Change of sleeping arrangements!

I'm soooooo behind here! It's late and I am not feeling well at the moment, which seems an even stranger time to start trying to catch up! But it's giving me a chance to do a few small things online here and there, which I wasn't keeping up with before.

Today and yesterday I have had tummy cramps and diarrhoea all day, urgh! The night before it started, I woke up ALL night long (half-hourly) with nausea and tummy ache, and then the next day was Friday and Neil went to work as usual. I still had a bit of nausea and my tummy hurt a bit, but I ate all the same. Which was apparently not the thing to do! I was sooo nauseous that afternoon and had to keep running to the loo as well, and that was so difficult with the little ones. Matthew emptied cereal all over the kitchen floor on one of my toilet runs, and I just so didn't like leaving them all unattended like that all the time. I felt horrible too and had to just lie on the sofa. Since it didn't stop that evening and then I was awake half-hourly with tummy pains again last night (nausea gone though, phew!), Neil worked from home today. I'm so so so thankful that he is able to do that in a pinch - his boss is very good about it. It's hard for him though, trying to work with three little boys in the same room (our house is too smaaaall!) causing all sorts of trouble. They are really difficult to handle at the moment - I sound like a broken record, I know! Nathan isn't so difficult, but the older two go out of their way to be, which is so very difficult right now. Anyway, as it turned out, Neil's work computer system had problems after the first couple of hours and so he was able to just give up on it and take the rest of the day away from work altogether. I had to pretty much stay in bed today. The symptoms I'm having have actually got worse today and I have felt pretty crummy and weak, and can't seem to even have a drink of water without it giving me cramps and the associated evacuation! I am trying to snack on appropriate things anyway. People are saying it sounds like my body is getting ready for labour (I'm 35 weeks now), but I'm not so sure. I haven't been anywhere to catch a bug, but Arthur complained of feeling "queasy" a few times yesterday and had one occasion of loose stools. He's been otherwise fine, but that was odd for him. He's 100% fine today. Also, I have never had that kind of "preparation" before labour with my other pregnancies, so I'm wary of that theory for me. Anyway, who knows. I just want to feel better now!

I realised that I never did post about the change of sleeping arrangements for the boys! Or maybe I did, but never posted photos? I can't remember.

A few weeks ago, we finally moved Nathan's cot into the boys' room, where they now have a bunk bed. Matthew had been sleeping in his toddler bed still, and Neil was using a bunk. They still wake at times during the night and it's so much easier to have one of us sleep there so that they don't just wake everybody else up before we're even awake to know that there's a problem! So we moved Nathan into the room in his cot. We originally hoped to move him into the toddler bed and Matthew into the bottom bunk, but when it came to it, Nathan just doesn't seem ready to be out of his cot yet, and it's HIS little bed! Also, Matthew is still very attached to his toddler bed and we didn't want to cause any problems there!

So, we moved the toddler bed to the main bedroom next to where I sleep, just where Nathan's cot had been. We gave Matthew the option of sleeping in his little bed near Mummy (and thus missing out on "the boys' room"!) or sleeping in the bottom bunk. On the first night he slept in the bottom bunk, very excited about it! On the second night I was just climbing in with him for his snuggle/prayers/breastfeed (yes, he is still breastfeeding at almost 3!), when suddenly he sat up and said in SUCH a sad voice, "But... this is not my bed!" and his little chin wobbled and his eyes filled up! My heart nearly turned to a puddle of goop with how much I LOVED him at that second, and I asked him if he wanted to sleep in his little bed in the other bedroom tonight. He said yes and looked so relieved! He hopped right out of bed and ran to his little bed, and just beamed and smiled in there for ages! So, he slept next to me that night. That was nice, because I didn't feel so alone in the bedroom - the first night without Nathan in there was really surprisingly lonely and sad for me! I missed him sooooo much! I was glad for Matthew to choose to sleep in there the next night, though I didn't get much sleep at all because he flings himself about in his sleep quite a bit (so like his daddy, hehe!) and his arm kept whacking the cupboard door that his bed was up against, which woke me constantly (but didn't disturb him in the least!).

Since that night, Matthew has not slept in his toddler bed. It's still there, and we plan to leave it there a while, just so he knows it's an option for him. But it's going well! He has chosen to nurse in there before going to his bunk to sleep some nights, but not for the last week or two.

