Second Week

Today marked a big day in any baby’s life: her birth was offically registered.  Éowyn is now part of the population of the United Kingdom, and as such can now obtain a passport (has to be done) and a bank account (definitely has to be done, considering the money that she has received!).  Once she was registered we could enrol her at our doctor’s surgery and so she now belongs to a practice.  Her other big adventure was a trip to Sainsbury’s to do the weekly shop.  There is no stopping this girl.  Actually she slept through the whole trip, she likes sitting in her car seat and journeying into the unknown.  For some reason it relaxes her and she sleeps, well, like a baby!

This afternoon she was at home to receive guests.  Her Uncle Steve, Auntie Zöe and for the first time her cousins Megan and Finley came for visit and a cuddle.  Éowyn has now met all her cousins, and the only member of her ‘immediate’ family she has still to meet is her Great Grandma, my nan.  Obviously, she has many Great Uncles and Aunts yet to met and her Great-Great Uncle and Auntie as well as the majority of our friends, but give her time, she is not yet a fortnight old.

Tomorrow, we have a visit from the midwife (hopefully), the health visitor and a couple of our friends to look forward to.  It is also the last day that I will spend with her before I go back to work.  That is going to be a huge shock for both Lucinda and me, however it will not be long before I am off again for another three week ‘break’, the joys of shift work and saving your holiday to the end of the year.

Here are a couple of today’s photos.

Love and peace

Baggie

Again I have left it a couple of days since updating the website, my spare time is dictated by Éowyn, as it should be and probably how it will be from now on.  So, what has happened since Sunday’s update?  We had our first bad night Sunday night; it wasn’t just that Éowyn would not settle, but she would not stop crying and there was very little that we could do to placate her for any length of time.  In the cold light of day I think that she was suffering from colic, which was possibly brought on either by the Chinese takeaway that Lucinda ate on Saturday or overstimulation during Sunday with all the cuddles, or just the first wave that she could suffer from for the next few months.  Apparently it is something that many babies suffer from and there is little that you can do, although some people swear by massaging your baby while changing their nappy.  I will let you know how that goes.

Thus colic made it to the list of questions to ask the midwife when she came on Monday.  Only she never came on Monday.  We waited in all day afraid to go out in case we missed her, but by 16:00 we decided that we would call the Topaz suite at Ashford hospital.  It transpires that although the midwife told us that she would visit on Monday, we were supposed to call on Monday morning so that they could tell us when they would arrive.  Since, we didn’t call them, they assumed that we were out so they didn’t come.  Serves me right for using man logic to think that because someone told me that they would come to the house on Monday that they would actually come to the house on Monday; it is my fault that they didn’t come because I didn’t call them for them to tell me when they would come.  Ok, now I know the rules.  Or do I?

So we rebooked the midwife to come the next day, since 16:00 was a little late for them to come the same day.  We told the midwife that we would make ourselves available all day if she could tell us when they would come.  That is not part of the game.  Although we are booked in for a visit we would still have to phone at 09:00 to find out whether the midwife would come in the morning or the afternoon, it is impossible for them to tell us the day before.  So, this morning I tried calling the midwife team, it took until 09:40 before I got through.  The midwife on the other end of the phonecall made me feel like the worst kind of parent because we didn’t call the previous day.  Then, in the very next breath, told me that they would not be able to fit me in until Thursday.  I said that I thought that we had been booked in yesterday.  Apparently we had but they still couldn’t fit us in.  Then she told me off that the 10 day check up wouldn’t occur until Éowyn’s 14th day.  She then hung up before I had a chance to reply.

Since we were now free for the day, we went for a walk around the lake in the north west of the village, followed by a hot chocolate at the cafe at the eastern side, where we were joined by one of our friends Kerry.  All four of us then returned to the house where we were joined by our next door neighbour Vicky and her neighbour Gwen.  It is really heart warming to feel part of a community and how a baby brings everyone together.

Tomorrow we have another adventure planned, a trip to Walton-Upon-Thames as we are booked in with the registrar to register Éowyn’s birth.  We can then follow this with a visit to the doctors where we can register her with the surgery.  Thursday, my last day before I go back to work we will stay in as we have visits from the midwife and the health visitor, as well as friends who will be popping in to meet the baguette.  Had better buy some nice biscuits!

Enough of my ramblings, here are the latest photos.

Peace and love

Baggie and Lucinda

As you may have noticed, if you are sad enough to be watching this website daily that yesterday was the first day that I did not write anything.  Although I did slightly change the layout – prizes will not be given if you noticed this.

So, what have we been doing for the last couple of days?  We went on a big adventure to Staines town centre on Saturday.  It is amazing how much longer it takes to do the most simple of journeys.  I have packed less in my bag on a lads weekend trip to Amsterdam then we did for a quick visit to the shops!  Also, it takes a degree in mechanical engineering to understand how the pushchair changes for a pram, to a pushchair, to a wheeled base for the car seat.  No doubt in a couple of weeks we will be able to do this with our eys shut but at the moment it is quite an effort.  We only trawled around the shops for about 40 minutes before we had had enough and headed back home.  Éowyn slept through the whole journey and was oblivious to our struggle.

I then introduced her to the delights of Soccer Saturday, unfortunately she was not impressed.  The journey had sapped most of her strength and she slept through West Brom’s drubbing by Hull City at home, waking briefly only to fill her nappy.  The most succinct match report I have seen in quite a while!  I think in that one action she summed up the feelings of many West Brom fans.

Saturday night was quite an achievement, in the fact that apart form waking every 3 hours for feeding she slept through, allowing us to get our best night’s sleep since she came home.  If this is the shape of things to come, we will be very happy parents.  Although, to be honest I think it was a one off.  We wait and see.

Today was a very busy day.  Nanny Fran, Auntie Liz and Auntie Mary (My mom and sisters) came down to spent the day cuddling, and in Auntie Liz’s case: nappy changing!  It was the first time that my mom had been able to hold Éowyn, since the last time she had seen her she had been in the incubator, and the first time that Auntie Liz had seen her.  Mom came with bagfuls of presents and cards from friends and relatives.  Once again, a big thank you to eveyone who has bought gifts and sent cards, we are truly overwhelmed and Éowyn has literally got a better wardrobe than me!

She also had a flying visit from our friend Clair and a visit and a cuddle from her Great Auntie Diana.  She is a very curious baby and loves being held and cuddled and we are very happy for her to go to as many people as she is happy to.

Tomorrow we have our second, at last home, visit by the midwife who will make sure that everything is still progressing well with her and will weight her.  I fully expect her to be above the 8lb mark, she seems to have grown so much over the last week or so.  Later in the week we will register her birth and then with the doctor so that we can go for further check ups at the surgery.

I will stop now and post a few photos.

Peace and love

Baggie and Lucinda x