Chickens in a box

William's favourite programme and the beginning of the end of each day for Mummy and Daddy. I can't believe I've even reliquished my obsession with Hollyoaks in favour of Iggle Piggle, Macca Pacca and Upsy Daisy. William LOVES it and now we have the monstrous 50 inch TV you'll find us glued to this programme every evening (Molly included) looking a bit like the Simpsons. totally zoned out and ready for collapse. Sadly, my inability to remember the words to Macca Pacca's ryhme have even driven me to buy the book. "Oh Dear..." as Will would say.

And amidst it all, I finally manage to capture a smile on camera :)

Don't be fooled.

We've called an amnesty in the battle against the Warts but unfortunately the Houghtons are currently on the losing side. Nothing we've tried so far has worked and now we have a horrible feeling that Will now has melloscom (sp!)on one of his legs. Why can't he have a break? First the egg, then peanut allergies, hives, ezcema, warts - I dread to think what's next? The worst thing is that we are totally unable to help in any way, it's just something his system needs to recognise is wrong and get rid of. Until it does I guess we're going to have to grin, bear it and hope to God James doesn't catch them....

Sometimes I forget how new Will is, in all the flurry around James' arrival you forget that William is still only a baby really himself. It's an amazing time because everything is new to him and I love teaching him about things and watching his face light up. Things you'd never think of like how to separate all the segments of a satsuma, breaking the ice on top of a puddle, frost, the sun and moon, pheasants!, climbing over a stile, how to hold a knife and fork. All these are completely new to Will and it's the best thing ever being the one to teach him all about the world the millions of adventures and experiences it holds that make life so much fun.

The Big Weigh-In yesterday and James has put on a whole pound and now weighs in at 9lbs 5ozs. I'm so, so relieved and happy! Typically the health visitor had to get in a dig about the fact he could have gained this much weight if I'd carried on feeding him myself. Very unnecessary and unhelpful - and wrong. I know I've done the right thing. Now we can relax a bit. In the meantime James is in his first pair of jeans after a trip to Reading this morning and has been so lovely for the last couple of hours just chilling out and cooing at me while I've been faffing about as usual. Off to Mothercare to get Will a snowman costume now ready for Christmas Carols at Little Sods. Next photo I post will be one of James smiling, but I'm b*ggered if I can catch one :)

Poor James, it was his first set of innoculations today - two injections consisting of a total of 6 different vaccines. Hideous. I am hopeless, you'd have thought after two ceasareans I'd be OK around needles but I can't watch, I just get all teary and clutched James for dear life trying to make it not hurt as much. He's a stoic little soul though and has done so well this afternoon, although I did pre-empt any possible fever with Calpol when we got home which I hope has helped. Not brilliantly settled again this evening but what's new? Roll on midnight and another freezing dash to the microwave to prepare his bottle. In the meantime I'm relaxing in bed with my beloved EB and waiting for Mol to come up and reclaim her rightful place at the end of the duvet. The downstairs is too hideous even for her now, no matter what Eddie says!

Absolutely knackered in every possible way after a very busy weekend spent coping with shrieking baby and whinging toddler. Saturday afternoon was spent at our annual NCT birthday party for the 'babies'. I think we're all in denial that not only are our little tiny babies now 2 (or nearly) but we now have second children on the scene. A great time had by all, and most of all a chance for a glass of wine and a natter with the girls. We came home just in time to meet Dave, Maddie and Greg who were over for supper. I would have probably enjoyed the evening more had I not spent most of it racing up and down the stairs trying to settle the aforementioned shrieking baby. What is it about children - they have a sixth sense when it comes to knowing their parents have friends over and want to relax, or worse actually Go Out. Heaven forbid. Peace was finally achieved at around 10pm by which time I was too tired to cope anymore and had to head up to bed. The days of chilling over a fe...

The boring thing about trying to get thin is that it takes forever to see results and it hurts. So far I've done one post-natal class, one Body Pump class and a bike ride. All were relatively painful and I still feel huge and haven't lost any weight whatsoever. Feeling impatient to get results and put my jeans on without straining...need to play the long game and not try to rush things.

Will was SO upset about the cape - he hated it. Even Daddy flying him round the room to explain what it was for couldn't mollify him. Fortunately we distracted him long enough by showing him how the camera worked and getting him to say 'cheese' to take this picture and then he went back to trying to wrestle it off again. (Clearly we didn't cave and the poor little sausage was forced to wear it for nursery regardless - cruel parents)....

