The Nursery is finally finished!

Over the summer we did really well with transforming our junk room into the baby’s room. #GetGoodSummer hosted by Claire at Clarina’s Contemplations was a great motivator for us and we did really well…. Then the progress sort of tailed off a little. The only thing left for us to do was the wall stickers, but we chose quite a big mural and I’ll admit I was pretty nervous about getting it on the wall, so we kind of put it off!

Last week though we decided to take the bull by the horns and just get on with it! It went really well and now, finally, thankfully, the nursery is finished (with just over a week until baby is born, just in time too!!). So here it is, our lovely nursery and a few of our favourite things in there.
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Planning the Nursery – #GetGoodSummer wk3

Wow so we are into week 3 of #GetGoodSummer already! Time is flying! I am now 24 weeks pregnant, which means if we have to have a c-section, we could have a baby in 14 weeks.. doesn’t sound too long away when you put it like that! Two of our #GetGoodSummer goals are related to the baby room. The first (to clear out the room) is pretty much done, though there is still an exercise bike that needs to be moved out, but that isn’t a big job. Which means, it’s on to goal 2 – decorating the nursery!

 

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Starting to think about baby number 2…. yipes!

My brothers and I

My brothers and I

Yep, we think it is time to think about maybe trying for a second baby. We’ve always known that we would like more than one child, but have had lots of discussions over the years about exactly how many kids we would like, and how close we would like them to be in age. Hubby has always been clear that he would like 3 children (we were both middle children in families with 3 children) whereas I am a bit more unsure of whether 2 or 3 is the right number. I’ve always thought 3 children just made things a bit more complicated, holidays, car size etc… but loved being one of 3 kids too so just really unsure whether to go with heart or head.

Hubby and his brothers

Hubby and his brothers

Age wise, we initially thought 2 years apart was about the right age gap… but after a difficult first pregnancy we realised we would need Monkey to be a little older, perhaps 2 1/2 – 3 when a sibling is born, just as he needs to be a bit more self sufficient. If my next pregnancy is anything like my first, I am unlikely to be able to do anywhere near as much with him as I do now. How difficult I find the next pregnancy will also potentially decide whether we stop at 2 children or have any more, as it depends how much I am willing to put my body through.

So what made my first pregnancy so hard? Well I have been writing about it but I think it deserves a post all to itself so there will be more of that to follow!!

Learning to be a mummy

Learning to be a mummy

The other thing to think about is how hard will it be with two? Monkey is at such a lovely age now, he is a lot more independent and very much a toddler rather than a baby. We are still waiting for words but he is a lot more communicative so hopefully it won’t be too long now. So the thought of going back to baby days scares me I have to admit. I am hoping that it is a little easier second time round, as you have done it once. There should be less of the rabbit in the headlights look that you get the first time, right? There will also be Monkey there for the baby to be entertained by and me to have fun with which I am hoping will make it less lonely than the first time round?

Sleepless nights

Sleepless nights

 

 

But going back to sleepless nights, breast feeding (and the lovely changes to your body that come with it) or maybe formula feeding, possibly sleep training again, then weaning….. It was hard enough the first time round, particularly the first 3 months I found, but maybe that’s just because Monkey had colic?

 

Am I ready to do it all again? Well, I have realised that I am as ready as I will ever be and that’s the key thing. I am certainly more ready than I was with Monkey as at least I know what to expect next time and have some experience. But I survived it before, and came out with a gorgeous, happy healthy little boy, a marriage intact and a happy smile on my face so I am sure I can do it again as I so want Monkey to have a sibling.

It’s funny to think about our family changing, our happy little unit of 3 will hopefully become a 4. How will the next baby’s personality evolve our family dynamic. It’s quite exciting to think about actually. Hubby was looking at some pre-monkey photos today and said he can’t remember the days when it was just us two. Will we feel like that about the days before baby 2 in a few years? Only time will tell I guess!

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Our little family

This is of course assuming that we will be able to get pregnant easily again, when there is no telling really. It happened much faster than we thought it would last time so this time we need to be prepared for that, but also prepared for it to take some time as you never know and we don’t want to stress about it… so I guess watch this space! We will have to wait and see what 2014 brings.

How did you find the change going from one child to two? Was it harder or easier than you thought?

 

A very lovely Family Christmas, and a very happy Monkey :)

What a lovely week we have had! I hope all of you have had a very lovely Christmas too? Monkey has been a very lucky boy and got to spend a lot of time with lots of his favourite people, and got lots of lovely toys! He’s obviously a bit young yet to really understand what was going on or why we were all together giving each other presents, but he loved it nonetheless!

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Christmas Day was at our house, it’s our second year hosting Christmas and we’ve got the Christmas Dinner routine down now I think! Before our first shot last year we had lots of practice roasts to make sure we had the timings right, and this year just had one or two alterations/improvements and it all went pretty much perfectly (except that we forgot to buy any bread for Christmas Day teatime, and didn’t have any metal skewers to keep the stuffing in the turkey… luckily a couple of dough hooks worked just as well!! :)) We are perhaps a bit OTT with planning, and have our Christmas Day Plan stuck on the cupboard door, but it works for us and keeps the stress on the day down to an absolute minimum.

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Lots of fun was had by all and it was a lovely day with my side of the family

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Boxing day was at Hubby’s brother’s house with all of their side of the family and was another lovely day. Much more relaxed as no roast to cook and less presents to be opened, but Monkey still had lots and he loves all of his relatives so he had loads of fun again there.

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Not much else to say really, we are enjoying a quiet few days with hubby off work and Monkey playing with all of his new toys! New Year’s Eve will be a quiet affair in our house with a take-away curry and a movie I think, need a rest after the busy week we have had 🙂

Happy New Year’s to you all and all the best for 2014!