Check on Emily. No sign in the bed or on the cushions. Puzzled. Know she couldnt get out the room but cant see her. Cant see much actually, its quite dark with the blackout blind (result!) Put on the landing light and find Emily the other side of the room curled up next to the drawer unit still snoring! No sign of any toys or books moved so assume she's just been on a mad rolling mission! Put her back in bed, again.
5:30am Andrew up to go to work. Pee again. Check on Emily. She's asleep on the cushions. Starting to see a trend but she's still snoring so its not all bad



Sunday 7th August

9am
Wake up to a little voice singing twinkle twinkle little star stood at the doorway of her "big girls room" pointing gleefully at the ceiling. I just wish she could see it at night when it was glowing not just painted.
All in all quite a sucessful night. Slight problem with sofa though- emily has obviously rolled onto the cushions again as theres a little damp patch. Shes had a leeky nappy because it was super saturated beyond belief. That is the down side of 12 hours sleep but hey- i can live with that.... after all we have 2 sofa's

[titianmac]

Titianmacs baby diary
Tuesday 9th August


9:45pm
Me and my big mouth... "12 hours blah blah blah" well- thats the last sleep we saw! Emily has turned into a sleepless monster who is desperate for chocolate, will do nothing i say, generally believes shes 2 already and is running me to the end of my tether!!!!! Im sooooooo tired.

Last night Emily eventually gave up the fight and settled in bed (for Andrew) at just gone 11pm. We're having a tough time at the moment as so much is going on and im sure she can sense the general tension in the air which doesnt help. Shes ot of bed desperately crying at her safety gate to come downstairs. Let her and she scrambles up the stairs begging for her cot. Repeat this process until you think you're losing your mind and your somewhere near my world. I think she may be teething so am trying to cut her a break at times but i'm not a mum who stands for sh*t from a toddler despite what Andrew will tell you. Shes all sweetness for everyone and runs me ragged. I love her dearly and know its just life but this pregnancy is getting me down right about now and i could just curl up and stay there forever. One thing im terrible for is comfort eatting and its something im fighting hard at the mo. I'm determined to get into shape after this baby and i know that shuving crap into my body during the last 5 weeks of pregnancy really isnt going to help anything. Personally i think ive been fantastic for the last 35 weeks with regards to being unstable and hormonal but right now that is quite simply boll*cks- i cant wait till im just a moody cow instead of a pregnantly moody cow and everyone around is starting to agree! Its not that i dont appreciate everyone and everything but its all so blurgh right now- you know???!!!
On the bright side i finally had a golden and long awaited phone call this morning saying Emily finally has a start at nursery- YEAHHH!!!!
Of all the days she starts next Tuesday which is her 2nd birthday. She's in 9:30 till 12:30 each Tuesday for a few weeks then come september goes fulltime for her which is 3 sessions a week. Its well overdue as she really is so smart and sociable as say all- not just a bragging mum... she needs this and so do I. They did want to put her off again till september and i BEGGED them to take her now because we want her settled before baby is due. She was originally set to start in june and we've had delay after delay- basically the childs place she was taking was becoming free because her family were moving out of town. As most of us know completion of mortgage housey stuff takes the mickey and several months later thats exactly how this panned out. She finally left last week and now all the staff are on holiday for summer so they avoid an august intake. I think the poor woman heard the hysteria in my voice... but then it is hard to miss right about now!

[titianmac]

Titianmacs baby diary
Tuesday 9th august

10:03pm

To quote myself "I know shuving crap into my body during the last 5 weeks really isnt going to help anything"

.... it does help. My brother has just delivered a nice tub of chocolate fudge brownie icecream for me on his way home from the supermarket. I am munching happily.
He rang to see if i needed anything picking up thinking generally of nappies or milk and it just happened that somehow i must have got the order wrong and ended up with this instead.

[titianmac]

titianmacs baby diary

wednesday 10th august

6:55am

D'OH!!!!!!!
I just spent the last 50 minutes bashing the keyboard with my next diary entry, went to add a photo, opened it up from somewhere wierd and lost my typing!
The long and short of it is that ive been up since just after 4am this morning with Emily who crashed out just after 6am. It seems she is poorly- not a little monster....
ive just been to hell and back with her- shes been sick 3 times and now has bad nappies to add to it all. I dont know if my cooking last night poisoned her, shes eaten something else dodgy or its just a bug but in the last few hours ive done 2 lots of washing, scrubbed the floor twice, bathed her- twice... the list goes on.
I was typing because i couldnt sleep but thats all fixed now- the baby has stopped wriggling, my boobs have stopped leeking and ive had a snack so im off-
Night night!!!!

