Bug = 3 years 3 months
Bub = 1 year 5 months 13 days What was Linus up to at this age?
Bud = 24 weeks 1 day gestation

Last weekend we gave our children an important life lesson – we introduced them to Settlers of Catan, the board game that Daddy and I play a few nights a week (usually with Nana, often with Aunty Claire).

Linus knows that we play it after he’s gone to bed, but we decided to try playing during daylight hours with both our kids around. Both Linus and Ada were interested in the complicated set-up process, but after a few near-misses with the board nearly being messed up, we decided that it was time for Linus to watch a video (a babysitter we try not indulge in often!) while we finished the game.

It’s not likely we’ll repeat this exercise often… there’s no need on our side, since we get plenty of chance to play games in the evenings. However I think it will be nice to do it once a while so that the kids see games being played before they’re really old enough to join in.

Bug = 3 years 3 months
Bub = 1 year 5 months What was Linus up to at this age?
Bud = 23 weeks 1 day gestation

Linus is ALWAYS asking to go to a cafe, so yesterday Bob decided to oblige him. I opted to stay home with Ada while Linus and Daddy went for coffee* and cakes at Nectar, a real grown-up cafe.

After their meal and chat:

Daddy: Linus, do you want to go out to Mosgiel to see Pop-pop?

Linus : (thinks about it)… No… I do like Pop-pop, I just don’t want to see him today!

(Don’t worry for poor Pop-pop’s sake… Linus was over-ruled, and Pop-pop received a visit.)

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*Well, a fluffy in Linus’s case.

Bug = 3 years 3 months
Bub = 1 year 5 months What was Linus up to at this age?
Bud = 19 weeks 2 days 22 weeks 6 days gestation

(No, it’s not twins!!)

Our 19 week (a.k.a. “anatomy”) scan today went well, and Bob and I were joined by Nana, who I felt would really appreciate getting to see an ultrasound live (instead of just on DVD afterwards).

The news from the scan is that I have a baby in there who’s almost 23 weeks gestation, so my due date has been pulled forward by almost a month. Bud is now due to arrive in the middle of September, not the middle of October. That’s a good reason not to apply for your parental leave after the scan!

Bud was pretty unco-operative… she held her hands in front of her face, kept her legs crossed, and refused to give us a good profile.

Bug = 3 years 2 months
Bub = 1 year 4 months 23 days What was Linus up to at this age?
Bud = 18 weeks 2 days gestation

While we were away in the Catlins, Bob finally got to hear Bud’s heartbeat without the aid of a Doppler – that is, with his head just on my tummy (and me being very, very quiet!). I don’t know if many couples can manage this – or are even told to try it – but it’s lovely to be able to hear Bud’s heartbeat regularly. I also think it’s sweet that there’s at least one aspect of Bud and the pregancy that Bob can experience that I can’t (dammit!).

In the past week, Bud has also managed to kick Bob in the head quite a few times as he was trying to hear the heartbeat.   I’m feeling lots of kicks now, and I’m quite surprised how big they feel – we’re well past the “flutters” stage!

Bug = 3 years 2 months
Bub = 1 year 4 months 21 days What was Linus up to at this age?
Bud = 18 weeks gestation

I think that both Linus and Ada have weaned.

In theory, I’m disappointed that Ada isn’t going to be feeding until she’s at least two years old. But I have NO milk left (thanks to pregnancy), and while it isn’t painful to feed either of the kids, it’s occasionally uncomfortable and just… irritating is the best word to describe it.

I work two days a week, I enjoy getting Nana or Daddy to do Ada’s bedtime sometimes (for their sakes and mine), and these have helped feeding to fall out of our routine.

Possibly I could have kept up feeding both of them if I wanted to, but it would have been work. Perhaps a different 1-year-old would be more insistent about getting milk than Ada is… she has asked for it a few times recently, but has been easily refused or distracted. Maybe she’s getting a bit sick of there being nothing there. I’ve fed Ada as recently as two or three days ago, but each “feed” is extremely brief, and with no milk there she quickly loses interest. Linus simply hasn’t asked recently… he used to get it (if he asked) in bed in the mornings, but lately he’s been more interested in playing in his room with Ada or coming to us for just snuggles.

Replacing the cuddles and attention shouldn’t be too hard… Ada’s a cuddly kid in general, and Bob and I are trying harder to take even turns at doing each kid’s bedtime, which is the best time of day for me to get cuddles out of Linus.

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The other night as I was going to sleep, my thoughts started wandering: “Hmmm… BOTH my kids have weaned… so… if I wanted to, I could go out and get absolutely drunk some evening… cool… I haven’t been able to do that for a few years!…”

It must have taken me a full thirty seconds before I realised I’m pregnant.

It was a lovely thirty seconds.