Here are some pics from Connor's 2nd birthday. We had a Bob the Builder party for him. It was a lovely day and Joe did a BBQ in the garden. I made the cake - my first ever party cake! I'm quite pleased with it :-)

( I'm Two! )

So how is everyone?

I'm soo sorry I haven't been around for so long. Juggling a newborn with a toddler is really hard!

Maisy-Jo is doing really well. She's adorable and such a good little baby. She only wakes once in the night and her colicky evenings have gone completely now.

Connor is doing well, too. He's still not walking, though :-( He turns 2 in just over a month. I can't believe he still isn't walking. He's seeing a physiotherapist at the local child development centre. She's lovely and has even come to visit him at home aswell. He's been prescribed special shoes to help correct his foot, so hopefully they will help him to balance properly and ultimately walk independently. He can walk really well if he's aided (either by a person or using a walker) but can't balance is he's unaided.

I'm really looking forward to his second birthday, though. It's on Easter Monday this year and we're planning a proper little party for him. I'm even going to attempt to make a party cake! Wish me luck!

*****

So who's around these days? I haven't been able to read my flist for ages and there are lots of people there that I haven't chatted to in a long time. I would love to know what everyone is up to. Please, if you read this, can you reply and let me know you're still around (and if you have time, let me know what you've been up to).

( Maisy-Jo's Birth Story )

Maisy-Jo Russell was born at home today (22nd December 2006) at 10.44am weighing 7lbs 6ozs.

( Pictures this way :-) )

Sorry I haven't been updating again. Things have been really busy with the move and everything.

The move went really well but it's taken until now to get our broadband connected, so I haven't been able to get online much. Many thanks to everyone who has sent me a Christmas card - it's been so lovely to receive them.

The new house is great and we've settled in nicely. Most of our stuff is unpacked but we still need to sort a lot of it out.

The baby is still in there :-) I'm 38 weeks and 3 days now so s/he could arrive any day, although I think it's more likely to be some time next week. I'm just hoping it arrives before it's Christmas day due date!

I've been pretty tired lately with the move, plus Joe is working away (he's training at the police college) so I'm having to look after Connor on my own. But the police college is only 15-20 mins drive away so Joe has been popping home most evenings to help out and he's not far away if I go into labour!

I meet my new midwife tomorrow. I've spoken to her on the phone and she seems okay. She's happy to book me in for a homebirth without bothering to do a home visit first. She's going to book it in tomorrow when I go to see her, but she said if I go into labour beforehand I can just call the labour ward and tell them I'm staying home and they'll make sure they send someone.

Sorry I haven't been able to keep up with anything lately. Hopefully I'll be online more in the New Year when things have settled down a bit. If I don't get back on before, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas :-)

We've finally found somewhere to move to! We saw this place today and fell in love with it. It's in Gillingham, Kent, and it's perfect for our little family. It has a large living/dining room with wooden floors and a kitchen with utility room. There's a large garden with patio and grass, plus a shed. There's also a cellar which is in excellent condition and perfect to be used as a games room :-) Upstairs there's a large bathroom with good fittings, plus 2 double bedrooms. The master bedroom has built-in wardrobes. Plus there's plenty of loft space. The whole place is in pretty good condition. It's in a residential area with loads of parking available. We really love it and have reserved it while our credit checks go through. If all goes well, we should be able to move there by the end of this month. Connor loved it, too, and didn't want to leave! There are some pics under the cut, but they really don't do it justice cos it's so lovely :-)

( Our new house )

So that's it. Now we really need to crack on with the packing. We also need to keep our fingers crossed that the sale of our flat goes smoothly. It'll be so great to live in Gillingham because Joe will only be 15 mins from the police headquarters in Maidstone! I'm so used to it taking him an hour and a half to get home ... I'm going to see so much more of him now :-)

I'm so rubbish at updating! As usual, I've been skim-reading my flist but haven't had time to comment much. I wish I could find more time for keeping up with things.

I'm doing okay. I'm 33 weeks pregnant and counting. We still don't have a date for our move, so I'm surrounded by boxes with no idea of when things are going to be normal again. We're hoping it will happen before the end of the month, though.

Connor is doing well. He's 19 months old now but still not walking :-( He had a physio appointment last week and the physiotherapist pointed out that he's not standing correctly. He stands on the side of his right foot and doesn't seem to be able to put it flat on the floor. But he has plenty of time to sort it out. She recommended buying him his first shoes which will help to mould his foot into the correct position. So we went shoe shopping yesterday. Connor threw a tantrum in the middle of the store, but the assistant was lovely and patient and we finally came away with his first pair of shoes. He looks so cute with them on and stands perfectly when wearing them, so hopefully his first steps aren't too far away!

