Nanny Fran Part Two

And so my three week break (from work) begins.  The idea being that I can give some support to Lucinda and hopefully get Éowyn into some kind of routine – well that’s our plan, Éowyn may have different ideas, it’ll be fun to find out who’ll win.

The week started quite quietly with her first visit to Early Bird at the Harvester in Windsor, in honour of her Grandad’s birthday.  However she was suitably nonplussed and slept through the entire dinner, at least she wasn’t screaming the house down.

Wednesday was the usual mother’s coffee morning and again she slept through it.  Lucinda is beginning to think that the other mum’s think we have the perfect baby and that she never cries.  I’m sure she puts it all on to make us look like liars.  She certainly can scream and cry the house down.  Usually at 3 in the morning, when the night seems like it will never end.  Following the coffee morning was the visit to the clinic and news that she had broke the 10lb barrier and now weighs 10lb 7oz (a 38% increase in weight in less than a month!)

My good friend Sanjiv popped round on Thursday to meet the little one.  Yet again, she proved her parents liars by sleeping through his entire visit, including a visit to the pub for lunch.  She doesn’t just sleep you know!  Honest!

The weekend was the big event, the other reason why I took 3 weeks off.  We took Éowyn to visit West Bromwich, and especially to visit her Great Grandmother, my Mom’s Mom.  As you can see from the photo below her Great Grandma was overjoyed to meet her, even though it makes her feel old.  So we had four generations of Bagnall’s (well McGinns and Bagnalls to be precise) in one room, a first for our family!

On Saturday there was a steady stream of visitors from my Uncle and Aunt, to friends and neighbours, she was the centre of attention and again she was not fussed.  I think that she likes it.  It is amazing how a child brings everyone together and how fascinating watching a child can be, like staring into the flames of a fire.  There must be something primeval about it, a kind of genetic conditioning.

We also took Éowyn visit her Great-Great Uncle and Great-Great Aunt, my nan’s older brother and his wife, my Great Uncle Albert and Great Aunt Iris.  Another bridge across the generations.  Uncle Albert has traced his side of the family tree (the Wyton side, my maternal grandmother’s side) as far as the 1540’s and now he has met the generation that will take the family forward.  I suppose that with longevity increasing this will be become a more common sight, even for those of us that hail from the Black Country.

There are still many more family members for Éowyn to meet and so a second trip up north is planned to continue the introductions to the family, a visit to the Hawthorns as well as the important task of allowing Nanny Fran (and Auntie Liz) some serious cuddle time.

Until next time, peace and love

Baggie!

I'm a Great Grandma!
I'm a Great Grandma!
I'm your Great Grandma
I'm your Great Grandma
The Generations
The Generations
Mommy and Éowyn
Mommy and Éowyn
First smile
First smile
Me? Smiling? Never!
Me? Smiling? Never!
OK, I was!
OK, I was!
Great Uncle Michael
Great Uncle Michael
Great Auntie Yvonne
Great Auntie Yvonne
Great-Great Uncle Albert
Great-Great Uncle Albert
Great-Great Auntie Iris
Great-Great Auntie Iris
Nanny Fran And Auntie Liz
Nanny Fran And Auntie Liz

Nanny Fran Part One

I have been lax of late updating the website, but I think that you can all appreciate that there is something else that is more important that has a greater hold on my time.  But I have a couple of hours in order, to try and bring you all up to date with the latest happening in the life of the Bagnall family.  I will start with the week starting the 10th November.

This was my final week at work before the start of three weeks of annual leave.  However, it was my long week at work.  (For those of you that do not know, I work a shift that involves 12 hours days but only 7 of them a fortnight.  One week consists of 5 days (60 hours!) the second week only 2 (24 hours).  So on average I still work 42 hours but I do get relatively more days off, but when I am at work, it is a long day.)  So Lucinda would have the responsibility of looking after Éowyn all by herself.  Something that would be a strain so early, but my mom, relishing the idea of having plenty of time with Éowyn volunteered to come down for a couple of days to help.  This was a god-send as Lucinda expressed (even though the health visitor pooh-poohed the idea of expressing so early) and Nanny Fran fed Éowyn her middle of the night feed allowing Lucinda and myself some uninterrupted sleep.  A big thank you to Mom for doing this, even thought I know she enjoyed it, it did feel like we were taking advantage.

