A pound stretching maternity

MrsSave

Only one more day left of 2016! It's been a very up and down year. I miscarried a baby last Mother's Day and lost my grandmother soon afterwards. I was then so lucky to fall pregnant again very quickly and now have my 2 week old dozing in his bouncer next to me. I'm thinking a lot about the baby I lost at the moment, and already worrying about next Mother's Day. It must be down to all these post pregnancy hormones racing around my body. The fact I'm tired can't be helping either.

Ds2 is sleeping so well at night for a newborn. He has a feed at 10pm, another at any point between 1 and 3am, and then a third between 5 and 6am. I'm sleeping far more now than I did throughout the whole pregnancy, but I seem even more shattered. I have been asleep before 9pm the last 2 nights, sleeping until 7ish when ds1 wakes in the morning (other than the 3 feeds) but I'm still feeling super exhausted.

Anyway, whinging over............it's natural to be tired and emotional when you've just had a baby.

We've had a lovely, quiet day today. I took ds2 to the doctor this morning, whilst dh took ds1 into town to pick up food for New Years Eve for us, meat for our New Years Day roast, and a couple of other bits. Other than that all we've done is watch Frozen, play board games, make some monsters out of juice cartons, eat and feed ds2 (who is taking on more and more milk every day!!).

We've got 4 more days with the 4 of us off, before dh goes back to work and ds goes back to school. I'm looking forward to the routine, but I'm not sure I'm looking forward to any other part of it. I've really enjoyed being home as a family of 4 since ds2 arrived. Ds1 has been so good with him (so far anyway :rotfl: ) and has in general been so well behaved. We're thinking of going out for the day tomorrow as a family. Not too sure where though. Will have to have a good think tonight!!

Today has been a bit spendy. Ds1 needed new school jumpers (after 1 term :eek: ). His first ones are now too small. He's had a real growth spurt during the past 3 months. I also picked up a school tshirt for sports for him. He starts pe lessons for the first time when they go back. I need to get him some navy shorts and a pe bag as well.

I did discuss having a takeaway tonight with dh, but after deciding we were going to do something tomorrow we figured we'd save a little money by cooking tonight.

Dh's pay was in the account this morning, so I transferred that to the 'bills' account. All the accounts are now ready for January!

MrsSave

Final day of the year. We're going to make it a good one. We're all getting ready and then out for the day. Just the 4 of us. Ds2 slept well last night, 10-6 with one feed at 2. I can definitely cope with that!

I ordered a pe bag for ds last night from eBay. It was less than £2.50 and has Paw Patrol over it so he will be happy! We're going to have a look for shorts today when we're out. I've updated ynab this morning. Finances are all up to date and ready for 2017.

We've got nice food in the fridge for tonight, and a bottle of bubbly. At a guess we'll eat the food, have a glass of bubbly each and be asleep on the sofa/in bed way before midnight! Might see if I can find a decent film to put on.

Tomorrow is the start of operation clean up! Christmas decorations away, toys all sorted and tidied up, maternity clothes folded, bagged and put up the attic, non maternity clothes ironed and hung back in the wardrobe. Half of me thinks we'll stick with 2 children, the other half of me doesn't want to, would love a third and is definitely not ready to admit there will be no more babies here. It's definitely sensible to keep maternity things for now instead of selling, just in case. Number 3 won't be happening in 2017, though, that's for sure! :rotfl:

Right, it's time to feed the littlest one and then out to enjoy the last day of 2016. I hope everyone enjoys their New Year's Eve.

MrsSave

Happy New Year!

Last night was a quiet one here. I was fast asleep by 10:15! Ds2 woke for a feed at 3am, and then another at 6am. Dh got up with him at 6am and let me sleep. I didn't get up until 7:45!! That is definitely classed as a lie in!

Today has been quiet too. I've ordered thank you cards for the gifts we've had for ds2's birth as well as thank you cards for the Christmas gifts the 2 boys have had. That ended up taking most of the morning! I also ordered some pictures to hang on the walls. I ended up spending over £30 on these cards and pictures, but the cards are needed (ds1 will be old enough soon to write his own!) and I wanted some pictures of both boys on the wall.

We've had a lovely roast today, cooked by dh. We had duck! Yum! We've now just eaten our pudding (and a few choccies may have found their way into my tummy!!). We've had visitors this afternoon, but I think that's it for the day!

I want to get the monitor and sensor set up in a little while ready for this evening. Ds2 stays downstairs with us until our bedtime, but I find him quite unsettled after 7pm. Ds1 was the same, so we started him with a 'bedtime' so that he was in a dark room, upstairs. It did him the world of good, and since day 1 of doing it he has had a brilliant bedtime routine, so we're going to try it with ds2. I've got a video monitor as well as a movement sensor so we're happy with him being upstairs.

I updated ynab just after the 3am feed this morning to show yesterday's spends. We spent the day out and about so had lunch out, I bought pe shorts for ds1, I bought some 2 for £20 alcohol from Tesco as birthday gifts and spent a little money in Primark with a few sale bits for next Winter for ds2, a shirt for ds1 for an upcoming party, 2 tops for me and a throw for our bed. Came to less than £30 for all of that! I need to just update the cards/prints that I ordered this morning now.

