On the 15^th of November we finally moved house after endless months of messing about with solicitors. As we were swapping house with the lady who was buying our house we had thought that it would be easier than a normal move. It didn’t quite happen as smoothly as we’d hoped though, especially on moving day, which was particularly chaotic as we were moving things into – and out of – both houses at the same time! Luckily Trent and Roisin spent the day with their great aunt so I had two less things to worry about.

Now that everything has been moved in, and the kids are back home, we’re trying to get a bit of order in the house. We have already decorated both Trent and Roisin’s bedrooms – it was my priority to make sure that the kids were comfortable. We didn’t want to ruin Trent’s routine as he is now at an age where he understands what is going on around him. He is over the moon with his new Bob the Builder bedroom; complete with duvet, curtains, lampshade, bin, chair and cushions. For the time being Roisin is making use of the Zeddy and Parsnip accessories that Trent has grown out of, they are all neutral colours so work equally well for her. As soon as she becomes more interested in a theme we will decorate her room again.

I’m taking the rest of the house one step at a time. We don’t want to miss out on our children’s precious years, whilst concentrating on decorating, so we are planning to do bits and pieces as and when we can. For now it’s time to start planning a special Christmas – our first as a family of four!

This week was my first week back at university since I had Roisin. I was looking forward to it, as it was the first time I’d had to use my brain in ages, but at the same time I knew I’d miss the gang. I opted to travel to and from Lancaster everyday so I could at least see everyone for an hour or two – even if it was just putting them to bed or getting them up in the morning. I had the week planned – who was going where on which days, when Trent was going to nursery and all the meals and bottles were organised.

The week flew in, probably because by the time I got home, tidied up, got the following day’s things organised and put Trent and Roisin to bed, it was time for me to go to bed! I felt bad that dad got neglected and had to do a lot of running around and coping with both children at the same time. But at least now he knows what life’s like in a normal week for me when he’s at work! My mam and auntie are brilliant and give me loads of support, and dad normally takes Trent every morning so that gives me a chance to get organised.

I was surprised that although I missed Roisin lots, it was Trent who I really looked forward to seeing at the end of the week. I think it’s because Roisin is still so young, and as long as she’s fed, warm and dry, then she’s happy and doesn’t know any difference. But Trent is at such an inquisitive age and he’s learning so quickly. Every day he’s doing or saying something different and even in the one week I was away I noticed he’d grown up so fast. When I came home one night my mam had taught Trent to say ‘school’, so he knows where I go all week – he can also say ‘work’ because that’s where dad goes. I really enjoy learning and my job, and I need to carry on working because it keeps my brain going and it’s something I do for me. But I also love being a mam.

Trent can now take up to six unsupported steps. I can’t believe it after all of this time. It seems like we have been waiting forever – all of his little friends who are younger than him have already started walking and are now running around him. Trent sits in the middle of them whilst they are running around and looks at me as if to say ‘why can’t I do that?’ We’ve been practising and practising and it has finally paid off. But even now I literally have to prop him up and dad has to coax him towards him with a toy or something of interest – once we stop practising for the day he resorts back to his crawling. I know it will come soon but I can see the frustration in his face and I just want to help him. When dad gets home from work everyday he takes Trent out for a walk, holding his hand to support him, they’ve been doing this for months and we thought that one day he would try and do it by himself but he just isn’t interested.

We’ve now started joking that Roisin will be walking before Trent! But in his defence I think that the appearance of another two teeth has kept him more than occupied. He now has another big double tooth at the bottom, and one at the top, making almost a full set. I’ve also noticed that his vocabulary is improving by the day. ‘Mam’ is his favourite word at the minute, much to dad’s annoyance! He can also say ‘school’ and ‘bye’, and he has a good go at ‘Makka Pakka’. All in all his development seems to be on track. As for baby Roisin she has been an absolute pleasure. They say you never have two babies the same, but our two are both easy-tempered and sleep through the night – we’ve been very lucky.

Walking practise, a proper family affair!

Recently I have been concentrating so hard on helping Trent to learn to walk, that I was astonished to notice he had sprouted three more teeth without anyone even noticing. The teeth are the big double ones, two at the top on each side and one on the bottom left.
As soon as I spotted the teeth I realised that he’d not actually been eating as much recently and that what he had eaten he had really picked at. I’ve also been forever putting bibs on him as he has been slavering so much. Poor thing ¬– now his slow start with walking seems perfectly understandable, he must have been suffering with his teeth and unable to concentrate on anything else.
We decided to take the kids out for the day on Sunday as Trent has had such a hard week suffering in silence with his teeth. We walked to visit his great grandfather who lives in a nearby village, and visited the park and beach café there. It was obviously quite exhausting for the little ones, and they were both asleep by the end so we set off homewards. Trent perked up once we were back so we walked to the local park where he had great fun on the swings. He even got a bit adventurous and wanted to explore the bigger children’s areas.

An adventurous Trent enjoys his outing to the park:

Trent and Dad get in some walking practice:

It all proves a bit exhausting for Roisin:

Fun in the bath after a long day:

Trent is now over 15 months old and he is still not walking. I’ve been practising so hard with him but he thinks it’s just a game, and when I pull him to his feet he just throws his head back and laughs. I’m convinced he can, and does, walk when dad and I aren’t watching, but as soon as we look he drops to his knees. He can stand against things, climb the stairs (even though he is not meant to) and do lots of other things, but he just will not walk.
Last week Jayden, Trent’s best mate, came to play and I could see Trent jealously watching the way Jayden runs around. I was convinced he would attempt to get up onto his feet at some point and I was right. Trent crawled over to me, then climbed up against me, and eventually stood freely with no support for almost 30 seconds. After this I thought it would only be a matter of time before he started walking, but since then he has resorted back to his knees and hasn’t once attempted standing up again!
Most people are really encouraging and keep saying it’s nothing to worry about, that he will walk when he’s ready, but others make me feel like a failure when they say; “is he not walking yet?” Dad keeps telling me that you should never compare babies as they all develop at different rates, and he is right because although Trent can’t walk yet, he is very advanced at using his hands, and has no problems throwing and catching a ball and putting shapes into the correct holes in toys.