Nathan has adjusted very smoothly to the new bedroom, and really hasn't seemed bothered at all by the change-about. He can still be kind of wakeful through the night, but nearly always resettles himself. Arthur can tend to wake once or twice some nights (not many) and when he does, he calls for Neil to resettle him, or climbs down the ladder (in the dark!! Which makes me so nervous!!) to get to him. So Neil is staying in there for a bit longer. We have yet to decide if he's going to move back in with me (which, let's face it, is where he should be! This must all sound so ridiculous to the normal married couple, haha!) at all for when Benjamin comes - oh, that is his name by the way! Benjamin Isaac will be our new baby boy's name! :) I don't think I have said that here yet, though most of you will know from my pregnancy diary. If you know me at Facebook, PLEASE don't mention it there! We never reveal our baby names till they're born, anywhere except my blogs online, and a ton of real-life friends keep up with me there!

Anyway, basically we will have to weigh up the best place for Neil to get the best sleep, which so far has NEVER been in the room with me and the new baby. So, I think it's likely that he'll stay in with the boys (he's on a mattress on the floor, which fills the floor actually, since the room is so tiny!) for the early weeks with Benjamin. If they are wakeful with Benjamin's night wakings, then he's right there to settle them until they get used to it, and he should probably get way more sleep there too. I know I will be up and down like a yo-yo changing nappies, breastfeeding, burping the boy, and changing endless leaked/puked-on sleepsuits and sheets! ;) I can't wait!!! And I promise I am not being sarcastic. I just so can't wait for those sweet early weeks again, exhausting though they are.

So, here are some photos of the change-of-sleeping-arrangements thing! Here's a "before" picture of the boys' room, when it was just the new bunks (aren't they nice?! I got matching bedding and curtains for all three beds recently, and the boys LOVE them! They were soooooo cheap on eBay!) and Matthew's little toddler bed that he has slept in since he was born (as a cotbed back then, of course!):



Here's the "after" picture, just after the cot went in:



And here are a few photos taken once they had all finally fallen asleep on the first night in there together. They went to sleep pretty quickly considering the excitement! Nathan was last to fall asleep, but he takes a good while settling himself to sleep every night as a norm, and he's very independent with it and doesn't fuss or anything.





After I took the photos, I stood and watched them sleeping for a while, and just felt so inexplicably sad! I'm sure I was being heavily influenced by hormones, but it was just a real "moving on" thing for both Nathan and Matthew, and ohhhh I cried and sobbed like a baby, standing there watching them! After a while it got so that I felt pretty sure if I didn't pull myself together I might just continue all evening and end up with a sinus headache and those pretty broken veins under my eyes, so I went downstairs and did some "normal" stuff, and felt a bit better so long as I wasn't thinking about it. I felt sad and lonely in the same way when I went to bed though. It got easier after a few days! :) I now have the opportunity to sleep better than I have since.... well, maybe even since before ARTHUR was born!!! They've all slept through the night for the first time JUST before I give birth to another baby, and I have done all the night wakings with them. Oh but I think there was a time when I was pregnant with Matthew where I slept in the then "spare room" for a while to get a better night's sleep, while Neil and Arthur co-slept. But otherwise, no full nights for me so far! Ironically, I haven't slept well since Nathan moved out, because either I am too tuned in to his sounds in the night still and wake when he stirs anyway, even if he's in the other room and Neil settles him, or else I just have to pee and pee and pee and pee and pee (ad infinitum) all night long due to being hugely pregnant! ;) So, never mind! Good thing I really don't mind it, now that I am so used to it! I am tired though.

So yay, finally caught up with the bedroom stuff that I meant to post ages back.

Matthew's 3rd birthday is coming up! Only 9 days away, I can't believe it. I love that it was 3 years ago exactly when his due date was approaching and I was huge and pregnant and excited to meet him, and I'm in almost the same position now, 3 years later! And how blessed am I to have had another baby in between as well?!?! God is so good to me.

I have been unusually organised, for once, regarding birthdays this summer! I bought all the family birthday cards way ahead, and am now glad to have them in the drawer ready to send out. Thea (my brother's little girl) turned 2 a couple of weeks ago, which is soooo surreal! Those two years have gone so fast! Tonight I wrote Emily's birthday card from all of us, for her 1st birthday, and her sister Ella shares Matthew's birthday on the 14th, but is a year older than Matthew. He was born on her first birthday - cousins! :) I have bought and wrapped almost all of Matthew's presents a few weeks ago - I'm NEVER this organised! We are getting him some smaller presents and one bigger one - the bigger one is one of those Cosy Coupe ride-in cars for the garden. He could have done with one of those a couple of years ago even, but the garden hasn't been suitable for them really, and we're only now starting to make proper use of it. He LOVES those cars at other people's houses, and I figured why not, since we have more little people to grow into it once he has outgrown it! Also, everyone else here has a winter birthday (till Benjamin evens it out!) so garden toys never work for anyone's birthday but Matthew's. I have yet to buy the Cosy Coupe car, mainly because I don't have anywhere to store it to keep it out of sight once it's here! I know where I'm getting it from though, and that it's in stock, so that's okay.