[titianmac]

How weird- i've just noticed the wedding belles clock is an hour different than mine- its 7am now not 6am... this i know for sure as Andrew left for work about 5:30am and that was before i'd settled Emily and then spent the said 50 mins plus these 10 and this 2 typing!
Pointless information but hey- its amazing what amuses you when you're tired.... that or as the saying goes "simple things..."

[titianmac]

wednesday 10th august
9:07pm

What a day. Ive just tucked Emily up and think she may well stay down which is a fantastic result. Its late but she ended up having a 2 hour nap this afternoon which she no longer usually has so she had a little extra life left in her.
Thankfully this mornings sick seemed to end this morning although we now have squitty nappies instead, i got through about 5 in an hour this morning as every time she trumped it followed through a bit
( i did warn you all this was going to be real not a fluffy happy make believe world kind of diary!)
She has consumed today 1 1/2 rich tea biscuits, 1 bag of chocolate buttons, 1 toffee yoguart and half a cereal bar. It seems now that kids can have anything they like after being sick and the more sugary the better to pick their strength back up. Gone are the days where dairy was banned and dry toast was force fed according to our practice nurse- even her orange for today was sugary not the usual no added sugar she drinks... she must have sore gums from the amount of tooth brush action shes seen since 4am today!!! I went in to see the nurse for a quick chat as the only other experience we've had of Emily being sick was caused by rotavirus... i wasnt sure if the sugar thing was specific to that illness or just the thing now, apparently as i said its now the thing. Baffling really especially to those mums my age i guess whos advise comes from their mums who in turn did the toast thing!
I have learned many things today. I learned that scrubbing sick from a carpet is hard when your pregnant belly is always in the way. I learned that everything smells worse when you're pregnant- even nice things like dettol or lemon wipes arent good at 4am. I learned that toddlers have comic timing down as a fine art- Emily was clean in a clean room when she was sick again causing the whole process to repeat for me. I learned that its less scary in the dark when you're little as there is not yet a fear of the unknown... Emily cried and called me, i casually stopped to pee on route as she told me she was wet- usually this is a leaky nappy from too much juice stored through the process of rebelling against potty training. Today on getting to her i found that wet meant she'd been sick. Obviously she'd been in the middle of the room but was now calmly sat on her bed all be it pulling faces. Once the light was on she was sick again and this time freaked out.I learned that freaking out when being sick causes much more mess as she backed away from it each time making quite a path of destruction. I learned how hard it is to be brave for a little persons sake and calmly tell her it was okay while wanting to run myself. I learned a child covered in sick wants a cuddle and doesnt understand that you really dont want to go there. I learned that as with most things my husband can sleep through incidents like this until Emily is safely in the bath and the cleaning is done. To be fair had i woken him he'd have helped best he could but i chose not to. Hes worse than me at being sick from someone elses sick so i was coping good with just Emily. He was due to get up at 5 am to go to work so i know how precious that hour was to him. I know that to be fair he's so used to me getting up to tend to emily or pee or get a snack (its a pregnant thing honest ) that he doesnt always notice im gone now. He did however wake on his own and on realising i had problems help out. It doesnt sound much but when emily came out of the bath he had her snuggled in with him. This allowed me to carry on my little mission getting stuff sorted, making juice, cleaning stuff etc but most importantly settled and calmed Emily. He didnt get back to sleep but it didnt matter, he woke in sad circumstances but all the same to hear emily singing twinkle twinkle at full pelt which never fails to make you smile The thing about bathrooms is they echo so really the poor dude didnt stand a chance
As with everything there is abrightside and todays was that amid everything else i managed to make him some sandwiches for work which was a pleasent treat- even if they were ham mustard and dettol flavour!