Éowyn seems to miss her Nanny Fran whenever she has been around and tends to have a restless night the next night, as so it was this time.  Unfortunately this scuppered our plans to take Éowyn in to visit the girls in the office.  People were very generous at work with presents for Éowyn and everyone is genuinely interested and looking forward to meeting her and so we had decided to take her in on my day off and introduce her to her surrogate aunties.  However, a hour or so of sleep is not conducive to such a visit and so it has been postponed for a couple of weeks.

Here are a few photos from the week, hopefully you can see how much she is growing.

Nanny Fran
Nanny Fran
At the Lake with Nanny Fran
At the Lake with Nanny Fran
Asleep by the lake
Asleep by the lake
Auntie Mary and Éowyn
Auntie Mary and Éowyn
On Nanny Fran's Lap
On Nanny Fran's Lap

Back to work tomorrow

And so my paternity leave comes to an end and I have to return to work tomorrow.  I think that it is going to be difficult for all three of us; we have been working as a team for the last week or so, since Lucinda came out of hospital, but now the onus will be on Lucinda to carry the baby duties unassisted.  I, on the other hand, will return to some semblance of normality.

I could regale you with what I have learnt and grown to appreciate over the past fortnight or so, but those of you will children of your own will understand and those without would probably baulk at the thought.  Suffice to say that I could now not imagine life without Éowyn, even through the crying and sleepless nights and soiled nappies, fatherhood is a wonderful gift.

We have had quite a busy day today.  Our friends Danny and Andrea came round with their son Jack.  I can not believe how much Jack has grown (he is only 11 weeks old) and already looks like a little boy rather than a baby.  Danny and Andrea have survived the sleepless nights, so there is light at the end of the tunnel.  It was great to chat with them as it gave us renewed hope and an assurance that some things are only temporary.  Especially since it is so recent to them and as they have proved you will come through it, even though that is hard to believe at 04:00 while trying to rock a crying monster to sleep.  Then our friend Pam arrived but unfortunately she was only here for about five minutes before our belated midwife appointment was realised, so hurriedly they all left, which was a shame but hopefully it will not be long before we see them again, especially since Éowyn slept through their entire visit and they missed out on cuddles.

The midwife was really nice and she put our mind at rest over a couple of minor concerns and gave Lucinda a clean bill of health before discharging us from the midwifery care and thus we now fall under the health visitor.

It was only a couple of hours later that the health visitor came round.  She, too, was really nice and we had a long chat with her about Éowyn and how things go on from here.  Also, she weighed her and we are very pleased to announce that she is 8lbs 7oz (3.850kgs).  She is now nearly a pound heavier that when she was born and exactly a pound heavier than this time last week when she was discharged from hospital.  This has put Lucinda’s mind at rest that she is breastfeeding correctly and that Éowyn is getting enough nourishment.  This also gives Lucinda the excuse to eat those extra 500 calories that you burn each day breastfeeding.

So, with less time for me to fill in this website, you will find that the updates will not be daily, however I do intend to regularly add updates to Éowyn’s progress (probably closer to weekly updates) with photos and also fill in a few more pages on Lucinda and me.

And here are few more of those photos…

Peace and love

Baggie

Yes it IS comfy!
Yes it IS comfy!
What do you think of my pose?
What do you think of my pose?
Deep in thought
Deep in thought
Leave me alone, I'm sleeping
Leave me alone, I'm sleeping
Éowyn on mommy
Éowyn on mommy
Blue Steel!
Blue Steel!