Phew

It's been an up and down sort of week, but most of all it's been exhausting. I'm sure it will get better with time, and I've had a cold this week which hasn't helped, but it's been really really tough at times. Hopefully as we get into the swing of things it will get easier, and Felix and Iris have both been poorly too which meant the weekend wasn't especially relaxing either. Got a decent nap today though and a nice long bath... on my own! What a joy!

Anyway, I'm not sure I can even make sense, so I'm just going to post some pics from the last few weeks. These include Tom's birthday and Emma and Ben coming to visit, but mainly just us indoors, trying to keep sane. Haha.

Maria Murray pics

In all the excitement I forgot to mention the pictures we had done by Maria Murray when Iris was a mere four days old. Maria took pictures of Felix last June and made the gorgeous banner for the Essex Mums site, so we knew that we wanted to sign Iris up for her Beginnings scheme, and get here there as close to newly born as we could. Iris slept through most of the session, which Maria seemed happy with! We didn't manage to get Felix involved because he was still in his 'don't touch' phase but hopefully we can get some next time!

Maria posted a sneak preview on her blog, here. As expected the pictures are absolutely beautiful - I would highly recommend her to anyone wanting to get some photos of their kiddies that are far superior to anything you would get in a standard photo studio!

Starting to get nervous...

Kester goes back to work tomorrow meaning it will be me, at home with two children. Two! How on earth am I going to manage? It's not so much that I fear being alone with them, I just can't work out how the practicalities of it all work. How am I going to get them both down the stairs in the morning? Will I ever get to have a shower? How do I keep Felix happy and distracted when breastfeeding Iris? Answers on a postcard please!

Also tomorrow, Iris will be two weeks old. Time has flown. On one hand I still can't believe she's with us and we are a family of four; on the other it feels like she has been with us forever. She still doesn't do much, of course, and she makes Felix seem so big and able to look after himself as she's so tiny and helpless in comparison, but we rather like having her around. She's a fantastic sleeper - I keep expecting this to change as it seems too good to be true, but she often sleeps for periods of 5 or 6 hours at night because she fills up on the good stuff in the evenings then is zonked for the night. Oh, and she really does love that sleep. We've had loads of visitors this last week and I think she's slept on all of them.

The most active thing she's done is roll over at a week old. Funnily enough Felix did the same thing at a week and they were both wearing the same outfit. Ha. I didn't get a picture though. I've taken loads (and will be sharing them in a minute) but I realised earlier she's changed so much already and I haven't taken any for a few days, so I'll have to get on it tomorrow. Iris is getting more alert by the day (when she's not sleeping) and is quite the little character, having already perfected her grumpy face.

Felix is coping well. He wasn't sure what to make of her at first and was pretty wary of her, but he's getting fonder of her all the time. He gives her kisses goodnight and really looks out for her - makes sure we don't leave her in the car, things like that. He still gets a bit tense when she cries, but he's a sensitive little thing and is like that when anyone gets upset. He's surprisingly gentle with her, even when trying to lift her up to get her out of the way (eek) and even let her share his bath the other day. Considering how much he loves bathtime, this was a big step.

Anyway, here are a load of pics from the last two weeks... I really can't believe how much she's changed already.