November Video

5.12.11

It took so long to edit the October video that I started working on the November one straight away to avoid any delays and here we are…

It was a quiet month really, lots of time spent getting used to being a family of 4. There were the obligatory visits to the playground, dressing up, a visit from my folks, a trip to Ikea, playing in the garden, baking, sandcastle construction and demolition and lots of time for Annie’s obsession with her baby brother to escalate to towering heights!


Meet The Newb

16.11.11

So two and a half weeks ago Ezra Finn made his way into the world, his due date was yesterday but I was induced at 27 weeks due to my SPD. It’s really hard to believe that he’s been around for 19 whole days because (cheesy as it sounds) it feels like we’ve had him forever.

He is a chilled out, placid little guy, who loves to sleep, eat, cuddle and sleep some more. He’s already changed so much since he arrived home, his eyes are getting lighter around the pupils, his hair is getting slightly lighter too, his face has changed shape and he’s unfurling to reveal another lanky Rathbone baby.

Annie is besotted with him, he’s the first thing she asks for every morning, the only person she wants to kiss or cuddle and the one person she’ll share her Pooh Bear toys with. She’s being a perfect big sister so far, gentle with him, happy to share her toys and eager to spend every waking second of her day with him! She even brings her step stool (used to get onto her cabin bed) through from her room and uses it to stand next to his cot or changing table just to be that little bit closer to him.

Life as a family of four is definitely more work, but it feels so right, Ezra has filled a gap none of us knew was there and he has filled it perfectly and totally.





28 months already

18.10.11

Tantrums, stubbornness and willfulness aside, 28 months old is the best, most fun age so far! We can get you to do just about anything by telling you that you’re being ‘helpful’ and you like to wrap up toys and books in blankets and tell us they’re presents and you get just as excited as if they really were new gifts.

You no longer just say, ‘thanks’ you generally say, ‘thank you very much Mummy’. You bust out uber long sentences about real life events and things you’ve imagined, ‘there was a horse floating in the air with a little boy watching, the boy was wearing a t-shirt like Annie does and Mummy does too. Be careful little boy’(?!). But you also mispronounce some words delightfully, elephant is still, ‘effalunt’ and pine cone is, ‘pione cone’ (picture Chris Tarrant saying pine cone and that’s what it sounds like!).

You love to watch us cooking (actually JB does most of the cooking but you get the idea) and insist on having a chair dragged over so you can observe and ‘help’.

You are very excited about becoming a big sister and spend a fair chunk of time practicing your baby cuddles, rocking the bouncy chair and moses basket, changing nappies on your toys and giving them bottles. You keep telling me you will buy me flowers when you come visit us in hospital and a balloon that will become yours when we all return home. You do seem concerned that the baby will take me away but I keep promising I’ll always come back to get you which seems to give you a certain degree of comfort.

This past 6 weeks you’ve become really brave at nursery and they all keep telling us how chatty and happy you seem, I think they are amazed at just how much you talk (sorry you get that from me!). You’re making the move to the older section of the group on Wednesday which I imagine will fill you with joy as you love all things, ‘big kid’ and love to act like a kiddo who is much older than a mere 28 months.

You made the transition from cot to ‘big girl bed’ incredibly easily. Even on days when you don’t want to sleep you don’t get out of bed, you just sit there on the edge and wait for us to come rescue you. You have filled your bed with every soft toy in the house and have started using my old Toy Story pillow case, apparently it’s a big bed time decision, whose face to sleep on, Woody or Buzz!

You seem intrigued by all things Christmas, and constantly talk about how Santa will come down our chimney, walk on your floor and put presents in your stocking, you know the reindeer won’t fit down the chimney and will have to wait on the roof. You did admit to being, ‘a little bit scared of Father Christmas’ when you heard about the whole chimney thing but we assured you he was magic like Ponyo and a lovely bloke to boot which made you happy.

We have been beyond lucky with your behaviour, your tantrums are very light and mostly consist of kneeling on the floor with your head on the ground and crying pitifully, but once you realise we’re ignoring you then you tend to stop. So far there have been no major meltdowns in public as you prefer to keep them just for us, which I’m secretly glad about, though it does lead to many people believing you are better behaved than you really are.

You choose all your own outfits right down to the hair clip, have just discovered Ben and Holly, can sing all the songs from Winnie the Pooh and Peppa Pig, love musical instruments, request ukulele music when we’re all driving in the car and even have your own uke which makes your Daddy a very proud man. You’re brave and outgoing yet shy in new situations, a total tomboy and a proper girly girl all rolled into one and without a doubt the greatest daughter we could have ever hoped for.