Written by: paul

Jack was not for sleeping last night. Louise says he can tell when he’s in one of his moods from his face; a certain smug smile, & he had that smile as he was waking up yesterday & while at home, it seems, never lost it. He was out to be annoying. It was only broken when Louise suggested that he move to a bedroom of his own if was not keen on sleeping – he could have his own bedroom to stay up late in so as not to disturb Eve & Jude. He was upset by that & we at last got him to accept that such behaviour is not really acceptable. Then again, perhaps not – we have to see how today goes.
Slightly alarming is the prospect of actually getting home tomorrow. There is a train strike & I know I stand a reasonable chance of actually getting a train in the morning as it’s not the same company that is having the dispute, but I’ve got to figure when they may be a return train. Especially tomorrow when I need to be back to assist Louise with the party for William. I will have to take ‘unpaid leave’ as a worst case scenario. BAH!

Jack was stirring as I got up this morning. He was in the same bed as Louise & Jude & I think wanted to go downstairs. Fortunately we put him off. When I went to take Louise a cup of tea & rouse her again he was asleep & holding on to Jude. One arm around his middle & on his head. Jude likes to sleep on his side a little & for one so young has already been able to move off his back to do this. He is quite strong for his age. He can hold his head up oh his own quite well. He sleeps quite well at night as well; we are lucky.
Jack’s pal at school – probably his best friend – William is leaving at the end of this week. His family is moving to Spain. Jack knows this, & William has been off school in Spain before, which made Jack sad. William, from accounts, considers Jack a very good friend as well. I think we are going to have to engineer a way of keeping them in contact electronically. William is coming to tea at our house on Thursday – a little party on his behalf is organised. A couple of presents from Jack to be bought & party style food for us all to be organised. Happy/sad.
Jack is still not settled & this may be part of it. He is easy to offend & disproportionate in his response. I foolishly took some water out of their bath last night to rinse out Jude’s baby bath bowl thing & Jack took great umbrage that I had taken water from ‘his bath’. He got mad & the bathroom & I got rather wet. Sometimes there is no reasoning with him, as he is resolute in his determination not to listen. We are going to have to try to figure out how to diffuse these events more effectively as it’s doing no one any good.
Still – reading the to sleep was quite good as they were relatively keen to hear some Pooh Bear stories & I quite enjoy reading them. Jack even asked for another story to be read… which was encouraging, but at the same time I had to remind him that he was in fact tired & it was in fact bedtime. He turned over & drifted as I read “On nearly meeting heffalumps again”.

The kids actually slept through last night. Jude woke to have a nappy change at 2 ish & another feed at 5ish – so all in all quite a good night’s sleep. Shame I had to get up & go to work, but reality has this nasty habit of gatecrashing your life.
Quite a good weekend, the tantrum level seems to be abating a little. We went out to Halifax on the train for a couple of hours yesterday. Not my favourite town, but it does have a couple of shops open on a Sunday, & it’s not too far. Jack seemed to really enjoy it – happy to be on the train. We managed to get him a pair of swimming trunks. Louise mentioned that we might go swimming (he & me) on Saturday. We set off for the park & the kids enjoyed a run about in the howling wind that cuts through it. We got to the warmth of the sports centre & while I waited at the desk to see if there were things we could buy, (Jack has never been swimming & it’s been years since I went – so we have no kit) Louise, (with Jude) Jack & Eve went to look at the baths. Busy on a Saturday. So then… they had no trunks for either Jack or me. Too small for me, too big for him; Jack was very disappointed & mad that ‘we’ let him down in not having what was needed, but there was not a lot that could be done. After stating that he never ever wanted to go swimming he eventually came round & walked with us & even put his coat on.
I have yet to get a pair of trunks. Once I have, I will have to dip in the pool. As it’s all going to be focussed on Jack, I will not have to worry too much about doing anything as tedious as keeping fit.
Hmmm… I’m going to miss being at home. Taking Jack to school (Thankfully we have done a couple of ‘trial runs’ so Louise if happy that if she can get Jack dressed, they will get off OK) playing with Eve & holding Jude. He’s not even been sick on me yet!
Jude is starting to look about with more focus. He is quite a content baby. He can be changed without the screaming ab-dabs. Eve could at this age as well, but Jack could not. His general reaction to things is not to cry. He can wake up & look around & not cry. He will cry, of course, but there are definite levels from pay me attention to I’m rather hungry, to AAAAAAA! The latter is rarely reached. Eve is fascinated by him & thinks it’s really funny when Louise feeds him. Jack is loving, but for the most part he knows that a baby does not do that much, so lets Louise get on with things. Neither show any sign of resentment & both like to try to kiss him occasionally.

