Meanwhile, Emma is 4
Yes, it may be crazy times out there, but in here one very cheerful, beautiful, happy, fascinating, kind, cheeky, amazing, feisty little girl turned 4 today. We tried a few tricks, but couldn’t stop time from flying. So here she is, ready to (hopefully) start school this year and rocking her preschool attitude.
We had a fabulous birthday party planned for her and it was really difficult to make her understand that we need to settle for a ‘virtual party’. She did enjoy seeing everyone and danced (but not as she would have done at her real party), she really loved her Frozen cake and kept telling me how happy she is, so felt like we managed to turn things around for her. But I felt really emotional and I was nearly in tears when the Zoom party finished, as it just didn’t feel right.
Emma’s arrival completed our family and turned our days and nights to complete chaos, but has brought endless happiness and joy. She knows so much and has such a rich imagination, makes up stories, loves role play, has a massive personality and is such an extrovert and a social butterfly.
She knows exactly what she wants and how to get it, and her cheeky smile is helping her a lot. From the very beginning she showed us who the new boss in the house is. First, she was born 8 days over the due date, which may not sound much, but for a heavily pregnant woman every day at that point feels like forever. Second, I/we spent 21 hours in labour with no progress whatsoever, without any painkillers as I was doing a VBAC and was a relatively high risk birth, then within an hour Little Miss Sunshine (aka Bossy) decided it was time for her to finally make an appearance, so she stormed into the world. 🙈Third, after being moved to a lovely room in the birth centre, where I was hoping I’d finally get some rest, every time I had put her down in the little cot bed she would start crying, so eventually I took her next to me and she slept like a baby (obviously!). And next to me is where she slept for the next 3 years or so. We tried all sort of arrangements, including putting the cot next to our bed - in that scenario I ended up sleeping in the cot, as she wanted to be in the bed. Anyway, up to this day she wakes me up at night, and there’s probably only a handful of times when she slept through the night, which basically makes me sleep deprived for nearly 9 years. Because before Emma was born, her cheeky big sister was waking up and only wanted Mummy. A few weeks ago Emma called ‘Daddy’ at 2am - I couldn’t believe my ears, and although Dan went to her, I was so excited about it that I couldn’t go back to sleep for a couple of hours. 😂
So yes, anything stupid I say or do is an effect of me not getting enough sleep. That’s actually a good excuse for everything. I need to come up with an excuse for when she will finally start sleeping through the night.
I would have loved another baby, actually I get all broody when I see babies, but it looks like we don’t know how to make ones who sleep, and I don’t think I could go on for another 4 years of not sleeping properly. And don’t think my patience would hold for a third one - I have my doubts sometimes that it holds much longer with these two monkeys.
Both our girls are extremely attached to is, most likely because we read too much about all the attachment and unconditional parenting s...tuff. Or maybe they were just lucky that we forgot about our needs and were desperately trying to keep them happy. Emma in particular, I carried her in the sling all the time, she napped in the sling, she basically lived there. So no wonder she was one very clingy toddler, waking up and wanting me next to her, and hard work. My shaddow is not as good as she is at following me all day long. But I wouldn’t change anything, because she’s always been one very happy child, and her smiles made up for everything. These weeks when it’s such a challenge to find our ground, she is such a sweetie and makes us all laugh. She has no idea how helpful that is!
Her relationship with Ariana is amazing, they get along quite well, thanks to Ariana being very patient, and they play so much together. Of course they bicker now and then, as they are quite different personalities, but at the end of the day they are best friends.
After Emma was born we tried to be really careful not to give Ariana reasons to feel like she gets less attention so I think we ended up focusing on her even more than before Emma’s birth. That really helped, as she felt secure and she never showed signs of jealousy. It’s crazy how all the feelings can double up when having a second child, it almost feels incredible that your heart can hold so much.
