Surprising things about birth #2

I'm hoping to share our birth story soon - when I have time and two free hands to type more. One thing I know for sure is that I went into the process naively thinking that the second time would be more or less the same as the first. Boy was I wrong. Here are some of the biggest surprises I had bringing Joshua into the world.

1. Yes, I'd done it before, just 2.5 years before but it's incredible how much you forget; the different stages of pregnancy, the pains, how tiny they are, how much longer it takes to change an uncooperative newborn who doesn't 'point their toes' or 'put their arms up'.

2. The after pains. I barely remember them from the first birth but they were as bad as some of the contractions this time. Apparently they get stronger with each birth and women who have four or five births behind them say that they get worse than the labour itself.

3. Boys are different! Apart from the obvious physical differences (I've been peed on several times already), both he and I have rashes from the hormones and apparently boys are louder.

4. The red tape. I saved the paperwork we had to fill out with Isabella to help us out this time but in just 2.5 years the birth certificate application process, the child benefit form, the medical tests, and who knows what else have changed.

5. It's harder with two. I've often wondered how single parents cope, now I'm in complete awe. If Nico hadn't had paternity leave, I'd never have managed. Friends had warned me and it's true, the hardest thing about parenting two is not being able to satisfy both children all the time. It's a good learning curve for us all though.

My top 3 Christmas Films

As an English teacher, I love having an excuse to crack out the Christmas films with my pupils every year, I'm missing it right now but I'm hoping to introduce Isabella to one on Christmas Eve. Here are my three favourites:

Elf

Brilliant comedy, suitable for family watching and full of Christmas spirit.

Love Actually

I love these kinds of films - lots of different stories woven together. This film is so focused on what's important at this (and any) time of year - friends and family.

Home Alone

This one takes me right back to my childhood. I always wanted to fill our house with booby traps too!

Make it Monday - Origami Christmas Decoration

This is my latest project from the Mollie Makes magazine. It was really easy - I think I had it in 20 minutes and I used some of the craft paper that comes with the magazine so it was free!

I plan to do something similar for the kids' rooms and look forward to doing a project like this with them. Isabella was very impressed when she saw this on the tree.

Weekly Wisdom

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The Saturday Update

Well another week has flown by in a whirlwind of feeds, nappy changes and naps. Joshua is thriving. Isabell is full of beans despite having a tummy bug. Nico is doing a great job looking after all of us.

I took Isabella to nursery on Wednesday and it felt good to get out. We also walked to the shops yesterday - our first outing as four. We discovered two new ways to settle the baby - walks and the vacuum cleaner!

We got our house decorated and the Christmas shopping done and even a bit of crafting.

Next week we have a few more appointments and outings planned. Here's hoping for another restful but productive week.

Links!

Almost starting to miss work.

Interesting.

A positive side to the patchwork family.

Let's take note!

Some of these look like fun!

Important message for our daughters.

An interesting idea.

A fun map!

Symphoniacs

Loving this band at the moment - amazing talent. Already bought their album for Christmas presents.