Emily's room is another step towards finished and personalised. This afternoon we put her lampshade up, glittered the numbers painted on the wall to match the alphabet and transfered her window nicknacs (stick on stained glass effect type flowers and butterfly thingys). Its amazing just how much the little things make a difference. She now knows that the nursery is for baby and she goes to her big girl room without prompting which is fab. We now dress in their, change nappies in there, play in there, sleep in there- the whole works. Anyone who visits is now dutifully taken upstairs to see the room and now its by Emily not Andrew and myself! its such a releif as it means i can now give the nursery a good spring clean before a touch of paint and its new blinds and shades etc are added. I'm not sure if i said before or not but we believe from the scans that htis time we are expecting a boy. Its never 100% and they wont commit but even a 5% maybe is enough for us to paint over the pink wall with blue and swap the pink blind for a blue one. If its a girl after all we've got everything ready to put back so it'll be a 5 min job but this way if nothing else it helps emily that last little bit to recognise that the room is no longer hers because its different- well- will be!

[titianmac]

Titianmacs baby diary
thursday 11th august 2005

9:25am

Poor little emily! what didnt come up just came down! After a super nights sleep (she stayed settled) and slept through till about 8am she called me to say she'd done a "juicy poop" and she wasnt kidding. Think macccies chocolate milkshake and youre getting close
She was very pleased to have kept her bed "nice and clean and fresh" and was standing in the middle of the room. Its been a morning similar to yesterday, scrubbing, washing, bathing etc- what wasnt christened yesterday was today- its been a busy week for her poor little room!

Not sure what we're up to today, was going to head out and about but if her nappies are gonna be like that im not sure its fair on her- they need changing pronto so if im half way somewhere in the car we could have problems She's chilling out watching fimbles at the mo noshing breakfast so we'll see what happens.
Andrew is in charge tonight, im off out with Helen and Alison- the 3 of us live close by and had the babies last time at about the same time so have become friends for sanitys sake! Monday and tuesday we see helen and little man James and thursday and friday we see Ali and little man Matthew. Its a nice break and i think they manage to hook up on wednesdays- they both work half the week so its tricky but with me being home fulltime it means Emily gets the best of everything. This week we did a library visit on Tuesday with Helen and James and are planning a park outing with Ali and Matthew tomorrow. Its rare that all 3 kids or adults get together so we try to go out for dinner every so often. Tonights excuse is my birthday on Sunday. Its nice cos Helens is end of Feb, Ali was early June and mine August so they're well spaced with time for other excuses to fit aswell! Think we're heading to Antibo's italian... it cheap and cheery but the foods great! I'm driving too so the girls can have a glass of wine or 2 which will be nice for them- so far despite being the pregnant non drinking one they've driven for various reasons up till now.... maybe we will stay home today- i need to de clutter and hoover my car before they try getting in!!!

[titianmac]

