December 1998

Matthew seems to be really looking forward to the new baby arriving. He checks in the cot every morning to see whether the baby is there yet. He even shouted "hurry up baby" to my tummy, which was so sweet. We have told him the baby will be coming home very soon. My mum has come up to stay, to help out when I go into labour and Matthew loves being able to see his granny so much, in fact granny is currently much more popular than mummy!

We put up the Christmas decorations when Matthew was asleep and the delight on his face when he came down the next morning was magical. This is what makes Christmas! The first decorations that he saw were in our hallway, and he could see them from halfway down the stairs... he stopped in his tracks and said "ooh, pretty". Then he took me by the hand and gave me a tour of the house pointing out every new, pretty thing he saw. Matthew also helped me to make some sweets to give as Christmas presents to the family.

Initially Matthew was the only person there for me when I went into labour, he must have wondered exactly why I was quite so willing to play cars with him in the middle of the night! I found his company very relaxing and was pleased he was there. He had no idea that I was in labour as the contractions were so mild I wasn't even sure myself. Later on when things had really started to get going he seemed worried, but I was able to give him a hug to reasure him. I told him mummy was alright, and that he would be able to see his baby later, which make him happy. When he came to visit us in hospital, before he said anything to me, he went over to Amber and said "hello baby". I was pleased she was asleep though, because I managed to spend all the visiting time with Matthew. The next day Matthew got to meet his sister properly. He just wanted to hug and kiss her.

Unfortunately after this he came down with a really bad cold and ear infection. Karl was still recovering from the same nasty bug, and then I got sick too - probably NOT the same thing - but this meant I stayed in hospital longer than I had hoped. Grandpa had come up to visit his grandchildren at the weekend, and then Granny had to go back soon after I was allowed home, and Matthew got very unsettled with everybody coming and going. He is now sleeping very badly again, and has ended up sleeeping in with us or curled up on the floor every night since Amber was born. Dispite all the disruption Matthew dotes on his new sister. I just hope it lasts. I wanted to have my children close in age so they would grow up together, but I was afraid as Matthew approaches the "terrible twos" that he would be jelous.

And Finally Christmas. Matthew discovered presents! He loves presents! This year he can unwrap them himself, but unfortunately Santa put a toy train right at the top of Matthew's stocking and it took some persuasion to get him to unwrap any more after that! He slowly unwrapped all the presents from Santa over Christmas and Boxing day, and then Nana and Grandad arrived to see him with MORE PRESSENTS! The cheeky little boy has already got the hang of feeling the present before opening it... soft ones are clothes, "oh, it jumper" he says, but boxes usually have toys in them!

We then went down to see my family after Christmas (EVEN MORE PRESENTS!!!) and Matthew has enjoyed being sociable. I also took the opportunity to get Matthew sleeping in his own bed again, as my parents have a lovely spare bedroom set up as "the children's room". For a couple of nights I seemed to be going between one crying baby and the next, trying to settle them both, but Matthew never left his bed and within the week he was sleeping properly again.