Early evening: One handed typing holding Jude. The kids are round at Andy /Hamish/Amber’s; they came round to ask if they wanted to come round… Eve was keen – Jack reluctant at 1st but won round. Jude with Louise now as he wanted a feed.
How have the kids adapted to the ‘new family dynamic’… Hmmm. Well, I’ve been at home this week in an attempt to ease the transition, so the picture gets a little blurred.
The kids came back as I wrote the last sentence. It’s now 9:30 & Jack went to bed at least an hour ago & he’s still not settled down to sleep. It’s usually my task to do this, but every time he thought I might be dropping off, (something I often do) he would make to get up. After messing about with this for sometime, I confronted him asking why he was doing this? He said that he wanted to go to our room as the bed was more comfortable, so I disagreed, but let him slink off anyway. He didn’t go to our room as I suspected he might but nipped off downstairs to see Louise. Fortunately Jude is snoozing (& parping) in his perambulator. Louise has just taken Jack upstairs for a wee (which is probably the reason he could not settle – but that would not be admitted/understood). I sit at the table typing (there’s a thing, these words you read have to come from somewhere, do they not?)
Hey ho – I guess this is an example of Jack’s reaction to Jude’s arrival. He is unsettled. He is also unsettled as his pal William is leaving school next week for Spain. William’s mum said that when they asked him what he would miss about Todmoden, he said, “Jack Schroeder”. They seem very good friends. William has been invited to tea next Thursday – we will have a ‘party’ tea. Pizza, jelly, ice cream & all that malarkey. I feel for Jack a bit as I moved schools every so often when I was a kid & I remember crying in bed for what seemed like hours at the realisation I would never see my friends again. I find it hard to put together my school years sometimes & the others that populated it, I put this down to such things.
Eve seems a little unsettled these last couple of nights. Before Jude arrived she was sleeping very well, & through the night quite often. For 2 night running she has awoken inconsolable & needing Louise badly – so I have had to take her to our bedroom. She has also coincidentally managed to increase the volume of her crying to quite an ear piercing scream… yes, I guess she has learnt to ‘scream’ properly. She has always been loud. Jack’s behaviour is the most erratic. He does not cope with change that well, & although he has been very loving & careful with Jude he has had frustration that he has had to get out of his system somehow. There are other examples, but yesterday was the one that made me mad. He started throwing everything from the back room into the front room, creating an almighty mess. I cannot recall what started it all, (most likely being told that he could not do something) but he became very angry & we were unable to reason with him. Louise advised me not to react, but i should have started to tidy up or something, as his continuing belligerent behaviour (starting to tidy up, but putting Eve’s toys into a bin bag) wound me up until I lost my temper with him – which served no purpose other than making everyone in the house unhappy.

So – there we were with the newborn… He opens his eyes & looks around a bit, wrapped in his towel, fresh to the world.
Sigh.
It was only when he born that we knew he was a boy by the way. When Louise went to the midwife a week before she said that girls usually have faster heartbeats & that her baby had a good fast heartbeat… but that was proved wrong. Louise was more inclined to think a boy while he was being born.
I nipped off to try Louise’s mum again, but still no answer. I decided to do more phone call stuff later on (it was too early in the morning). We just settled into things. The midwives did the checking up of things, & Louise got herself sorted. You get toast & tea laid on. The toast is nice, but I’m not sure it’s real butter. The tea is in plastic cup that has a space between the internal & external cup – so you don’t get an idea of how hot or tepid it is. We were moved off to another room – the delivery suite would need to be occupied again. Darn – just as we decided to turn on the radio – radio 4 starting with Sailing By. They were expecting us to let them know when we were moving room, but we just moved ourselves. I think that they were thinking Louise would want a wheelchair or something.. No, not really required. Into a room with no radio. We had not much to occupy ourselves. The paediatrician was supposed to be coming round about 10:00 – & after that we could go home – wheee! Never ones for hanging around! We have to be back for the kids as well. I eventually got through to Louise’s mum who sounded thrilled & said she’d set off for our house to take over looking after the kids. Called Andy to let him know what was going on, my parents (my mum admitted that she had been reluctant to call in case she thought we might feel pestered! – noooo – I cannot think we would!). Work – to let them know I won’t be there for a bit. Duties done. Time to sit back.
Louise, Jude & I in a room with a cot, bed, chair, table, lamp, sink, 2 soap dispensers (red alcohol gel – blue foaming soap), orange wallpaper with subtle orange stripes, window, with curtains (orange) & a door to where the shared toilet (shared with another similar room) was. Jude fed on demand & slept a good while. We stared at the soap dispensers a lot. 10:00 took a while to come & went, as did 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, sometime around 14:00 we saw the paediatrician. Jude got a clean bill of health. We waited a good while longer for paperwork, ordered a taxi which arrived about 15:15, & we got home before 16:00. Within 12 hours isn’t so bad. The taxi driver drove noticeably safely – which was much appreciated in our heightened tired state.
Kids & grandma agog & all over the place… The kids seem huge after being in the presence of one so small.

Sunday night 9:00ish. So much for me keeping a diary. With out that little time to myself to & from work on the train I have difficulty finding the time.
Still – I do have a jolly good excuse for not finding the time, having Jude arrive the other day. How did it all go? It seems such a blur now. Receding into memory fog already. Bah.
We went to bed about 11:00 that night. I said to Louise, something like, “I know – orange for the stairs to the attic… same depth as the plasterwork so it can blend in well…”. A decision resolved in my mind, I could go to sleep again. Louise did not (really) get to sleep. Things started to happen… Stronger contractions & back pains. Louise labours in the back. She woke me at some point to express her concerns, but we were still at ‘wait & see’… so I managed to get some more kip. This is naturally a vague bit for me, as I’m more than half-asleep.
OK – it was definitely time to be waking up at 1:30. Let’s get things together. The hot water bottle on the lower back became essential. We phoned the maternity unit & Louise explained how she labours in the back & how quick Eve was last time. They actually did not dally & sent out an ambulance for us. That was very good, as it was not really something we were expecting – hoping, perhaps, but not expecting. We needed to call a neighbour & Louise’s mum as well. We could not really take the kids with us – they were asleep -sound asleep (what with us faffing about)… Andy got the call. He did last time with Eve, & was a star – rushing us off to hospital. He stayed at our house for the kids – so that they had someone they know when they woke up. Couldn’t get an answer from Louise’s mum.
We got to hospital a bit past 03:00, & Louise was put on the monitor. Contractions blahblah. We had a very good midwife, nice & calm & confident. Her parting remark as she left us was to alert her if Louise felt like pushing. After about 10 – 15 minutes she did. She came back & checked things over Then we were rolling! Hard to believe that Jude was born in under an hour from when we arrived at hospital!
hmm – it’s now 22:00 as I write this – I said to myself I would stop when it got here…