Dh and Ds1 have washed the cars this afternoon and dh has tidied up the kitchen. Tomorrow the decorations will be coming down and toys being sorted and put away. It will be so nice to get the place back to being tidy and clean again!!

I need to get back into meal planning now and get organised again. We've got plenty of food in the house, we just need to make sure we use it instead of buying more and more!

MrsSave

Still haven't sorted out the monitor for ds2, so he is still spending his evenings downstairs with us. Must get it sorted soon! Yesterday was a busy day. We popped into town and had breakfast out. £13.50 for the 3 of us (give it a year or 2, the price will soon increase with ds2!!). We were supposed to have a food delivery today, but I decided to have a look around a few of the 'cheaper' shops to see whether I could get cleaning products cheaper than the supermarket. I was stocking up on cleaning products this week!

After browsing online first, I actually found Wilko's the best place for prices. What would have cost over £20 at the supermarket came to £12. Will definitely be using Wilko's for the cleaning products and toiletries again. I have now cancelled my grocery order as I was adding random things to make sure I was over the minimum spend. Will be calling into Aldi today to get the other bits we need.

We also took the decorations down yesterday. It is so nice to have downstairs looking all clean and tidy again. The boys' toys have been organised (plastic clear boxes to stack things like the duplo and the train set) so everything is looking far better. I just need to bag up my maternity clothes, rehang my other clothes and sort out ds2's bedroom now.

Will be out and about again today. As well as Aldi, I want to go to pay in ds1's Christmas money and open an account for ds2. We've also got a little money to pay in. After that we will head to soft play and probably have lunch there. It is our last day of the holidays today as dh is back in work tomorrow and ds is back to school.

MrsSave

Back to normality today. Ds back in school and dh back at work. I'm very impressed with what we've achieved today as it's day 1 of me being home alone during the day with ds2 and half the day with ds1. :rotfl: I've done 2 loads of laundry and dried them, cleaned the toilet, folded the clothes from the clothes horse, meal planned for the next 2 weeks, walked to school and back for both school runs, made the bolognese ready for dinner, had cuddles and 'chats' with ds2 and played games with ds1. I even managed to shower, dry my hair and eat breakfast/lunch! :rotfl: So basically, I've managed to do what lots and lots of other parents are doing up and down the country, but I'm feeling proud of myself as it's day 1 being home with the 2 of them, and I only gave birth 3 weeks ago!!

I checked ynab this morning, and it also looks like today will be a nsd. :j

Right, time to feed the youngest and then the eldest wants to play snap.

hannahroberts1985

Sounds like your doing a grand job!! It's a lot easier the second time isn't it. I don't know how I didn't get anything done when DS1 was a baby ha ha!

We've been playing Insey Wincey Spider and The Shopping List game and DS2 loves them thanks for the recommendations xx

MrsSave

Oh I'm so pleased he likes them. Ds1 still plays with them quite a lot.

You're right, I don't know how I found things so much harder when I just had 1 baby!! I also remember getting a few offers of people coming over to help during the first few days of dh going back to work after ds1 was born. There have been no such offers this time!!

hannahroberts1985

I've found that it's old news once you've had one! Poor second child. I know he's a boy and we already have everything from DS1 for him but even one set grandparents didn't get him a present when he was born Or for Christmas!

Oooh I've started sorting ds2's toys out and the ones suitable for a 1 year old I've put away to wrap up for DS2 next Christmas. I'm hoping DS2 will forget they were his. Sounds a bit mean but I don't see the point buying s load more wxspensice toys when we already have so many lovely ones already. Ha ha and there's me moaning no one brought him gifts. X

MrsSave

My db and sil didn't buy ds2 anything at all whereas they did for ds1 and I bought gifts for both their children. It's nothing to do with not being able to afford it either. They earn about 5 times what we do (well, one of them does, the other doesn't work)! Not that I'm bitter at all :rotfl: I opened an account for ds2 the other day, and paid in what he'd been given as birth gifts. He had considerably less than ds1 did, so we've decided to make it up so that they both start their lives with the same amount. I know over the years they won't have the same amount, but I want them to start equally. I've written down how much extra we will be giving ds2 so that we can add bits at a time when we've got the spare cash.

That's a very good plan with gifts. Ds1 probably won't remember, and even if he does remember that he's had the same he probably won't click that it's the exact same one that's been recycled. A lot of ds1's toys are up the attic, so I should do the same!

I've reconciled ynab this morning. I'm thinking today is going to be another nsd. It will be my second one this week. I'm going to try for one tomorrow as well to make it a hat trick! I think I'll make that my target each week.....3 nsds.

Brrrrrrrr......it's cold this morning. We walked to school and back and I'm now thinking of turning the heating up to warm up!! Ds2 is snug as a bug though in his snow suit and blanket!!

hannahroberts1985

DS1 was given £1000 by one grandparent as a birth gift....DS2 didn't even get a card!!!! We've decided to pay al their money into the same account then split it later on when they are old enough. It's still in our name at the moment we figured it would look better for when we get a mortgage if we had savings.

Have a nice day with DS2 just back from the school run here too :0) x