A little more than a month old..

Thankfully, Jack seems to be coming out of his 'NO, no, no' phase and into a moment when being beside Emma seems to interest him more. Now, he'll press her belly button, touch her hair, bring her toys...and that's a relief as it was sad for us to see him so sad. What does Emma say about it all: urrrr. Yep, she's started squeaking (she's hiccuping and urrring as I type) and she remains a very calm and gentle baby. The only time she really cries is meal times. Her meal times? No, our meal times, as she seems to have a special sensor that tells her the instant that we sit down to eat! That means we either eat with the 'symphony of Emma in Major' in the background or in rotation (Ben goes first and then me). For the rest of the time, though, she is really quiet and'funny' (Jack just said to me 'Emma is funny'). She's definitely good to have around...

..especially in Jack moments.

Jack moments? Yes, like earlier today when he called through to me proudly 'I painted the wall.'

And, yep, indeed, he had 'painted' the wall.. with a small blue pencil.. leaving a scribble of blue lines where once there was only white.

A good dose of severe words and a few minutes later, both he and I were painting.. at the kitchen table with paper and real paints. In his 'franglais/ Frenglish' he told me that it wasn't good to paint on the walls.

I agreed.. while thinking 'but it is good to hang out with Ben, Jack and now Emma'

I hope you're having fun hanging out.. where ever you are in the world :-)

love n hugs,

Robynxxx

Almost One Month Old!

Here's Emma checking out the world, safe in her Papa's arms !

Just to make you smile...

In the midst of all this summer heat (the temperature regularly rises above 35° at the moment), we've passed the 3 week mark and all is well. Emma is a funny wee thing that pulls at our heart strings and makes us smile all the time. Jack's doing much better but still does have meltdowns from time to time ('No, no, no, je n'aime pas' - 'No, no, no, I don't like it' he'll cry, stromping his little feet and beating his fists). Thankfully, Ben's around fulltime now and so the boys can go for bike rides, walks in the forest, and work on their project: building new shelves in Emma's room. Jack also now only has two weeks until he starts school...and I reckon that's one projct that'll keep us all busy for a good time to come!

Hoping you're all well and that all your projects are going well,

hugs,

Robynx

15 days

Okay, so we have a normal baby afterall. One that doesn't systematically 'do' her nights but instead sometimes sleeps for 5 hours and sometimes sleeps for an hour and a half. I thought I'd given birth to a miracle baby. It's not the case but I'll love her all the same!

The really good news is she's doing just grand and when she opens her eyes and looks around she's the funniest of wee things :-)

And so the days keep ticking by... and the shock of being a 'two kid' mum is beginning to hit (How will I ever manage to go shopping again? Not glamourous shopping but basic shopping. With TWO kids. Will I ever be able to shower on a regular basis again? As soon as Jack gets up, Emma starts to open her eyes and so I'm busy until lunchtime? I look and smell terrible but, as Ben's at work at the moment and Emma and Jack clearly don't care...well, you know, there are better things I can do with my time!).

I reckon it'll take some getting used to! At least, Jack's on fine form - he's just told me the washing machine has finished because it's just finished making a noise). I guess that's my cue to get on with other things.

But, I hope wherever you are that this wee message finds you safe and well (and cleaner than me!).

Hugs,

Robynxxxx

Suddenly nine days have gone by already...

Hello again,

Good news: we're surviving!

Reason: (at least for me), Emma sleeps, wait for it, between midnight and at least 7am each night. I don't know why and I don't know how long such generous sleeping habits will last, but I don't need to know the reason to be happy about things. Just hope for me that it continues for at least a little bit longer.

Here's Emma with her brother Jack. He's been doing pretty well since her arrival - helping to change nappies, bringing her toys, cuddling her - but, all the same, the green-eyed monster has bitten deep and we've already seen our fair share of tantrums and tears. All we can do is explain that, at least, Emma doesn't want to play with his toy cars because the lad has become a car fanatic - not only citing ALL the Peugeot, Citroen, Audi, and Voltzwagen cars he sees on the road but also playing non stop with his own collection of matchbox cars (Ben found a good deal whereby we got 30 second hand matchbox cars for a really small amount of money. Jack loves them and is constantly, and I mean constantly parking them, cleaning them, and organising massive car crashes).

And then, here's Emma - the star of the show.. and all quite happy about life and what it contains so far for her (food, sleep, and clean nappies).

Hoping you're all well,

Robynxxx

Emma Cnockaert

Just the shortest of little messages to announce the biggest and the bestest of news:

Emma Cnockaert was born, gently and beautifully, on Tuesday 28 July 2009 at 9.37am.

We brought her home last night and now our family of four is complete.

More later, once things calm down... if they ever calm down again!

much much love,

Robynxxx