Oh God, Oh God, what a flipping awful day. Little Ally-pops is not a well boy at all. A sniffle on Monday has turned into a horrible, hacking cough yesterday, and that coupled with a temperature and pretty much constant grizzling and crying today. Couldn't have been a worse day for Hubs to be up in London for work until late tonight, but thems the breaks, I suppose. Just Calpolled him up and trying to feed him now but he won't bloody drink. AAARRRGH!

Fuck a Jesus, I'm tired. It's possible that Alex's very gradually emerging 1st tooth is giving him gip again - whatever it was, I was awake with him at 12.30 (before I'd got any sleep at all), 3 (when I brought him into bed with me so as to avoid giving him another feed) and 5 (when I actually managed to nod off in the middle of feeding him) and then was up at 7.30 for Vi, shortly after which, Alex was awake & crying and soaking wet. He waited til his nappy was off to poo and wee simultaneously. He then cried pretty much solidly until after 11. Vi has been watching a lot of cartoons today in lieu of a mummy with the energy to actually take her out or do something with her.

Mental dreams as a result of all the waking and spending two hours of the night with a baby in my arms though. Fairly certain at one point Da Schneid was wearing a tutu - which frankly I wouldn't put past him - and later on La Reynolds was playing a character trying to pick up women at his wife's funeral. He seemed to be relying on pity shags, and was coming on a bit strong. i recall that he was wearing leggings with 90s style stirrups on the foot under jeans. Weird. But nice to have a random Reynolds dream again. It'd been too long!

We found the car keys!

Unfortunately, I found them about 10 mins after the locksmith had arrived. Vi had hidden them right at the back of the playpen and then had denied all knowledge. *Sigh*.

Oh, and Alex has started teething (yes, already!) and currently can't go for more than about 4 hours without crying for a feed, so I'm getting him up at 10.30 for a feed, then getting up for him again between 2 and 3, then Hubs sees to him at between 6 and 7. Tiring.

I may have just been brilliant in the chapter of Rollercoaster I'm currently writing, or may have jumped the ficcy shark a little. Hard to tell. I'm fairly certain I've just written an action sequence that's physically impossible, but it was too spectacular not to. Hey-ho.

And La Reynolds was in Casualty again on Sat! Was just channel hopping and there he was! He was playing a Paramedic this time so I was concerned he was coming on as a regular. Alas though, it turned out he was a thieving scumbelina and got sacked before the episode was through. Oh well, at least that means I don't have to watch Casualty every week now.

Flipping knackered at the moment - Alex has snuck back to 2 night feeds now - managed to technically make it just one by waking him for a feed at 10.30 last night, but I still didn't get to sleep til midnight-ish, then had to get up to feed him again at 2.20, got back to sleep at 3-ish then had to take both kids at ten to 7. This is after about 5 hours broken sleep the night before, as well. And it doesn't really stop in the day now with the 2 of them - once Vi's napping and the washing up's done, Alex is awake again for another feed - so no opportunity to nap. Considering this week's only 4 days, it's going on forever! All writing has ceased at present - it's taken me about twice as long as it usually does just to write this!

Reposting the photo meme - need more suggestions to make it worth breaking out the camera!

List up to three (3) things you would like me to take pictures of. Once I've gathered up all the requests, I'll make a post with the pictures I managed to take.

Alex slept from about 8pm to 3am last night, then from 3.30 to 7. One night feed, and a quiet evening! Woo-hoo! More of that please, kiddiewink, although if he could have a feed at about 11pm then do the long stretch without waking til morning that would be even better.

And he's started smiling :D

Having lots of thoughts about Zombie Dad, but haven't had time to write any down over the last couple of days. Getting a good few ideas about the main characters and story arcs though, which is promising. May do a couple of weeks of self-enforced Script Frenzy in when Alex is sleeping through and Vi's at playschool to bang out a 1st draft.

By the way - important question time - is David Mitchell sexy? Because I had a sexy dream about him a while ago and when I mentioned it on Twitter it turned out loads of other women have as well. Someone described his 'Would, But Shouldn't', which pretty much sums it up for me. It's mainly the Funny that appeals to me, because godamm, he's a funny fella. And the Cardis don't put me off at all, as many of my crushes can out-Dorkrobe him. What say you, ladies? Oui/Non?

