Helping out as best we could. #wotw Family

Your children are always your children and whether they are four or nearly forty when they need help you willingly give them it if you can. Decided this was a good blog post to link up to #wotw and Family seems appropriate.  

Glide on by to the bottom of the post if you just want new baby overload pictures. 


DD2 and family went home the other day after being here for eighteen days. She had had to come down as her local hospital was not a suitable place to give birth due to a few different factors. The catchment hospital for where she lives is Paisley but she made the active decision to have the new baby at our local maternity hospital so that we were on hand to look after Ziggy. It is amazing how families change and I think it is lovely the way we have all pulled together to help out in various ways. DD1 has had Ziggy quite a lot to make it possible for me to work while SIL2 has been back home working. Considering it has always been a family joke that the only thing DD1 and DD2 had in common as children was they hated each other then it is amazing that they get on so well now and will happily help each other out.

Ziggy has adapted well to being shunted from pillar to post but she loves it down the road as she has her cousins to play and fight with. Being an only one she has not learnt to share in a way all of her cousins have and does not get the rough and tumble at home either that goes on down the road, but she can give as good as she gets.

They were here for a week before SIL2 came back down and DD2 was here without her car so any appointments she had or shopping she needed we were needed to run her. It was lucky he was back here as DD2 had to go up to the hospital on Sunday while I was at work and they decided to keep her in as they were not overly happy with various things. But this time has allowed Ziggy to settle in and feel more comfortable here and get used to having to let Granddad and I do things for her. Granddad is very good at amusing her as long as she is happy. Granddad does not deal with stroppy moody temper tantrum throwing children but will spend ages singing silly songs and watching things together on the tablet. Granddad turns into a tickle monster and chases her round the house while she giggles her head off squealing with delight. They play with torches and play hide and seek in the living room, the only place to hide is behind Granddad's couch and once you have counted to ten she yells loudly to let you know where she is. She is not difficult to find.

Granddad even walked her down to DD1's one morning as I was going to work and the car seat was back in her dad's car. Dixie dog went with them and got an early morning walk. My plan had been to walk her down and walk back up for the car. This really surprised me as it is not like Granddad to do these sorts of things but it made my morning a bit easier.

One of the disadvantages of my house for my daughter has been the lack of a bath, she had nowhere to soak away her aches and pains, though I am not sure she would have managed to get herself out of a bath, had she got it. The shower we have is quite a small corner cubicle and the door opens into the middle of our small pokey bathroom rather than against the wall so it is very awkward to shower a two year old in there without getting yourself and usually the floor wet as well.

Have to say would love something like the Richmond walk in shower range.  a nice walk in shower with easy access would make showering Ziggy much easier. 

The Richmond Range

Ideal for wet rooms or low-level shower trays, this beautifully stylish walk-in shower range features clear toughed glass and high quality polished aluminium finish

I can but dream, anyway I digress.

SIL2 had got a message from DD2 in the early hours of Monday morning to go in. Ziggy decided while he was out to wake up and start crying for him. A few months ago if she woke during the night and I had gone into her she would have screamed the place down. But this time she did not, she sobbed but did let me cuddle her. She kept quietly sobbing when I put her back to bed so I decided to pop her into her mum and dad's bed and I was going to go in with her but she fell asleep in less than two minutes so I just left the light on for her and the door open and went back to my own bed.

Anyway despite them keeping DD2 in the hospital all weekend her contractions had come to nothing and the plans for her c section went ahead as planned. So baby Jenna Grace was born on Tuesday 15th January at 10.50 am weighing 8lb 12 oz. SIL2 came back for Ziggy at tea time and took her up to meet her new baby sister. I am not really sure she understands that the baby is here to stay or what to make of her as she is a bit young. Daughter was not up to having any other visitors so we did not go up.

We went up to meet Jenna ( blog name Roo) on Wednesday afternoon. SIL2 and Ziggy were still then when we got there but left not long afterwards. When we left I went to sit with Bob, Minky, Dinky and Spud while DD1 and Fifi went up to visit. SIL2 went back up just before 7 pm as his family were all coming down to meet the new baby.

This week has been hectic running here, running there, doing this, doing that, meals at different times for Ziggy than the rest of us and fitting in dog walks where I can. Washing, drying, sorting, tidying and more tidying, do you know how much mess a two year old makes? The constant dished needing done, work tops to wipe, hoovering to do. Barely had five minutes to ourselves. No chance to watch on tv what we normally watch, no chance for a relaxing afternoon and no chance for a full nights sleep either - not that I sleep all night normally anyway.

They went home on Sunday afternoon after a false start where they thought they had forgotten Ziggy's drama llama blanket and came back for it and Ziggy got excited to be back at Grandma and Granddads.

Nice to have my own space back but the help was needed and she could not have done it without help. Once a mum always a mum no matter the age of your children. 

mum and baby about 30 hrs after her section

our first meeting

gazing at her 

Ziggy likes to stroke her

with Granddad in the hospital 

at home with Bob 

6am sunday morning, Roo had been awake most of the night, do daddy brought her down so mummy could get some sleep 

DDi with Roo

one for the history books - granddad brushing her hair 

on the couch with Granddad 

in her moses basket 

one of ,my daughters pictures, Ziggy and Roo in the hospital 

playing with her computer 

helping to unwrap baby presents and a lovely skirt for her

somebody gave her play doh and a whale shape maker

a snugly selfie 

the two girls on my chair

Ziggy helped to wash her little sister

So there you have it, more memories to look back on. 

Raisie Bay

This is a collaborative post but all thoughts, events and pictures are genuine.