The waiting game....

Oh god, I really do know how she feels. Please see Lucy expression on the attached photo. I think it sums up how team Hammond is generally feeling. Two more days have passed and still no new addition to our clan. If I feel like this, just think how my wife feels. Any day now, any day now, any day now! If I say it enough times I am sure it will happen. Despite this we have had a good weekend. Lucy has been very chatty and helpful.We even managed to get her to eat most of a meal at the table! I have particularly enjoyed the development that she nearly falls asleep wrapped up in a towel after her bath as I stroke her arm. Pure heaven! Cuddles with you daughter can just simply melt your heart.My wife has read on the Internet that the baby could turn if you lie on your left side or be on your knees. So she is upstairs prostate on the bed watching top gear on the crook. The only way to make Jeremy Clarkson look good and if you are lying on your left side you can't hear him talk so much bollocks! Worth also mentioning that as a family we go car booting every Sunday and it is very entertaining to watch Lucy interact with the stallholders. Lucy's chosen 'currency' is her piglet toy and she tries to swap and barter it for everything! She can do this as she has two back up piglets at home!

A contrasting day....

It has been a day of worry for my wife and I. She had what she thought was contractions over night. I slept through the lot, fat lot of use I am. None since. My wife when to the doctors today and discovered the baby is back to back (or OP to use the medical term). This is the most painful way of giving birth. We are both worried and I know I'm not looking forward to seeing her go through that again. Lucy was OP and it was not good. Maybe the baby will turn. This has got me thinking. Isn't it nice that we can give our children the gift of not having adult worries, shield them from harm and ensure that it is a good few years before they have these concerns and an idea of adult consequences to situations. I am worried. It is up to me to look after Lucy this weekend and make sure she does not pick up on the fact that we are both anxious and concerned. I know I can do this for her.

Lucy has had a better day than her parents. She has her first pet. We have affectionately called him Mr Snail. He has his own ice cream tub, complete with vegetation and lovely sea views. When I arrived home she had him on the living room table and was guarding him with her life. At one point telling me to shush, snail is asleep! My wife brought Lucy to the Care Home where I work today and I have to say she enchanted everyone in the lounge and I was so proud. Lucy, having undertaken seven years of medical school and purchased a £1.99 doctors set from Woollies is now telling me she is qualified to check my knee and strangely my bottom are not poorly with her stethoscope!

A decison has been made!

It's like big brother in my house. Day 269 and Amy is in the diary room. I am large, tired and fed up - please can I have my body back. It's not all doom and gloom though decision has been made about baby names. A boy will be called Alex and a girl will be called Natalie. Women are strange creatures. They manage to have a conversation with you and convince you that you played a part in it and you want what they want. Then there is the declaration I am giving birth, so I am choosing the name. She might be right. On a different subject I have just witnessed my father-in-law do a victory dance when Spain scored in the semi-final of Euro 2008. It was not a pretty sight! Soon there will be another baby and plenty of pictures for me to bore readers with. I don't care - I am so excited! Hopefully it will be over soon and my wife will have her body back. Wind update - Lucy now wants to take credit for my breaking wind. I am truly proud.

Let the battle rage on!

Make no mistake I continue to be in a parental war and my considerably skilled foe is a two year old with cute, stropping and bundles of energy as her weapon. I will prevail. I will fight her at bath time, I will fight her when the telly is on, I will fight her when I need her to do something, I will fight her when she won't hold my hand - there are many battlefields and I am skilled on every terrain. Technically I am exaggerating on the range of my skills, I do my best. The last few weeks have been a real battle and I don't feel I am making head way. Some moments can be very funny though, as Lucy was on the living room floor this evening using a stropping tactic and Amy said - 'where's my good Lucy gone, where's my good Lucy gone.' Lucy perked up, pooped her head up like a ferret and kept saying. 'I am here Mummy, I am here Mummy.' And the strop stopped immediately.

This evening in the yard, I am afraid I must confess to having wind. Whilst letting rip I proceeded to blame my wife. Lucy agreed and told Mummy she was stinky and instantly took my part that I would never be capable of such habits! Finally I have an ally in the house.....

Sometimes it's just the anticipation!

It's been a really busy and tiring week at work and I really have not seen enough of my family this week. I really do miss them when I am not with them. Am looking forward to spending time with them this weekend and you never know, this could be the weekend that my family expands! My wife is a real trooper, she is getting bigger by the day and is really fed up. We are as ready as we are going to be and I have to confess to getting really excited. I simply cannot wait to meet this new person in my life! Magical!

Looser!

I am not exaggerating but my two and a half year old daughter gave me the looser sign today. Pure co-incidence, but it was very funny. I was a little shocked! With a big smile in her face she raised her hand, fingers in an L shape and said that's my drink daddy, please don't touch it.The terrible two's can bring some strange goings on.

We had a lovely bath this evening and sang songs, a much better evening and she seemed to like being with her daddy again.

So much can happen in a parenting week!

It's been a week since I posted anything. It has been crazy week. It has been a challenging week in the Hammond household especially in the parenting steaks. My wife gets bigger by the day and it really cannot be that long before she gives birth! Work is manic and I am frantically trying to get ready so that I can have some time off soon. I am so tired and Lucy has ranged from delightful to really challenging! She has been every where and anywhere this week and I have barely seen her. When she does see me she is usually knackered and frustrated. We did have a child free night last night and stayed at a hotel for a wedding. Bliss you would have thought - until my wife thumped me a 5.30am to wake me up to help with her cramp. We have also spent time with a lovely parent who has four children. This woman is a parenting god and it makes one feel completely inferior and a failure. All four of her children are perfectly behaved and I melted when a tired Lucy was giving me a hard time and she said 'don't worry Bob - it will get better'. Ahhhhh - today I just did not know what to do with her, everything I tried did not help. Tomorrow is another day....parenting is simply about sticking to it - sometimes it is hard when you are knackered!