Oooh, I forgot to mention, Alex had his hearing re-tested earlier in the week, and, while he ended up having to have a third test that involved scanners being put ON HIS BRAIN so that he looked like a coma patient in Star Trek he eventually passed. His hearing's fine, he just has a really gunky ear still.

He's eating a phenomenal amount, and has piled on shedloads of weight. He's still having two night feeds at the mo, annoyingly, and extra-annoyingly, wakes up wanting milk at 6 every morning no matter what time the last night feed was (finished feeding him at quarter past 5 last night, and he was still awake before Hubs' alarm, then had 40ml and didn't want any more!) Sure Vi was only having 1 night feed by the time she was 4 weeks - come on, Alex, catch up!

Went to Farming World *again* today - with lady next door and her Granddaughter this time, as well as Hubs & a very well behaved Alex. Vi & the granddaughter (let's call her E, for the sake of her privacy) get along like a house on fire, and they played together beautifully for hours on end. Vi is starting to act like a proper little girl around her peers & was holding hands, chatting and laughing with E, sitting together and sharing their chips at lunch and playing pirates on a little boat. Beyond adorable. Luckily, it was really sunny today too, and we've all gone a little bit pink this evening.

Nice to be able to go out all day as a family. Can't wait til Alex is old enough to start actually enjoying stuff like this, too.

We're currently waking about once every 2 hours with Alex - extra annoyingly, it's not always for food - this kid poos more often than you'd believe, and sometimes wees so much that it escapes his nappy even after two or three hours. If he wakes up dirty or wet he often won't want much milk and so wakes up hungry a couple of hours later again... I'm sure if we didn't keep having all the poo calamities he'd be waking after closer to four hours. Anyway, the long & the short of it is that Hubs & I are both very tired and irritable. Plus I've had a touch of Da Baby Bloos - nowhere near as bad as it was with Vi, but still enough to make me feel even less like my usual self. We still have Nana Help at the moment but after the weekend it'll just be the four of us for a bit, and we'll have to amuse Vi ourselves as well as catering for Captain Poopy. Dreading Hubs going back to work, although that's not for another fortnight yet.

I do keep managing to take small consolations during these Zombie Weeks, though. Firstly, night feeds aren't for *too* long - we should be able to get Alex into a less exhausting 4-hour routine if not this week then hopefully by the time Hubs is back at work, and Vi was giving us around 6 hours straight at night by 6 weeks, I seem to remember. And after that's over we'll never have to do the Newborn Night Feeds crap ever again.

Another consolation is that I am now done with pregnancy for good. I may not be allowed to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time, but at least I can lie on my front again for the first time in about half a year. I'd missed that - I love sleeping on my front.

Also, I'm back to my old dress size! I don't feel beyond heavy whenever I walk any more, and have been out for a few walks by myself while the kids have been napping over the last few days, enjoying my new weight and the re-emergence of my waist. Plus I bought some nice Normal Person Size clothes today - Yellow Top, combats (on sale - woo!) plus 2 New Look TShirts that I can't find on their website, but they're pretty and probably too young for me but shit to it!

Thanks for the various congrats - unoriginal_liz, of course I don't mind you commenting! (loved the icon too).Everything still very strange - used to it just being me & Vi kicking around the house, and of course, used to a toddler who cheerfully goes to bed at 8 and doesn't bother us until about 7 the next morning, meaning last night's 12.30am, 3.20am and 5.30am feeds (when he refused to settle after the latter, and was hiccupping and sicking after most of them) came as a shock to the system. Alex is, so far, fairly low maintenance compared to how Vi was in the early stages though. We'll see if that lasts.

So - let me regale you with the story of my second - and, unless I have a massive change of heart, final - labour.

( Cut for length and ickiness )

I have a son! Alex was born on Friday night after a relatively short & uncomplicated (but still very painful & knackering) labour. I have strained muscles I didn't even know I had (and no, I don't just mean 'down there' - I feel like I've just got back from a marathon Yoga session with Satan himself instructing).

Back home now, but V busy catching up as well as juggling the needs of both kiddies. Shall post more/reply when I get the chance.

Scribbles xxxx