Coincidence

Today marks the end of Amélie’s first week out of the womb. (I was going to say on Planet Earth but she has been here for a whole 9 months; it is only the last week that she has been a separate entity.) This is also the day that she officially became part of the population of the United Kingdom for today we registered her birth at the local registry office. Today was also the first day that our family of four all travelled in the same car together. So it has been a momentous day in triplicate. But before any of that let me get you slightly up to speed with the midwife’s visit.

As I mentioned yesterday the midwife was due to come round to discharge us from midwifery care into the arms of the health visitors. The midwife weighed Amélie (she was 3.740kg (8lb 4oz), therefore she has only lost 44 grams or just over an ounce) and was pleased that she has not lost that much weight. Some weight loss is usual and babies can lose half a pound in the first few days after birth and should be back to their birth weight by their 2nd week. Therefore Amélie is right on track and will probably be back to birth weight tomorrow! That’s my girl! The midwife also performed the Guthrie Test (Heel Prick Test). This is to test for a variety of genetic conditions and one of those things that if all is well you will never hear about it. They only contact you if it is bad news, or they need to run more tests. Let’s hope we don’t hear back. The midwife also gave Lucinda a check up and so both my girls passed with flying colours.

Last night Amélie had probably her best night (or should that be, we had our best night). She took a little bit of settling after her middle of the night feed (0330) which Lucinda admirably dealt with, while I snoozed (O.K. snored). Then at 0700 both girls woke. I took Éowyn downstairs and Lucinda fed Amélie. Then Lucinda and Amélie snoozed until after 1000 this morning. So we both feel a little more human today. Amélie has been snoozing all day today (catching up on all that sleep she hasn’t had over the last few days) but this doesn’t fill us with any expectation of what the night holds. Only time will tell.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, today we registered the birth of Amélie Iris. By law this needs to be done within the first 6 weeks of a birth and it is one of those things that you may as well just make the appointment and get it out of the way. Also once you have a birth certificate you can claim Child Benefit (if you are reading this is in the latter part of the 2010’s you may wonder what this strange phrase means. Child benefit (actually Family Allowance) was introduced by a coalition government in the post war year of 1945 (although the first claimant books were not issued until 1946). It was a universal payment given to mothers to help ease the burden on families during the dark economic times of housing shortages and food rationing. Initially it was only given on the birth of your second child (and subsequent children) to encourage multiple births to repopulate the country. In 1977 it was extended to include the first child. In 2013 that is due to change. Here endeth the history lesson), open a bank account and obtain a UK passport. This will happen in due course.

So with my car’s odometer reading exactly 40,000 miles our first family of four car trip began. However, it was only to Lucinda’s parents (at the end of the road) where we dropped Éowyn off so that we could concentrate on filling out the paperwork, especially if Amélie began to cry. Éowyn loves it around Nanny and Granddad’s and in the end Amélie was no bother at all, so it was a very pleasant afternoon. After registering Amélie we headed straight back to Lucinda parents where we stayed for tea. Thanks Jenny! And now with Éowyn in bed and Amélie sated we await what the night may bring.

We had an interesting coincidence today. The registrar that registered Amélie’s birth was the same registrar that married Lucinda and I. Lucinda remembered her immediately, she has an excellent memory for faces. I admit that it wasn’t until she said that I remembered. Not really synchronicity but a nice coincidence nevertheless.

Until the next time,

Peace and love

Baggie

A proud father of a newly registered daughter

A proud mother of a newly registered daughter

This is cosy

Granddad, Éowyn and Amélie

Amélie and Granddad

This is comfy

All wrapped up

Daddy, Éowyn and Amélie

Chill-axing

It seems a while since I updated the blog, so apologies to all you regular readers. The heatwave has left us and the weather has returned to a more expected British summer and Éowyn has settled into a really fun phase at the moment. She is sleeping through the night (let’s hope that hasn’t jinxed it) and her teething has subsided once again, (still no teeth!) Her separation anxiety has diminished somewhat. Obviously she still likes to know where her parents are, but if there is someone entertaining her or she is engrossed in play then she is not quite as clingy until she realises that she is not sure where Mum and Dad have gone. Will keep you all up to date with how that progresses.

There are some incidences in all of our lives when there seems to be something guiding our way, or looking out for us. Some people regard it the hand of a deity, others: fate and others dismiss it entirely. I’m not sure exactly what it is but when it happens I get a warm a fuzzy feeling inside, although that could be wind. The latest example of this kind of coincidence, revolves around our choice of child minder. As you may be aware, when Lucinda returns to work we will require a small amount of child care. Unfortunately, as we both work shift patterns this will not be the same day every week and it seems that most nurseries/ child-minders only accept set days each week and we are only looking for around 4-6 days a month.

When Lucinda was a child she would quite often stay at her nanny Vera’s (after whom Éowyn takes her middle name). Lucinda obviously enjoyed the attention that she would receive from her nan but also enjoyed playing with a girl, Jo who was a neighbour of Vera’s. When nanny Vera passed away there was no reason for Lucinda to visit that part of Staines and a childhood friendship was lost. Fast forward twenty-odd years and one of Lucinda’s friends, Liz, that we met through NCT is best friends with Jo. Jo it turns out is a registered child-minder who maybe able to take Éowyn under her wing.

Liz’s son, James, was Baptised on 12th July and Jo, being a close friend of Liz, was there and so we had an opportunity to meet her. Me for the first time and Lucinda for the first time since the early 1980’s! Lucinda and Jo seemed to turn the clock back and were soon catching up on two decades of gossip. Jo impressed us with her attitude to child-minding and the activities that she does with the kids in her care and she is exactly what we were looking for in a child-minder. So whether is is the finger of fate, nanny Vera keeping an eye on her great-granddaughter or just coincidence we have hopefully found the best answer to one of the major worries when returning to work, who is going to look after your child.

Lucinda and Jenny took Éowyn and Leo to Syon house to play in the Snakes and Ladders soft play area for children and toddlers. Éowyn thoroughly enjoyed herself especially the ball pit and on the bouncy castle. Fortunately as the schools had not yet broken for the summer holiday there was space each of the areas for the little ones to play safely. I don’t think that this will be the case for the next few weeks, so I will have to wait until September until I can have a go! As you can see from the photos, Éowyn did not want to leave, although it completely wore her out and she slept soundly that afternoon.

Éowyn took charge of her first vehicle. While we were on holiday in Noss Mayo Lucinda won some Early Learning Centre vouchers and so we wanted to make good use of them. Therefore after much deliberation we decided on the Smart Trike. It will hopefully last her many years as it grows from a parent controlled fancy pushchair to a fully working pedal trike. As you can see from the photos below she loves it and that first journey to Nan and Granddad’s is one that she will make many times on her trike.

Monday marked our second wedding anniversary. Unfortunately I was working but Lucinda and Éowyn paid me a visit and we went for lunch, but not before the girls in the office got to play with Éowyn. Éowyn was a little wary, if not scared, at first. This was understandable as it has been many months since she last came to mediahouse and she has become more aware of her surroundings since then. However, after a short time of hiding on daddy she soon was entertaining the girls and demonstrating her many talents. We will endeavour not to leave it quite as long next time.

Please enjoy the new photos both below and on Flickr.

Peace and love
Baggie!