Titianmacs baby diary
Saturday 13th August 2005

10:10pm
Wow. What a simply manic few days. Where on earth do i begin? I'm okay and theres no baby yet but it was madness for a few days!!!
Thursday was a strange day. I felt odd all day. I managed to make my mum teary twice before lunch being narky and then spent the afternoon sobbing myself for no apparent reason. I blame hormones. (Good news is while sobbing i managed to clean my car as planned)
We went out for dinner as planned and until the last few minutes it was a really fab night. I didnt manage to eat much which is really upsetting when you're faced with a bowl of pasta that takes some serious beating in the yummy stakes but it was a nice evening and fun to have a girly chat.
All was fine till Helen and Ali ordered their coffee at which point i declared that i was going to order a cab and leave the car overnight as i felt a bit dodgy. Before they could even ask what was up i was sprinting to the ladies feeling very sick... all i remember was telling the scared looking waier it wasnt his food or the baby!
Sadly the few bites of pasta i did manage were soon to be a lumpy memory as i threw up like never before, i swear it was evil. Helen of course can flying after me to check i was okay to catch a very musical heaving symphony from cubicle 3! Sadly in a public toilet there is no privacy even behind a closed door. I had to laugh on finally appearing that if theres one thing worse than being sick its doing it when you've not over indulged and caused it through sheer greed. As if being sick wasnt bad enough i then had a fury mouth to contend with and without my own bathroom i didnt have my toothbrush either funny enough. I hate spitting in front of people, we all have our quirks, i think Andrew and i had been together several months before i spat toothpaste in the sink with him watching! Unfortunately though on Thursday i had no choice but to swish and spit with an audience in a public sink. The resteraunt looked at me like i was mad when i went to ask them for bleach to freshen the place but i guess i really am that nice Several curtousy mints later i had a fury mouth again but thankfully it was only from the sugar and was wholey more pleasent! Daft as it sounds i was fine to drive home and felt much better- we joked about it not being emilys big but instead early labour but who'd have thought i'd then spend the night having contractions??!!
We're fairly sure they were just braxton hicks- the fake ones you get while your body practices but believe me at 4am grovelling on the loo floor not knowing what to do with myself between being sick, having contactions and needing the loo ( an impossible senario together i believe) i was not a happy bunny I knew Emily had been sick but this was taking the mickey and was all classic of early labour- a daunting thought. Poor andrew got up and went to work at half 5 again after a rather broken sleep courtesy of my bobbing about all night. Thankfully Emily slept through else id have been in real bother.
I rang mum bright and early friday morning to ship emily out of the way for a few hours and was met with the news that she too had spent the night being sick. In one way i was releived that i had a virus but equally distressed that i still had emily to deal with! Bless her mum took emily around anyway and they had a snuggly quite morning with dad in charge. I managed to get some sleep but not much. Andrew took Emily into town for the afternoon birthday shopping but i spent the afternoon in our day care clinic of antenatal I hadnt felt movement from the baby since about 5am. Now i know everything was alright but its best to be safe because with all the trowing up daft as it sounds it may have distressed the baby. After a few minutes on the monitor it was quite obvious that baby was fine and things were settling- it was the toothache dentist situation. The problems seemed simple to expain- Firstly I was definetly having mini contractions or braxton hicks and they too showed up on my charts from the monitors. Because things get so tight it becomes hard to feel whats actually going on with the baby so i was just missing half of its jiggles. Secondly the constant vomiting etc the night before had probably bruised me and had definetly stressed the muscle groups also responsible for the contaction hicks. Unlike most bruising we know to be more sensitive this somehow switches off again meaning it was probably harder to feel. Finally, babies spend most of their time sleeping now at this point of pregnancy apparently but with all the chaos it was probably kept up the same as me and andrew and was snoozing best it could. I left feeling stupid but content and all has been fine since. According to my notes, the baby is definetly head down which is good and is dropping into my pelvis nicely. They do a measurement/check called pp to brim which explains how far the baby has dropped- 5/5 or free means its still bobbing about and 2/5 means engaged. Usually the first baby engages several weeks before birth but the second and subsequent usually engage about a week before birth or at the start of labour. I measured as 3/5 which is not far off really and confirmed however slow that things are on the move... somehow everyone now doubts i'll last till sept 13th!

[titianmac]

