Quickie

Just a quickie to say that Imogen is putting on weight. For a brief moment it looked as though we'd be spending time in hospital on Christmas Day, but she came good for us at the 11th hour. All is well.

Today is James' last day of leave. I'm mildly terrified of looking after the 3 girls on my own tomorrow. On the upside, Mum & Dad bought them a trampoline for Christmas so hopefully I can just stick the 2 big girls on that for hours at a time. I'm sure it's not quite normal to dread looking after your own children by yourself!

Losing weight

Yep, Imogen apparently weighs less than she did 5 days ago. I've never had this problem before, so it's a bit worrying to say the least.

We saw the Maternal & Child Health Nurse this morning, who suggested I wake Imogen every 3 hours during the day to squeeze some more feeds in. She's been a really lethargic feeder over the last few days and I've really been struggling to get her to have a proper go of it. My fears were clearly well founded as her weight is dropping off. Anyway, I'm going back to the nurse tomorrow morning for another weigh. Fingers crossed that she will have gained a little.

Open, shut them

Immy with eyes wide open, 11 days old. She's still going wonderfully, though we are quite looking forward to when she learns the difference between night and day. She's ... how can I put this delicately... she seems to have a lot more trouble than our other girls when it comes to digesting her meals well. Every feed is followed by 1-2 hours of her efforts to get rid of her dinner in any way she can, as loudly as she can. I'm hanging out for the night feeds where I can just feed her and plop her back into her cot and have her sleep, instead of endlessly burping and changing nappies. Still, she's a great feeder and a very alert little girl.

Her big sisters are showering her with mildly competitive love (I think the unspoken vibe is "Look Mum, see how good I am with the baby! Better than HER!") Whatever works!

Welcome little Imogen Rose!

Welcome to the world, Imogen Rose. Isn't she lovely?

Vital statistics:

Weight: 4.14kg (9lb 2oz)
Length: 51cm
Birthday: Dec 9, 2008

All went very well in hospital, and we arrived home this morning. A quiet day of sleeping and feeding (Imogen, not me), and acclimatising to the new noise level of a house with 2 older sisters. A little different to the lovely, quiet hospital room!

Juliet and Heidi seem to be accepting their new baby sister into our family. Juliet especially is being a little Mini Mum, wanting to cuddle her and touch her a lot. Heidi calls her "Jimmy Jim Woses" which is very cute!

Better go, she's stirring. I have a feeling that life is about to get really, really busy around here.

Birthday time

A few pictures from today's birthday BBQ for Mum's 70th and Heidi's 2nd birthday. More to follow when I have some more energy!

Nearly there!

Only 2.5 days to go!

Tomorrow we're hosting a small family get together for Mum's 70th birthday and Heidi's 2nd. Just a casual BBQ so no big deal; it will be a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon I think. I'm trying to get as much done today as possible, so my plan is to try and get Heidi's cake prepared today and blow up the balloons and streamers. I hope her cake turns out OK. The plan is to make an elephant cake, as she is still quite obsessed by elephants. She has been practically since she was born!

Then I'm off to the hairdresser's this afternoon for my last indulgence for quite a long time. My lovely hairdresser has made my appointment the last one for the day so we can kick back a bit and chat and I can relax. He really is very nice, even if he does make me listen to Kylie over and over and over...

Heidi still doesn't quite understand what's happening next week, I don't think. I've talked to her about how I won't be around and how Grandma will be here, but it's hard to tell how much she really gets. I'm trying not to stress about how they will go without me around. I think the days will be fine, but the evenings have been pretty awful for the last couple of weeks and I feel bad for putting Mum through the trauma! Hopefully James will be able to come home a lot to help out. I've had lots of talks to Juliet about how she needs to help Grandma and not carry on like a pork chop over everything in life. We shall see.

Oh well, pretty dull blog entry, sorry. Really, these days are all about packing, cleaning, tidying, and getting ready for the birthday party tomorrow and the week ahead. Not long to go now.

The Countdown Begins...

6 days to go. I can't believe it.

The girls were in kinder/daycare today, so I spent the day furiously nesting. Cooking meals for the freezer, doing laundry, packing my hospital bag (still), Christmas shopping, and so on and so on.

Mind you, when they arrived home I wasn't greeted with the standard run down the hallway and big cuddle fest. Juliet walked in and announced that she didn't want to come home, that home is boring, she hates being here. Hmm. I then served them up the delicious meal I'd just cooked - Heidi squirmed, announced she didn't like it and refused to eat even one mouthful. Sensing that my mood was falling fast, James valiantly tried to save the day. "Doesn't Mummy look pretty?" he asked. Juliet took one look at me and said, "No."

Way to go kids. And to think there's ANOTHER one on the way.

I must just remind myself that they are only 2 and 3 years old, and clearly love kinder and daycare, which is a good thing.. And I'm horribly hormonal and emotional. Tomorrow will be better.