Absolutely fabulous, darling!

Lucas just rolled onto his tummy! Twice!

A few mummy-tears were shed :)

Phew, it's been a bit of a busy day here!

I got up--for the first time--with a steady stream of mumblings and grumblings, at 5.05am to feed Lucas. I've been spoilt recently as he's slept through until 8am for a couple of nights, which made today a real shock to the system. Mercifully Lucas dropped off again quite quickly and I managed to sleep until 8.45.

Alas this meant that I had to run around madly to try and make the house less of a tip before kitty_vic and Skye arrived. Skye always loves coming over as our house is probably the least baby-proofed house on the planet and there's always something incredibly inappropriate to play with, but today I did manage to remember to put the Incredibly Sharp Scissors of Doom somewhere safe before she arrived. Good fun was had by all and Lucas got lots of kisses :)

This afternoon I went out on my own--such a treat, thanks Dave!--to a baby first aid course at the doctor's surgery. Apparently St Johns Ambulance Brigade do occasional free courses as charity-work or something. At any rate, it was free and my first aid courses are well out-dated and mostly forgotten, so I was pleased to be offered it. So I now know what to do if the worst happens but I'll have to use my common sense where cuts and bruises are concerned ;) I bought a first aid kit so I'm ready for Lucas to graze his knee for the first time....

Tonight I'm fulfilling one of my New Year's resolutions and cooking dinner again. I did Spinach and Garlic pilaf last night and tonight we're having Vietnamese-spiced Pork Steaks with Spring Onion Rice. Unfortunately my meal-planning skills went out of the window this week, so we're having rice with tomorrow's dinner too. Whoops! I have to admit that I really enjoyed cooking again and it was so good to eat proper food again instead of ready-meals. I've started back at Weight Watchers so proper dinners are a necessity if I'm going to shift all this flab.

While I'm still awake (why did I drink Pepsi??), here are some fringe benefits of having a baby:

* I am now hard as nails. Pain? Does it even approach squeezing a baby out? No? Say "Ouch" and move on
* Needle phobia is a thing of the past! Remembering to inject is a different kettle of fish though
* I get muchos respect every time people ask about the birth. This cheers me up, especially when my eardrums are still ringing from Lucas screaming
* My breasts have developed their own gravitational field. Each morning I expect to wake up and find orbital bodies zinging around them. (This only counts as a benefit as it distracts 99% of people from my jelly belly.)
* I had a 9lb 7oz baby and immediately dropped 18lb after giving birth. Over the last 4-5 days I've dropped another 6lb and I'm now down to my lowest weight in well over three years! (I should point out that I gained a paltry 2lb in pregnancy. I'm weird.)

Slight side effects of having a baby:

* Swelling where you really don't want swelling (I recommend Arnica for such woes)
* Red zebra stripes on nipples
* Consistently forgetting which is left and which is right through extreme tiredness--this could make driving fun
* Eardrums ringing from horrendous screaming
* Trying to feed a hungry baby at 3am when you only just finished the last feed at 2.15am
* Being pooed on
* Being puked on
* Mistaking baby-about-to-pee for a baby erection--why else would a penis rise, I ask you?--and seeing a huge fountain of wee arc into the air and splashdown everywhere
* Constantly changing clothes and doing laundry
* Forgetting to eat
* Sleep deprivation

Thank-you all for your lovely comments!

( TMI, baby stuff )