Titianmacs baby diary
Monday 15th August 2005

11:23pm
I'm sure you'll excuse me for not managing a diary entry ysterday with it being my birthday and all.... especially when you hear what went on!
Let me start by saying there is still no baby so panic not! Instead, my other baby, little Emily spent the evening in A&E
Its as though we jinxed ourselves, everyone asking how old she is and us saying almost 2 and then going on as you do to talk of how clever, tall etc she is and how amazingly good she is, and how we've never had her at a&e dispite here clumsiness and how blah blah blah!
It was nothing nasty- in fact we didnt get that she was hurt and were quite puzzled. The good news is she's fine but we had a fright i guess, it bought home how small and fragile she still is
We were out for dinner with my parents, brother and his fiancee Marie and all was going fine. Emily had an attack of the fidgets so Andrew took her for a walk about. She slipped as she often does because she's so nosey she trips over a crumb on the floor if not her own feet. Andrew was holding her hand as she fell and as with all little people you dont let go and they just kind of swing back up and get on with it. Emily then broke free and seemed fine till she went to move her arm at which point she started screaming- and i mean SCREAMING!!! Now this as i say confused us all as initially it was all abit un related to say the least! We managed to sus out that her arm was dodgy as she wanted picking up for "a love" but wouldnt snuggle in and held her arm awkward. We tried as you do diversion tactics and comfort which usually suceed in record time- we're not fluffy parents and shes not a wussy kid but this had us all a bit worried. Andrew felt poorly (he now has the virus), Emily was un consolable and i couldnt fit a dessert so we excused ourselves and left my birthday meal midway. It felt rude but was pointless carrying on and was clearly not what anyone else in the establishment wanted on a sunday afternoon as much as they were polite and understanding. We figured we'd take Emily for a drive as it always sooths her but in this instance she really went mad getting into her carseat and so it continued. Finally she fell asleep but we fear it was through lack of oxygen due to crying so much!!! On arriving home and her waking up we had an instant and similar performance of piercing squeels and concluded that she simply wasnt a happy bunny and somewhere along the way was clearly injured! Andrew nipped in home for a toilet stop and we grabbed Milly who is Emilys best bear ever- you know the one, fixes the world- but not this time We decided as mad as it was that it was all worthy of further advise via the childrens hospital 2 mins down the road. They unfortunately have no xray facilities so we found ourselves sat in the local A&E dept for a few hours. The childrens waiting room is actually quite nice and Emily enjoyed sociallising with the other little ones and playing with the toys We knew by then however there was a definate problem as her arm was swelling around the wrist quite clearly and more importantly she wasnt sucking her thumb- not because it was on the poorly arm and hurt but instead because she needed the hand she usually thumb sucks to do stuff with as the other arm was poorly!
An xray later (Andrew had to take her in with me being pregnant) and it was concluded that as we thought nothing was broken, nor dislocated but probably badly sprained or something so get the calpol out and it'll fix itself eventually. Not quite what we had planned for the evening of my birthday but eventful and unforgetable all the same.
Its hard to know how much it hurt her but knowing she couldnt or wouldnt cuddle milly told us it wasnt good. She finally got to bed at about 10:20 and went out like a light once she got comfy- again, she has a quirk whereby she likes labels, just kind of holds them or rubs them but couldnt even manage that which upset her grately... no milly, no label, no comfy snuggle in the duvet- my heart was just breaking Wetry to find the bright side of everything- this story has one not to be left out- albeit because she wa in pain BUT Emily spent the whole night in bed without falling out once! You know how it is if you're hurt or in a strange place etc, your body just doesnt let you move and that must have been the case last night. On waking she called me to get her some juice but hadnt even tried to get out of bed. Now obviously im assuming shes okay but still dont know how the pain is. Within seconds the answer was obvious as once again she tried to move and let out the all too familiar piercing squeek followed by "arm poorly mummy, make it better, Emily need calpol" She sounds like a little junkie! The joke is she rarely gets medicine as we save it for necessary moments in the hopes that it keeps its effectiveness. Lets face it, how often have you taken paracetamol and figured you may just as well be eatting a tube of smarties? I know it doesnt seem to fix anything for me these days where as once upon a time 2 pills and i was cured! Anyway, the screaming continued and i was almost at the point of asking them to recheck the xray. Like i say, Emily isnt a wussy kid and you'd probably be horrified at the bumps and dinks she gets without blinking so this really had got me worried. Usually shes more interested in tweenies or milly or label or something As the hours went by she started to use her arm more and more and once shes been for a nap she was about right- she met me at the safety gate clearly able to get out of bed and with a smile so things were clearly on the mend. She's spent the day being gentle with her arm but is usuing it happily now so the drama is over for now at least. Honestly- kids eh? I cant believe just when this one is getting to the useful point of being able to tell you where it hurts we're about to have another thats totally helpless

The rest of today went without to much stress, we visited an aquatic center and now have 4 new fish in the tank so Andrew is smiling despite this week being on night shift. Emilys paperwork has all been delivered to the nursery ready for her big day tomorrow, her cake is in the cupboard ready to be attacked and we have presents ready to be thrown aside in order to play with the paper and boxes I think we're all set.