We're giving him two Little Red Train books - he LOVES the one he's got and I know he'll be thrilled with a couple more! Also a jigsaw puzzle, a cut-and-play ice-cream set from The Early Learning Centre (he always wants to play "serving ice-cream" lately, with plastic balls balanced on little cups, so I know he'll love it!), a set of 3 toy emergency vehicles (he is obsessed with these), and a DVD of Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service. He will be highly excited about the DVD, because he looooves Postman Pat, and the new Special Delivery Service series is his favourite right now, alongside Chuggington. Those are his smaller gifts from us. My mum has sent two books and two jigsaw puzzles through Amazon and I've wrapped those too. I love wrapping presents!! :)

It has taken us a while to figure out what to DO on his birthday. We have our own little family tradition of a day out somewhere, usually of the birthday boy's choosing, but we default to the farm for everyone's 2nd birthday, just because it's straightforward and they don't usually know how to choose at that age. They love the play farm! Arthur chose going to France to visit Nana and Grandy for his 4th birthday! I can't believe I haven't actually blogged about that properly yet :(

Anyway, we considered "Days out with Thomas" (Thomas the Tank Engine) but the nearest one was in Essex and we didn't want to travel far. Same thing ruled out the seaside. We considered the farm again, but wanted to do something Matthew would specifically be excited about. We were thinking of going to a miniature railway (he loves trains!) but we don't have a very local one, and we weren't sure if he would decide he didn't like the trains or the steam close up, and end up not enjoying it on his birthday! So, we are going to a place where we there's a small farm area (small animals to stroke - he thinks these kind of animals are "so fweet!!"), and a huge aviary (Arthur loves birds), and an aquarium. Also a big picnic area and a little ride-on train to take you from one place to another. We'll take a picnic and hope the weather is okay! I think all the boys will really enjoy that. It doesn't feel like it will be TOO overwhelming for me as I reach full-term either, because it's fairly local, and we can go at our own pace and do plenty of sitting down as needed. We're not telling the boys till the actual day, I think, just in case something or other happens with me pregnancy-wise and we can't do it on his birthday.

Now I need to ask Matthew what he wants for dinner on his birthday (birthday boys always choose their favourite meal for dinner and I make it for them!), and make his birthday cake. I am making a dump truck birthday cake for him. I wrote myself 3 pages of instructions (with diagrams!) a few weeks ago, to save me time and effort nearer the time. He loves any sort of vehicle, and when I asked him what kind of birthday cake he wanted, he said a police car. But then he changed it to a caterpillar (!), and then a tractor (he had one of those last birthday), and then a train, and so on. He didn't seem to have a clear preference, and Arthur kept on influencing him with his OWN preferences! ;) So I just stopped asking him, and I decided to make him a dump truck. He wants chocolate cake, though he actually isn't a fan of cake at all - I think he will be most likely to eat chocolate cake over other varieties though. He is soooo keen on Smarties (NOT the sour U.S. kind - the chocolate M&M-ish British kind!) and I am going to have the tipper bit of the dump truck filled with Smarties. I hope it turns out okay! I will be sure to post photos :)

We need to figure a way to take videos, because now that I have the new camera, we really don't have any way to take videos right now. The old camera has video capabilities, but it's not working too well, and for a week or two it has disappeared into thin air! Our old camcorder is OLD, and we lost the battery charger a long time ago (hence using the camera to take videos after that!). I don't want to miss the chance to take videos on Matthew's birthday though! I'll have to try to find the old camera.

Okay that's it for now. I have successfully eaten a small bowl of Cheerios, and two loo-run-free hours have passed - weyhey!! :) So I'm going to bed, and hopefully I'll be much better tomorrow. It's the weekend at least - thank you Lord that I didn't get poorly on Monday or Tuesday!

I have so much more to update about, and so many more photos, but I will get to that soon, hopefully! If anything happens in terms of a baby arriving or something (!!) I will be blogging about it as much as I can at my pregnancy blog while it's happening (see last entry for link), and maybe at Facebook if I'm able. Otherwise, I'll be back soon!