The Terrible Twosome

While all of the excitement with the new cousin was going on, Hannah was busy having lots of fun with her first ever cousin, Chloe! Tim, Abby, Chloe and Anya were down in Cardiff for the weekend, so Hannah and Chloe spent a lot of time together getting into mischief! It's impossible to say who the ringleader is, as they're both as crazy (and cute) as each other! I guess that it won't be long before Thomas and Anya are joining in the fun, too! And we'll invite the new "Cousin Thomas" (still no name, yet) along as well, just so that Thomas doesn't feel outnumbered by all the girls. I think I'll make sure that I'm out that day...

It's another baby!

Not ours this time, though! Congratulations to Janet & Mike on the excellent production of a brand new cousin for Thomas and Hannah. Master Thomas (that's his surname, not his first name!) arrived on the 28th June, weighing in at 6lbs 9 oz - so Thomas has got a friend to play with, and Hannah has got another person to boss around! Mike - make sure that you get lots of sleep tonight, because it'll be your last chance for a while!

Two is tiring

It's been two weeks and two days since Thomas arrived on the scene, and Ruth and I are just about getting into some kind of routine now. It basically involves sleeping as much as we can during the night, and then simply not stopping for a moment during the day! It's not out of choice, but it's all that Hannah and Thomas are letting us do! To be fair to both of them, they're being really good, and things could certainly be a lot worse(!), but juggling two young children is going to be a skill that we'll need to get the hang of fairly quickly! It seems that they've synchronised their 'attention needed' times, so that always one of them is in need of Mummy or Daddy at any one time. And there is often a fun couple of moments each day when they both want both of us at the same time! Life would be very dull without them!

Spot the difference

One of the biggest things we've noticed since Thomas arrived on the scene is how grown up Hannah is when compared to him. It's amazing how quickly children can change in just 2 years. Thomas is almost the splitting image of Hannah when she was his age (apart from some very obvious differences!), and yet it's hard to believe that Hannah used to be like that just 26 months ago!.

One thing that they both still have in common, though, is that they both have very ticklish feet!

Thomas Matthew

After what seems like months of deliberation, with comittee meeting after comittee meeting, and shortlist after shortlist, we've finally settled on a name for the 'Boy with no name'. Thomas Matthew Hurley is going to be the name that he's stuck with for the rest of his life - or at least until he's 18 and can choose a name for himself. He doesn't seem to mind it yet, and Hannah likes it, so that's half of the battle over! We're very impressed with Thomas' sleeping ability so far. Last night he was put into his Moses basket to sleep after a feed at about 11:30. He then slept solidly through until 4:30 in the morning, when he had another feed. He then slept solidly through until 8:30 when we all got up. If he keeps that up, then that promised rise in his pocket money will be his! It's not just nights that he's sleeping though - the weather has been so warm here in Cardiff today that he pretty much spent the whole of the day asleep, only waking up for food. That sounds like my kind of day...

It's all too quiet...

Ruth and 'The boy with no name' did come home from hospital as we hoped yesterday. The house, which had been looking like a building site, suddenly instead resembled a Pampers advert, with nappies, cotton wool and wet wipes everywhere that there was an empty piece of floor. All that Teeny seems to want to do at the moment is sleep and drink, which is fine with us. The only problem was that last night he didn't want to sleep anywhere except on his Daddy's lap (even though he had an incredibly comfortable looking, and inviting, Moses basket just sitting there waiting to be used). Daddy spent most of the night watching MTV and UK Gold, so he's wandering around in a daze today, but Teeny slept pretty much right through from 2 o'clock to 7:30, so if he can learn to do that in his Moses basket he'll get an instant rise in his pocket money! He's fast asleep right now as I type, and still looking handsome. The builders are back with us today, finishing off the driveway and stairs, so if he can sleep through that noise then it wasn't surprising that he slept through MTV.

It's a baby boy!

The important stuff: male, 6lb 8oz, born at 6:45am. The crazy stuff:

• Ruthie started getting painful contractions at about 4:00am, which is an obscene time of the day to be woken up. Maybe about 7 minutes apart.
• We made a phone call to the hospital, and they said exactly what we were expecting them to say - "Go and have a warm bath, and phone us back if they get more regular".
• Ruth made an executive decision and decided that this time the baby wasn't kidding, so we had the fun of waking Ruth's parents by telephoning them to ask them to come around and babysit Hannah while we went to the hospital. Unfortunately, we phoned their old telephone number first, and it rang three times before we realised, so our apologies to whoever it was in Witney who got woken up at 4:30 this morning!
• At about 6 o'clock, Ruth's parents were at our house, looking bleary eyed. We were heading for the car, also looking bleary eyed (but with a wild glint!). Contractions were about every 2-3 minutes.
• We got to the hospital at 6:23. The baby arrived at 6:45. This baby was not going to hang around for anyone. We're so glad that it wasn't rush hour, or we may have needed to have the car valeted tomorrow...
• There was a problem with the afterbirth not wanting to go anywhere, which meant that the doctors had to do a bit of extra work on Ruth, but it all went smoothly and mother and baby are doing really well, and hoping to come out of hospital tomorrow. Our huge thanks go to the staff and midwives at UWCM for their great work - we can't fault them!
• The baby still doesn't have a name, so any suggestions gratefully received! We know it's definitely a boy, because the first nappy change that he had also involved a mini fountain all over Ruth's hospital bed.

This one is going to be trouble...

It's Happening Again

Well, the false alarm yesterday gave us a chance to do a second coat of paint in the kitchen, and put a few sets of curtains and coat hooks up. Obviously Teeny didn't want to be born into a house that was looking such a mess! But now, the contractions are back, and this time they look like they mean business. I refuse to get too hyped up this time, as I want a good night's sleep...