As for baby- well, its now 4 weeks till he's set to appear and counting down. Everyone i meet it sure its on the way and people look at me worriedly as i weeble out of the subaru but other than a few more braxton hicks there's nothing to report. Im seeing the midwife on wednesday so hopefully there'll be something to actually report in this wonderous "baby diary" then

[titianmac]

titianmacs baby diary
august 16th 2005

What a busy day! Emily is now 2 and mum also a year older. Nursery went without a hitch, birthday time was frantic but enjoyable and at last i am unwinding thanks mainly to a well deserved break just now from my ex's mum who phoned to say hi and pass on birthday wishes
The day started much like any other with me and Emily up and about quiet as possible because Andrew was not long into bed after night shift. Emily ate a fab 2 bowl fulls of cherio's for brekkie sat at her groovy new table so im thinking from the start that it was a fab purchase. Once dressed tweenies were cut short and it was off to nursery for her first day. As we arrived another mum was just leaving so before i could finish ringing the doorbell Emily had dived under her arm and was in the hallway jumping at the safety gates saying good morning-not quite our planned entrance but warm and laughable all the same Emily wasted no time in getting stuck in and while i sat in the office sorting times and dates she was spotted whooshing past for outdoor play and then on peeking through the window was seen to be getting on just fine. 20 mins later and she was back inside settled for juice and fruit at snack time quite happily and that was my que to leave. I popped in and told her i was off to the supermarket. I asked if she'd like to stay and play and got a little "yes please mummy" with a smile. Off i went with a wave and a kiss blown but not a twitch to suggest for one minute she might actually stop enjoying nursery long enough to say bye or miss me. 2 hours later i returned to collect her much to her horror and only managed to get her out the door with the promise she can go back next Tuesday! She had been fed and watered and seemed absolutely knackered! She asked for bed in the car on the way home and seemed most disgruntled that we had to make a swift stop at the garden center to pick up some terrecota pots for the fish tank. She pottered along slowly but with a big grin as she was wearing a little cone shaped party hat i'd got for her and was gleeful at all the attention she was getting wishing her happy birthday. We made a quick stop at mum and dads to wish her a happy birthday too and sneekily pick up all the goodies id left with mum to wrap for me so emily didnt attack them early. On returning home my initial plan was to pop Emily down for a well deserved nap while i tidyed up but with Andrew awake early it was go go go in her little world. She flaked for 5 on the couch and at one point went to her room in the half drawn shade and played for a bit but just wasnt giving in. The few mins she was upstairs though gave me chance to put all her cards on the doormat and stack her presents up high on her table. She came down shouting happily that the postman had been and was well enjoying opening her first envelope when she spotted the parcels and that as they say was that... about an hour later she had loving openedeach present, played with it, announced the card said "'appy birfday" and was getting quite into the swing of things!
Mum and dad came around for a cup of tea and brought her pressies so the excitement continued and then snowballed as steadily one after another several friends, neighbours and other family members appeared bearing gifts. By now birthday girl was a bit of a whirl and giddy on life, it was ace to watch as she really loved every minute she spent and not having an organised party or delivery time meant things just flowed and happened merrily. Eventually at just after 7 we said goodbye to the last people and Andrew took her (still in party hat) to visit his parents for yet more treats and excitment. She nodded off in the car at the botttom of their street typically for all of 10 seconds and was happy enough to wake up again still being birthday girl and fussed over. She returned with a new doll as i'd discussed with them who can be fed a bottle and has a dummy. I didnt want or feel she needs an all singing and dancing one at this age but the extra interaction hopefully will help when it comes to me having to feed the real baby. The bottle is a magic one that empties then refills once upright again. Emily is honestly and super cutely baffled by this. In fact, i fed bubba2 ( we already have bubba and this is"another bubba" ) and before i was finished Emily appeared in the living room holding 4 pints of milk saying she needed more! I tried to show her the bottle was magic but she wouldnt have it. I tried to pretend pour some milk in and was told to take the lids off first. I gave up and resorted to diversion tactics of birthday cake clueless what to actually do next!
In all the commotion and with the constant ins and outs we hadnt actually done the cake and candles thing or sang happy birthday which felt mean. Worse still i paid 10 for a sponge cake that wasnt staying in its box so out it came, just the 3 of us and a camera to hold the moment. Emily stood blowing the candles before they were lit which amused us greatly and then did a fantastic job for real at blowing them out. Best was yet to come though as i sat her down to have a nice photo taken... she was in her new chair, next to her new table covered in presents infront of the window showing all her cards and holding her cake while wearing that very glam birthday hat! Before i could get anything done little fingers were prodding holes in the icing and picking off the flowers. Next thing she lifted it up and bit a huge chunk out munching merrily!!! Far from being annoyed it was just the funniest moment and quite well derserved. Shes been a star today and whoever says you cant have your cake and eat it clearly hasnt met my daughter Theres plenty left to cut up and share out but Emily has marked her share just to be sure i dont change my mind tomorrow

Babywise I'm still having some serious braxton hicks but have nothing else to show or tell. I'm seeing Nerissa tomorrow so will give a full report then- i'll also see if i can find the scan pic and get dad to upload it for me so you can all peek and see if you can spot him- scan pics are great, you either see it or you dont but either way it'll pass another minute of your time for you while you "take a break".

