I need a new changing bag.

The house is strangely quiet. The FB is out somewhere with my mother (who is staying with us for 2 weeks to help out), the Count is (as to be expected for it is daylight) asleep in his moses basket, and I have given up searching for a new house for today and am reading "The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy", I should be hanging up the laundry and getting dinner ready.

Over the last few days I've written so many posts in my head, most of them about life with a baby and all of them have been relegated to the rubbishbin in my brain.

Instead possibly a flow of consciousness (I can not spell today at all)...

stitches have pretty much healed hurrah! The FB is behaving much better (he became incredibly disobedient for a few days and moped and whined whenever told off), the Count has worked out how to breastfeed (I do so wish that La Lerche or whatever they are called would admit that it takes time to learn how to do this) and last night slept from 1.30 to 6.30. The flat hunt is going terribly - it seems if we want to own our own home (in a size slightly larger than a matchbox) then the best we can hope for is living in a crackden which is what we were offered today! And renting a 3 bedroom well if we can afford the rent then the travel costs are astronomical and if we can afford the travel then the rent is thousands per month. So I have no idea what we are going to do and we are running out of time, and as MrV has a. loads of freelance and b. a wedding that he has got to attend, he hasn't got time to look. I think what I need is a glass, no make that a jug, of pimms and a PA.
As for me, well I am reading 3 books at the same time, and cross stitching this picture of Wandsworth Common. Maybe by the time the Count starts school I'll have it finished.

Well that was fun!

first flat - tiny, dingy, badly decorated and miles away from public transport
second flat - gorgeously decorated with a huge kitchen but in a council estate with some rather dodgy characters hanging about.
we gave up on the third.

plus sides? Well the FB was fantastic. We had to walk for several hours and he was incredibly patient about it all and only occasionally complained that he was running short of energy. The Count screamed throughout the first viewing but slept through the second, and best of all - let me have a good night's sleep last night.

So back to searching again.

The House of Moths and other stories

I'm fairly sure that we are currently sharing our flat with most of the moth population of South London. From cute, dinky, little ones up to the big, furrybodied monster moths, they are all flapping about our place giving the cats a well earned workout. Shame we can't put up notices and declare ourselves a butterfly and moth farm, and thus open to the public (at a small fee of course).

The Count has settled into a nighttime routine. Unfortunately this routine seems to be: sleep fantastically and silently during the evening, wake up for a feed around 10 - 11pm, go back to sleep (again silently)then wake up as soon as parents go to bed, fill three nappies in quick succession, demand more food, then sleep making as much noise as possible so parents don't sleep fearing that the Vampire Baby is about to wake, until dawn when silence descends and the FB wakes up. Repeat until parents are nervous wrecks. This is a slight improvement on his first week of life I think though I could be hallucinating from sleep deprivation. We've taken to having a radio playing all night on Radio 7 (BBC radio station with plays, etc running all the time) in case the Count was unnerved by the sound of silence. Was Bela Lugosi this demanding I wonder?

And tomorrow we go to look at some flats. One in Dulwich and two in Sydenham. And like most of you I have no idea where these places are or what they are like. We shall have to wait and see.

Tory MPs and Vampires

Thank you all for your lovely congratulations, and yeah you're right perhaps Peanut isn't such a good name for him anymore. The only thing that I can come up with is Boris purely because of the hair, the Peanut, as far as I know, has not insulted Liverpool or anyother town since his arrival though give him time.
It's been a wonky few days. He was born late Saturday night and we escaped hospital on Sunday (hence why I could post) and since coming home he has shown his true colours - he's a vampire. Sleeps all day then as soon as his parents think about going to bed he wakes up and that's it until the small hours when he crashes for another nap that Garfield would be proud of.
And the FB? He's coping remarkably well with all the changes. Actually far better than I am I think. He's been a bit clingy and whiney but hasn't turned in the grump from hell that his mother has become.

Ah the Count has awoken, I must be off to await on his every shriek.

Introducing.....

the Peanut


arrived late last night, measuring 54cm long and weighed in at a whopping 9lb14oz

Anguish

The FB has taken to screaming hysterically when his father leaves in the morning, holding on to the gate at the top of the stairs and screaming "daddy come back" at the top of his lungs while sobbing desperately. He repeats it at nursery with yours truly, hanging on to me and crying to go home. But his father has to go to work, and I have to leave him at nursery - for his sake - it's not much fun at home with a mummy who can't do anything, so everyday I have to walk out and leave behind a desperate little boy and it does horrible things to my heart strings. I know it only lasts a few minutes and then he is back to his usual self but it is hard not to turn round, go back in and take him home. At least he has people around him to give him cuddles and he knows that I'll always come back for him.

The Week that Was

During the last week we have

• Had two stomach bugs (MrV and the FB). Despite being vomited on I managed not to catch it.
• Got one eviction notice - Landlords are selling up and moving on and we have until the end of June to find a new home.
• Washed lots of baby clothes, sheets and towels.
• Almost put the pushchair together
• Spent a large portion of each morning sitting in a cafe in Tooting Bec waiting to pick the FB up from nursery - saves walking home and then back up that Hill again you see, and they serve rather yummy cookies.
• Thought that every single ache, pain and Braxton Hicks was "it" starting. It hasn't. Am still roughly the same size as the average aircraft carrier (even MrV has taken to calling me HMS Karen, you can imagine how well that went down!)

The Bump or why I can't leave the house anymore

honestly!