After another restless night where James woke at 12.00am, 2am - 3am and then 5.30am I gave him another 5oz top-up at 6.30 and ended up with a chilled, peaceful, smiley baby all the way to 8.30am when Will was ready for his breakfast. In the light of a new day I'm feeling much more positive about things and if not getting enough food has been the problem for James all along at least now we know how to help him. Have been topping him up all day today and now he's fast asleep upstairs, settled and quiet. A revelation. Now let's see if he can stay that way for long enough for me to escape out for lunch...hmmm...we'll see. In the meantime Number 1 Son is following in Amber's footsteps and gone punk for Children in Need (I was b+ggered if I was going to forget 'silly hair day' after failing miserably to provide him with a costume for Halloween). We finally dropped him off at nursery after having to hose down what can only be described as one of the most revolting ...

I took James for a weigh-in today and he's only gained 1oz in a week. It's like history repeating itself all over again because it was around the same age that Will's weight flatlined. I am so upset, I really hoped that I could feed him properly for much longer but now I'm not so sure. You have so much pressure from Health Visitors and the NCT to have this natural birth and then breastfeed your child, but it's really hard going and if it doesn't work out you feel so guilty. When I got home I fed James for 20 minutes but then topped him up and he took 4ozs, which tells me pretty much all I need to know. I'm not going to make the same mistake as I did with William and persevere for myself rather than thinking about the child. This time we'll give it one more week topping him up and if there's a marked weight gain then my breastfeeding days are over. And I'm going to have a ritual burning of all my maternity bras!

Poor, exhausted, over-tired James absolutely refused to sleep yesterday and ended up in a complete stew, screaming incessantly and at full blast for hours on end, apparantly inconsolable. Fortunately he saved his worst until after Uncle Peter, Jackie and Amber had gone home and was actually on pretty good behaviour over lunch, giving everyone a chance to have a cuddle. Eddie had chosen the weekend to go out on the lash with Gary and had to get through the day with a shocking hangover after 8 pints and a couple of large glasses of red. James finally decided to give up at 8pm, leaving us with welsh rarebit for supper and then oblivion. Until Groundhog day began again... James is now in his own room after we finally reached breaking point a couple of days ago and both jumped out of bed at around 1am when the screaming was unendurable and ran James, still in his moses basket, into the nursery and shut the door. It's so hard to know what to do if the baby is fed, clean, changed an...

Poor Molly, she still cannot believe she has to put up with not one, but TWO new people in the house. Will's adoration is no consolation whatsoever.

I'm torn! James is now 8lbs 6ozs, so by no means a whopper at all (O the irony) but he's long and rapidly running out of room in the moses basket. Moving him into his own room looms, but he's still waking up 3 times a night to feed. So do I: a) Move him anyway, feed him in the nursing chair and get even more tired in the day but get him used to the new room (and give Eddie more rest) b) Maintain the status quo and put him straight into a cot with no time in between to get used to the nursery but get some sleep at night Decisions, decisions! I can't face sitting in the nursing chair getting cold and being awake in the middle of the night, but feel it's probably the right thing to do. Maybe I'll just give it a few more days before I finally make a call.... :)

Another weekend passes us by and Eddie continues on his fanatical mission to get as much of the house finished in time for Christmas. As a result, the St Martins School bonfire is largely made up of the sitting room floor and Will, James and I are surrounded by concrete and tool boxes.

Or Waitrose as it's known by the locals here in sunny Newbury - a haven for the weary Mummy. Somehow chasing a toddler down the fruit and veg aisle while your baby screams blue murder just as you get to the check-out, is made all the more bearable by the sheer, civilised beauty of food and surroundings. My shopping list this week looked something like this: 1 x large bottle of Ribena 2 x packs Lemsip Xtra Strength sachets 1 x bottle Russchian 1 x bottle Tonic Pampers no 2 1 x large packet fresh coffee 2 x Gu chocolate fondant tarts Heat magazine All I need to survive a week with the boys :) In the meantime a much needed coffee and natter came in the form of Granny Dee, who James and I went to visit yesterday. James was an angel and slept for the entire visit, with the exception of the times when he had to eat! Alas I paid a heavy price last night for all that sleeping, but it was worth it.