Brothers and Sisters

Before I had Theo people would say to me how wonderful I would find it watching my 2 children playing together. I didn't really understand why at the time but, in much the same way that it wasn't until I had Freyja that I could really understand what it is like to love your child, I now know just how truely delightful it is to see your two children laughing together.

In the last couple of weeks Freyja and Theo's relationship has really developed. On the whole, they've always been good together but recently they have started interacting more and Theo in particular seems to crave Freyja's attention. When she is in the room he watches her and is delighted when she takes notice of him. She in turn is happy to do what it takes to raise a smile from him (most of the time...)

A few nights ago, when we were getting the two of them ready for bed, we were all sat together on our bed and Freyja was bouncing around and clowning about for the sole purpose of amusing her baby brother - and he in turn shrieked and laughed in response to her antics. Adrian and I might as well have not been there for all they cared.

Theo will have to watch himself though. He's getting quite boisterous around Freyja and has taken to making a grab for her whenever she is near. Freyja is not altogether happy with this development - as far as she is concerned the relationship is to be very much on her terms...

Nice Tie

I didn't know they made ties for 5 month olds. But they do - thank you Linda for sending Theo such a cool outfit!

He wore it to Alix and Dave's wonderful wedding. Freyja stayed home with her grandparents and Theo spent most of it with a babysitter - I can highly recommend doing this! I really enjoyed not having to think about them while I ate a lovely meal, caught up with friends and had a little boogie on the dancefloor - then dragged my husband, who was doing some serious bad-dad dancing, away before the babysitter started charging double time.

It will be even better when I finally get to go to a wedding again where I am not either pregnant or breastfeeding.

The Blues

Here's one for Rowan...

On our way to the post office today Freyja and I were having a conversation about football:

Freyja: I'm going to watch Daddy play football.
Me: That'll be nice.
Freyja: What is Daddy's team?
Me: Arsenal
Freyja: I like Chelsea

Oh My God!!!! I have to confess that I laughed which has probably served to further entrench Chelsea as her favoured team. Sorry, Darling - you may have a bit of work to do there...!

Sleeping Babies

Freyja (10/11 weeks old)

Theo (4/5 weeks old)

Mouths of babes

These are (some of) the things that have really made me laugh:

'Come here Little Man' - to Adrian while he was swimming in the pool in France

'Well it must be somewhere' - to me whenever I say I can't find something

'Be careful with Daddy's things' - to me when I attempted a bit of gardening

'I know, I know' - soothingly, to Theo, when he cries

'Cerys!' - to my mother when trying to get her attention in Cafe Rouge

'Poor Daddy has to go to work'

'Mummy? Would you do me a favour?' - all the time!


And I hear the things I say echoed back to me time and time again - 'need to be patient', 'don't snatch', 'must be careful'.

Feel the Love

On Monday Freyja, completely spontaneously and out of the blue, said 'I love you, Mummy' for the very first time. She does tell me she loves me when I say it to her, but never before has she come out with it just like that.

Theo is also a target for her affections at the moment. She keeps telling me that she looks after her baby brother and how much he loves his big sister. She often asks to have him sit on her lap, cuddles him and kisses him, is delighted when she makes him smile or laugh - which she can pretty much do just by being near him. She makes sure that I am kept informed of every little exchange between them. She is also very knowledgable about exactly what it is he wants, telling me that he needs his dummy or a feed or a sleep etc etc.

If I'm ever at a complete loss with him, I just ask Freyja what she thinks and then give it a go.

No Stopping Me Now...

I have done it. I have completed my first Big Drive, all by myself. From London to Dorking. Just me, the kids, a Sat Nav - and Raffi. Thank goodness I didn't realise that the Satnav wasn't working properly until I got to Dorking...!

My Theo

I feel that Theo has been a little neglected on my blog of late - welcome to the world of the secondborn child...

...What he is up to? Is he sleeping better? Is he eating yet? How old is he again? Is he continuing to grow at a rate that will see him surpass his big sister by Christmas?!

Well, he's sometimes sleeping better, but sometimes he's not. Last night he ended up tucked up between Adrian and me from 11pm to 2am but other nights he has slept right through to 4.30am. I had been confidently allowing myself a few glasses of wine each night since dropping 10pm feed in France as he seemed able to go through until 4am-ish. But recently a few earlier feeds have been creeping back in, along with those hollow under eye circles I don't seem to have ever quite got rid of since the arrival of Freyja. I think we're still some way from him sleeping through.

He isn't eating yet - he's pretty good with his feeds, about 5 a day at roughly two to three hour intervals. He's 4 and half months and I'm not going to wean him until he's 6 months. Been there, done that, want to put it off for as long as possible...

He's still quite big. Not massive, but definitely a big boy.

He's also an absolute delight. Quiet, sweet, laidback, cute, relaxed, observant, calm and just gorgeous. A completely different personality to Freyja but equally enthralling to me - I used to secretly consider myself lucky to have a sparky, active girl and now I consider myself just as lucky to have this lovely, gentle boy.



Mind you, he had to go to the doctor for a check up the other day and when I commented on how good he is she said 'yes, it's around about the 1 year mark that the secondborns tend to start causing trouble...'

Raffi

Last weekend we drove up to York for Adrian to play cricket, combined with a visit to his parents and grandma. It's a long way to go for a weekend - 5 hours there on the Saturday and 5 hours back on the Sunday (I did some of the driving and I don't drive very fast...)

Luckily, my very good friend Katie had lent me something to help the journey go smoothly. A triple CD collection by Raffi. I had never heard of Raffi before - turns out he is a Canadian children's musician. Seems he featured quite heavily in Paul's (Katie's husband) childhood - something about family trips in Europe with Raffi on repeat. Lola was given the CD when she was born. It might have been a joke. Anyway, Katie was quite keen for me to take it.

An hour or so into the journey, with Freyja just starting to get a little whingy, Raffi was unveiled. By the end of the 5 hours, Freyja was reading a book and Adrian and I were belting out 'Who built the Ark? Noah, Noah' and 'Anansi he is a spider, Anansi he is a man' at the top of our lungs.

I love Raffi.

Jumping through (Olympic) Hoops