Is she teething?

Oh God, I don't know! I've been thinking she might be for a couple of months now, she's certainly showing all the 'symptoms'. But the last couple of nights have been awful, she's been a nightmare to put down, crying, arching her back and fighting me all the way - I told Kris just last night that it was like trying to feed a hyperactive baby monkey rather then our beautiful girl.

She's been waking a lot (even for Molly!) and staying awake for hours on end just whining at me. She's pink cheeked (although that could have been too much sun in the park yesterday - another bad mummy moment that reduced me to tears last night, although that also could have been brought on by exhaustion), pink bottomed and generally grumpy and cross, and I'm sure I felt something sharper then normal when I was feeding her on Friday. So, I'm thinking that they are definitely on they're way now... maybe.

So, is this what we have to look forward too for the next two years? Every time she's a little bit fractious, or a bit out of sorts we'll just blame it on the teeth and hope they come through nice and quickly. So many people have offered so much advice on teething that I'm afraid now I don't really know my a*#e from my elbow, and I guess we'll just play it by ear and see how she goes. At the moment she just wants to chew everything that comes within grabbing distance - toys, clothes, rugs, the cat, my foot (eugh!), my hair (yuck!) - and I think that helps, well, it certainly seems to up her saliva production, which is nice, ha ha!

At least it won't be constant right? Why can't they just all pop out within a week of each other? I could cope with one week of this but two years?!?! Oh my goodness, where's the Panadol, no, not for Molly, for me!

So much fun!

Today Molly and I, along with Jody and Ella went swimming for the first time! It was soooo cool, Molly loved it! She was a little bit nervous to start with, the swimming pool was full of kids and noise, so once inside the changing rooms she did look a little bit anxious, poor sausage had no idea what was going on.

Once we were in the pool she had a whale of a time. Jody showed me how to hold her properly and swoosh her around without drowning her (a very real concern for me!), after about 10 minutes she was trying to escape from me and wriggling so much it was a job to keep hold of her.

A big splash in the face made her cry for about 20 seconds and then she was all smiles again. I am concerned now that our paddling pool won't be acceptable to her anymore, the swimming pool was much, much warmer - so she didn't spend the first 10 minutes sharply intaking breath, until she gets used to it! I can't wait to take her again!

I didn't have a camera to take any photos in the pool, but this is Molly on our return home and ready for a big afternoon nap - she looks pretty happy eh?

Oh my goodness!

It's January 16th already!!

It's been a fairly hectic few weeks here. Much like the 'summer' weather, our schedule has been all over the place, it's amazing how a few long weekends can throw you. Molly was heartbroken this week when Daddy had to go back to work for a full week! Oh well, back to normal now I guess...

But not for long, in just 10 short days my Mum arrives for a month and I can't wait! It's been over six months since we've seen her and that's just too long. She arrives on the 26th Janunary at some god awful early hour of the morning, but who cares! I couldn't be more excited.

I think having children really makes you appreciate your parents so much more - not that I didn't before, but it just makes you think about all they've done for you, things that you take for granted until you find yourself doing it. I can't even begin to say enough 'thank you's' to my Mum. I think having Molly may be a good start though, they fell in love in an instant.

I only wish I could have the chance to introduce her to my Dad, I’ve been thinking about him a lot just lately. Sometimes I look at Molly and see him as clear as day, she has his (and mine) enormous, joker mouth - as you can see - and some of her expressions are so like him it’s untrue, so maybe he’s met her already… I hope so.

2006! How did that happen?

Happy New Year everybody! and apologies for the lack of blog for the last few days it's been pretty busy here, no time to sit and reflect on things... until now.

So, believe it or not, we actually enjoyed New Year's Eve this year, for the first time in years. No mad party, no drunken misadventures, just a lovely night in and out (we took it in turns to baby sit and go for dinner) with friends and their lovely wee girl. It was a beautiful sunny and warm night so we ate outside, under the trees, and tried to pretend that we weren't freaking out about leaving Molly - first time! (apart from when my Mum forced us out to dinner when she was three weeks old) - we allowed ourselves to be ridiculed for being home after a measly 1 hour away! Molly had just about had time to eat her tea and was really not too concerned about our absence at all. So now it was our turn to look after the babies, just long enough for them to have dessert, a quick splash in the bath - how gorgeous do they look? so cute! they seemed a bit bewildered about the whole thing - and bed.

Even more unbelievable is that we saw the New Year in, I'm usually in bed by 10.00 latest, but not tonight! although all talk of New Year was banned, I'm not a great fan of this evening (all seems a bit pointless to me and just makes me depressed) but hey we did it!

An almost edible brunch on New Years Day was much needed - boys needed to soak up the alcohol! and swiftly back to bed, for all of us. I've never been more grateful for a two hour nap mid morning - good on ya Molly! Must have been all that playing with Ella that exhausted you!
Hooray!

So now we're back to normal. Daddy has gone back to work and the tree will come down later on today (is it the 12th night yet?). And so, on with a new year... I have a feeling this one is going to be a lot of fun... watch this space!