With the recent arrival of our newest family member, Little Miss, there have been some big changes in Monkey’s world. He is now a big brother!
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preparing for baby no.2
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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Packing your Hospital Bag for a C Section
With the date booked for my C Section, the time has come to think about packing my hospital bag. Some of the things you pack when going for a C Section are the same as you would for a natural birth, whereas others are very different, as a planned C Section is obviously a different experience.
There are of course tonnes of sources online for hospital bag checklists which are all so so handy, but I don’t think they cover everything. With the benefit of going through this experience once before I am hoping that this time I will pack everything I need. So here is my list for what to pack in a hospital bag for a C Section, including some things you may not have
thought of!
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25 weeks Bump update & Monkey comes to meet the Midwife!
I can’t believe I am 25 weeks pregnant already! It definitely seems to be going a LOT faster second time around! So how’s it going? Well, ok really. Here is the latest bump shot!
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!
Summer Goals with #GetGoodSummer
I don’t know about you but we always have a long list of jobs that need sorting. Some are things we get excited about so they get ticked off quickly, others are less urgent, and less interesting so hang around on that list for a long, long time. With our baby girl arriving in November, and with a bit more energy now I am in the 2nd Trimester, I am keen to get a lot of jobs ticked off asap. I know that when I get really big, and then when the baby is here, the list will be pushed away almost entirely for a while, so we have a window of opportunity to get some things done.
Our current jobs list
Baby, baby, baby
The only word I can think up to sum up this week is “baby!” Because, since our scan on Tuesday, the fact that we are having another baby has suddenly become more real. Whether it is because we know “it” is in fact a “she,” or because we know that she is growing well in there I’m not sure, but she has now become a reality.
It’s suddenly dawned on me that we are in no way ready for another baby! I know we have a while to go yet and so I am not overly stressed or panicky, but I am suddenly feeling that we aren’t ready, and I so hate being unprepared for things. Complete control freak! I know I’ve been thinking about things like whether to get a new buggy, but that’s as far as we’ve got, thinking. My lovely physio (who is also pregnant, and due a week or 2 before I am) was asking me last week if we had everything and if we were ready, and I was so blasé and said we were pretty sorted, when we really aren’t!
To Buy a New Buggy? Or Not?
I’ve been debating for ages what to do about a buggy when number 2 comes along.
We have a Phil & Teds Sport buggy that I got second hand from a girl at work, liking the fact that it could be turned into a tandem pushchair when you have two. It isn’t the perfect pushchair, as it can be a bit heavy, frequently gets punctures, and the front wheel bugs me when going up and down small steps as it swings round and then is a pain to move again. But… it didn’t cost a huge amount and we’ve managed perfectly fine so far. It has a nice big storage area underneath, and is a good height, which is great for hubby who is 6’2.”
My concern with this buggy is that for some reason I thought that when you get the extender kit to turn it into a tandem pushchair, that the older toddler should sit in the bottom part, and the newborn be in the car seat attached to the top. The problem with this is that Monkey is so tall for his age (he’s already 3’2″) and I don’t think he would fit in the back bit. But I also didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a new buggy, as there is nothing really wrong with the one we have.
This has been lurking at the back of my mind for ages, hubby definitely doesn’t see the need to get a new one, and is perfectly happy with the sport. I find the sport a bit heavy and clunky at times but it’s not that bad and I know that we really cannot afford to get a brand new buggy and even a second hand one wouldn’t come cheap.
Never mind actually deciding which one to get if we did decide to get a new one! A really wide double one? Even though Monkey doesn’t need it all the time? Seems a bit pointless.
A different tandem one with a different design? But one that would also be compatible with our Maxi-cosi car seat.
Or, do we not get a new buggy at all and just get a buggy board to attach so Monkey can ride on the back? Or even persuade him to always go on a ride on toy when we are out and not have a buggy available to him.
I have thought a lot about different options, and it’s not like Monkey is in the buggy all the time, but sometimes if we walk to the park for a play, by the time it is time to go home he is whiny and tired and wants to sit down. My friend’s 3 yr old is the same so I don’t think he’s miraculously going to be happy walking all the time in 6 months when the baby is in the buggy. Sometimes for these occasions I just use our really cheap stroller as it is a lot lighter. Can’t really use that with a baby though!
So anyway I had a look around our local kiddicare a few weeks ago, at the hundreds of different buggies there.
I also looked at the Phil & Teds properly. I really should have done this before as it may have saved me a lot of thought and worry and weighing up. Because the younger baby can go in the back and the toddler in the front. Why did I not realise this before?? Honestly I’ve seen lots of other Phil & Teds users and they all seem to have the older toddler sat in the bottom bit, so I just assumed (WRONGLY) that that was how it had to be! D’oh!
So that is ok when baby can sit up a bit (or be propped up) BUT when baby is really newborn, the idea is that baby lies down in the baby carrier and this is rested on the main seat (folded down flat) with the extra seat then sort of on top of that. And that seems a bit confusing to me.
image courtesy of phil & teds
But I think I have made up my mind to stick with the Phil & Ted sport, and buy the extender kit (second hand, I don’t see the point spending £80 on it when we only paid about £70 for the buggy itself!) and try it out and see how it goes. We may get a buggy board too. We will just have to see how we get on. He got an oh so cool ride on motorbike for his birthday and it may be that he’ll prefer to ride on that when we go out, difficult to know really!
What did you do when baby number 2 came along? Was your eldest old enough to manage without a buggy, or did you go for a double?