Jack is doing well. Remus still doesn't like him much but is putting up with him! It's hard work looking after a toddler and a puppy but I'm starting to get the hang of it! I can't wait to move, though, because we'll have a lot more space which will make things easier.

I currently look like I've swallowed a basketball :-( I was lovely and round in my last pregnancy but this time it's all in front and I look stupid. Oh well! I've got 4 weeks left at work which is good because I'm starting to get tired and achey after a full day, but I will miss my 'escape' at the weekends.

That's about it from me. I'll try to update again soon. I'll also try to comment more, I promise!

I had my exam on Friday. It actually went okay. I had to go to Brighton to take it which is just over and hour's drive away, but I hate driving while heavily pregnant so Joe took me. We took Connor and Joe's mum aswell and they spent the afternoon wandering the city while I sat the exam.

It was really weird cos I haven't taken an exam for a few years. But it was okay. There were 9 questions but I only had to answer 3 of them. I had only been able to revise certain parts of the coursework so I had to answer the questions based on what I had revised. But I think I did alright. I wanted to spend one hour on each question, but I ran over on the first two and only left myself 40 mins to answer the third. Oops! But I struggled with that one anyway and I don't think I could have written much more.

I should get the result mid-December. In the meantime, my next course starts in 2 weeks. I'm doing Human Biology. And in February I'm starting a course called Perspectives on Complementary and Alternative Medicine. I'm really looking forward to both courses. If all goes well, I should have a Diploma in Health & Social Welfare by Summer 08. Then I hope to be accepted on the Midwifery degree at Canterbury Christ Church University. But that depends if I can bring myself to put my babies in childcare at that point!

Jack is settling in really well. Housetraining is difficult because we don't have any grass in our garden. We've decided to train him to use 'puppy mats' in the kitchen for now, then when he has finished his vaccinations we'll start taking him to some grass at the end of our street. He's got the hang of the puppy mats for wees but is still pooing wherever he likes! We're getting there, though, and we've only had him a few days. He seems to enjoy living here and keeps Connor entertained. The only problem is that he keeps nipping our ankles, and nipping Connor's arms and legs. It doesn't hurt much now but we need to get him to stop before his adult teeth come through (and before the new baby arrives).

Meet the newest member of our family ... Jack! He's a Jack Russell and he's 10 weeks old. He was a bit of an impulse purchase, but we love him already! Connor is absolutely made up with him and they've spent the whole evening playing together. Remus (our cat) is very unsure but we've made it clear that he still rules the roost so I think he's getting used to the new addition.

( Click here to meet Jack )

It probably wasn't the best time to buy a puppy but we just couldn't resist him. I have my exam tomorrow in Brighton so we've arranged for my brother to dog-sit while we're over there. I'm sure I'll spend the whole of the exam wanting to get back home and play with Jack!

I'm so sorry I haven't been updating lately. I've really missed you all. I've been trying to glance at my flist whenever I have a spare moment but I'm sure I've missed lots of stuff :-(

We've sold our flat. A guy from London has bought it for £96,000 which is pretty good considering we bought it for £91,000 just over a year ago. We're just waiting for all the legal stuff to go through at the moment and we're hoping to move sometime in November. We're going to rent in Kent for a little while until we find our feet there, so we should be able to find a place pretty quickly.

I have my exam on Friday so I'm trying to revise, but not getting very far! I'm finding it really hard to sit and concentrate at the moment but I'm beginning to worry that I won't fit it all in now :-(

We were supposed to be going to Cyprus today but there's no way my doctor will give me permission to fly because of the blood-flow problems I've been having (I'm at high risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis). At this stage of pregnancy, no airline will take me unless I have a doctors note giving me permission to fly. Oh well. My parents have gone anyway (the apartment was free) and I hope they have a good time. We might be able to go again next year instead.

The pregnancy is going quite well. I'm 29 weeks on Monday, so coming into the final stretch. I've had blood-flow problems which is causing a lot of swelling, but I've got used to it. So far my blood pressure has remained low which is great news and I'm still planning a homebirth (no hospitals - yay!) I did have to go in to the Day Unit a few weeks ago because I had a small bleed, but they checked me over and everything was fine.

I've just started a bit of extra work delivering and collecting catalogues. It's really easy work and I can take Connor with me. I only do it for an hour a day and it gives us a bit of extra cash.

Joe's off work this week so we're planning to try and have a couple of family days out. He's been working a lot lately so it'll be nice to spend some quality time together.

I think that's about all my news. Nothing particularly exciting to report, just lots of little things taking up my time! I hope you're all well. If you get a chance, please post a comment and let me know what you've been up to.

If I don't get back on here before, wish me luck for Friday!!