The Gallery: Expressions

My poor baby must be feeling severely unloved due to the lack of photographs of him so far in comparison to his big brother by the time he was the baby's age! I suppose that happens with many second children. Particularly if the eldest is still young enough that he would destroy the camera if it were left somewhere easily accessible to the parents.

With that in mind, and having noticed on Twitter that it is Gallery day (why can I never remember - oh, maybe that'll be the lack of sleep), I thought I should get my camera out today. So I packed Felix off to his bedroom for some "quiet time", which usually doesn't involve very much quiet time and certainly doesn't involve any sleep, whilst Elliot did his best modelling work.

It may seem a boringly obvious response to this week's theme of Expressions, but forgive me. I have a new baby (alright, nearly 3 months. He still feels new to me) and I haven't yet captured a good smile even though he started smiling at the tender age of 5 weeks.

Indulge me. Here is my baby boy, Elliot, giving me his best cheesy grin. And I didn't have to sing to obtain it either!

Go check out some more amazing expressions in The Gallery at Sticky Fingers.

Aliens and Robots

Felix, age 2, is finally beginning to talk more and we are enjoying fuller conversations with him as a result. It is highly entertaining.

For example, on the way back from nursery this week, his daddy asked him if he'd had a good day and what he'd been up to. Feeling quite tired, he went for the answering questions option, rather than offering anything more to the conversation himself.

Daddy: Did you eat your lunch?

Felix: yeah

Daddy: Did you play with Daniel?

Felix: yeah

Daddy: Did you go outside?

Felix: yeah

Daddy: Did you play on the slide?

Felix: yeah

Daddy: Did you stroke a giraffe?

Felix: yeah

Daddy: Did you go on a train ride to the seaside?

Felix: yeah

Daddy: Did aliens come down in a spaceship and turn the sky black and swap your teacher with a robot?

Felix: errrr, no.

So, he was listening.

The 29 Year Old Virgin

Having sex for the first time after giving birth is a little like losing one’s virginity all over again. How will it feel? Has my body returned to normal? Will my jelly belly put him (or me) off? And the longer you go on NOT having sex, the more of a big deal it becomes. The more you just want to get it over and done with.

Well, I’m there. I want to get it over and done with. I’m not expecting it to be a pleasant affair - that’s no reflection on my husband’s performance, more a suggestion of what my mental state will be by the time we actually get down to business. But I know once that first time is over and done with, I’ll be able to relax and enjoy it once more.

You may wonder why it’s taken us so long. I didn’t wait so long after my first child. Oh no. The medical profession recommend that you abstain until your post-natal six week check up. Well, we didn’t. I think it was about four weeks. As soon as I felt my stitches had fully healed and the mood took me whilst the baby was sleeping.

It’s a little more difficult with TWO children. Night-time is pretty much a no go as due to waking every 3 hours or more through the night for the past 8 weeks, I’m pretty shattered by the time bedtime rolls around. Earlier evening, once the toddler has gone to bed maybe. Well if the baby had a predictable bedtime and evening sleep pattern by now then this might be a possibility - if I was also organised enough to have dinner ready and eaten before toddler’s bedtime. Let’s face it, dinner will always take priority over sex. FACT.

What about daytime then before all my energy has seeped away. Well, that’s the main problem. There’s a child around. And due to Christmas, then visitors, then toddler illness, then my illness... and I think that brings us bang up to date.

So here I am, getting more and more apprehensive about it, building up the event in my mind until I’m almost going to be too scared to actually do it. And I can’t even do what many older virgins do and get plastered. Stupid breastfeeding rules.