Learning to walk before I run

the_end_of_the_rainbow

Congratulations 

themadvix

Congratulations!! 

Karmacat

Congratulations!  Such lovely news ❤

killerpeaty

Congratulations! Hope you all get your sleep!

BookWorm

Congratulations to you all and welcome to the new Miss E 😊

Cornish_mum

Congratulations, I hope all of you are doing well and getting a bit of sleep CM

LadyGnome

Congratulations

CathT

Congratulations to you all. 

lulabelle1

Congrats to you all  

edinburgher

Thank you all - nobody is getting any sleep! Apparently newborns produce a lot of a hormone at night that encourages wakefulness - Mrs E has been breastfeeding roughly every 40 minutes all night since DD2 got home. The midwives say that it doesn't last forever and should hopefully settle down once Mrs E's milk comes in (the things you talk about on MFW, eh)? 

We are all shattered and DD1 is looking particularly drawn. I left the soothing classical tunes (well, their midi equivalent) on her old baby monitor last night and that managed to get her back up to c. 6.5 hours, which was an improvement on the first night.

After a couple of days of exhaustion I've started to build back up to something like useful. I cleared out our large kitchen cupboard today in search of a tape measure but didn't find it. I'd like to order recess blinds for a few rooms - mainly bedrooms and the kitchen, which doesn't currently have any window covering and is swelteringly hot on bright afternoons. I've also been keeping everyone fed and watered, taking DD1 to and from school and activies and making sure she gets to enjoy some parental play. She is very sweet with DD2, but it's obvious that she has now realised the negatives (screaming mainly) of big sisterhood...

I even managed a small bit of financial footery today, as a children's RS matured, providing a massive £22.22 interest. I OPed £7.41, paid £7.41 to the S&S ISA (£106.41 total as the DD never took for some reason) and the remaining £7.40 to the EF. Our ISAs and SIPPs have taken an absolute battering, but we're in it for the long term and our purchases are ramping up if anything. I had a wee wobble the other day when I started to wonder if we needed to diversify into precious metals because of rampant inflation but a) I read a few articles suggesting that PM were actually quite a poor inflation hedge and b) doing things because we're worried (as opposed to having a good evidence based reason) is not how we roll these days. I've booked an appointment to register DD2, which will allow us a slight increase to our Child Benefit rate.

Tabby cat has been signed off by the vet to go back outside and is now collarless, non-oozing and cheerful. The insurer refunded c. £205 of our costs, which was lovely until the vet presented me with a £75 bill for vaccinations! I do not think that we would get more cats in future.

*Edit: and made £27.78 from a referral that Mrs E then made £10 from. I am also going to refer her to Ch@se for £20 each, she had been meaning to open an account with them anyway.