Quite funnily since she turned 4 she's been sleeping through the night 3 nights out of 5. Me, on the other hand, I wake up at random times thinking she called me, then can't go back to sleep. However, I've probably jinxed it now. But that's ok, because her gorgeous smile will always make things feel easy. ❤️
We had a fabulous birthday party planned for her and it was really difficult to make her understand that we need to settle for a ‘virtual party’. She did enjoy seeing everyone and danced (but not as she would have done at her real party), she really loved her Frozen cake and kept telling me how happy she is, so felt like we managed to turn things around for her. But I felt really emotional and I was nearly in tears when the Zoom party finished, as it just didn’t feel right.
Emma’s arrival completed our family and turned our days and nights to complete chaos, but has brought endless happiness and joy. She knows so much and has such a rich imagination, makes up stories, loves role play, has a massive personality and is such an extrovert and a social butterfly.She knows exactly what she wants and how to get it, and her cheeky smile is helping her a lot. From the very beginning she showed us who the new boss in the house is. First, she was born 8 days over the due date, which may not sound much, but for a heavily pregnant woman every day at that point feels like forever. Second, I/we spent 21 hours in labour with no progress whatsoever, without any painkillers as I was doing a VBAC and was a relatively high risk birth, then within an hour Little Miss Sunshine (aka Bossy) decided it was time for her to finally make an appearance, so she stormed into the world. 🙈Third, after being moved to a lovely room in the birth centre, where I was hoping I’d finally get some rest, every time I had put her down in the little cot bed she would start crying, so eventually I took her next to me and she slept like a baby (obviously!). And next to me is where she slept for the next 3 years or so. We tried all sort of arrangements, including putting the cot next to our bed - in that scenario I ended up sleeping in the cot, as she wanted to be in the bed. Anyway, up to this day she wakes me up at night, and there’s probably only a handful of times when she slept through the night, which basically makes me sleep deprived for nearly 9 years. Because before Emma was born, her cheeky big sister was waking up and only wanted Mummy. A few weeks ago Emma called ‘Daddy’ at 2am - I couldn’t believe my ears, and although Dan went to her, I was so excited about it that I couldn’t go back to sleep for a couple of hours. 😂
So yes, anything stupid I say or do is an effect of me not getting enough sleep. That’s actually a good excuse for everything. I need to come up with an excuse for when she will finally start sleeping through the night.
I would have loved another baby, actually I get all broody when I see babies, but it looks like we don’t know how to make ones who sleep, and I don’t think I could go on for another 4 years of not sleeping properly. And don’t think my patience would hold for a third one - I have my doubts sometimes that it holds much longer with these two monkeys.
Both our girls are extremely attached to is, most likely because we read too much about all the attachment and unconditional parenting s...tuff. Or maybe they were just lucky that we forgot about our needs and were desperately trying to keep them happy. Emma in particular, I carried her in the sling all the time, she napped in the sling, she basically lived there. So no wonder she was one very clingy toddler, waking up and wanting me next to her, and hard work. My shaddow is not as good as she is at following me all day long. But I wouldn’t change anything, because she’s always been one very happy child, and her smiles made up for everything. These weeks when it’s such a challenge to find our ground, she is such a sweetie and makes us all laugh. She has no idea how helpful that is!
Her relationship with Ariana is amazing, they get along quite well, thanks to Ariana being very patient, and they play so much together. Of course they bicker now and then, as they are quite different personalities, but at the end of the day they are best friends.After Emma was born we tried to be really careful not to give Ariana reasons to feel like she gets less attention so I think we ended up focusing on her even more than before Emma’s birth. That really helped, as she felt secure and she never showed signs of jealousy. It’s crazy how all the feelings can double up when having a second child, it almost feels incredible that your heart can hold so much.
Quite funnily since she turned 4 she's been sleeping through the night 3 nights out of 5. Me, on the other hand, I wake up at random times thinking she called me, then can't go back to sleep. However, I've probably jinxed it now. But that's ok, because her gorgeous smile will always make things feel easy. ❤️
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