...By the way- i hope all the wedding plans are coming on okay??! I'm still reading the posts and reliving so much its untrue. In a way i wish we were still planning and ready to live the moment but then again i'm loving looking back myself and am busy helping my brothers fiancee marie get ready for next June.... i really must get her to sign up and join in officially!!!!!

[titianmac]

Titianmacs baby diary
wednesday 17th august 2005

2:15
Just back from the midwife and it appears i need to get my arse into gear pronto! The baby is now "well in and down" according to my midwife thus is engaged fully and ready to go as and when! Usually with first babys this is common about 3-4 weeks before having it but with 2nd onwards is a sign of a weeks notice or the onset of labour! Obviously we have no idea when things will happen but my next appointment by structure is 38 weeks- 2 weeks away but the midwife has her doubts if she'll see me for the appointment or instead be visiting me and baby at home!!!
I've decided it might be a good idea to stop writting lists and making plans but instead actually go shopping for the nicknacs, get the stuff out of the attic and perhaps even pack my hospital bag!
Just waiting for Andrew to wake up then i think we may take a trip into town to start the ball rolling and get some stuff... better get cleaning the nursery ready to paint too eh?!
BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!! Well, after lunch maybe

[titianmac]

wednesday 17th
11:53pm

We made it out shopping and arrived home armed and dangerous with new bottles, teats, brushes etc, nappies, wipes and a few bits for me too... not a bad shop!
The mission in general was very pleasing but i must say I am absolutely horrified that i have just spent 20 on knickers that are hideous! Good greif this is the down side of maternity!!! I'm yet to find a maternity range of underwear that isnt giant sized and frumpy. I know Elle mcPherson has one but generally speaking everything comes in black, white, nude or grey and though doing a great job of covering bits and bobs it sadly leaves you feeling rather undesirable at the best of times! I have managed to get through this pregnancy wearing an under bump maternity thong (still giant sized when pegged out for the neighbours to see) or just my regular style garments in a slightly larger size. However- the trouble now begins as after birth you need to wear pads - specifically pads not other means of collection- and unfortunately they dont work with a thong so its fat pants ahoy!!! So help me even the under bump bikini style are HUGE! What makes it worse is that you are forced into being a captive shopper so 2 multipacks of 5 later and my purse is 20 down... its not even like regular maternity wear you can flog when you're done with ...at least not in my world! Now i know in the general scheme of life 20 is neither here nor there and we can all spend it on crap in the blink of an eye only to wonder where it went but fat pants???!!! ITS JUST NOT RIGHT!!! Anyone planning a baby after the wedding should be advised that sex is likely to stop once you're pregnant and you will be forced into becoming a scary frumpy monster like it or not on at least some levels at some point so make the most of wedded bliss when you can and dont get worked up if for another month you can be a sex kitten for hubby!!!!!!

[titianmac]

Wednesday 17th/ thursday 18th- (take your pick)

12:12am

Didnt remember to take the scan pic for dad to sort for me but did finally work out how to use my new camera so here's a pic of Emily from her birthday yesterday taken just before she bit into the cake... it is a bit tempting just sat there isnt it?! Thought youd appreciate a nice image rather than the disturbing one probably in place from that last entry!!!

[titianmac]

Titianmacs baby diary
friday 19th August 2005

10:43

Nothing exciting to report today really. Still no baby, a few hot flushes and some more braxton hicks but nothing worth getting excited about.
Managed to get the conservatory sorted out which is a good start to wards everything else, its our new junk room now that emily has a bedroom! Ready for tomorrow when more chaos is sure to start as we continue to get stuff sorted... might even go buy some blue paint