serenity now (and repeat ad infinitaeum.....)

wow everyone, I'm completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of joyous and warm comments left to my last post - thank you all so much for taking the time to congratulate someone you only know 'virtually'!

well little Anna is now a week old, and changing all the time (losing that screwed up newborn look thankfully). Of course it hasn't been all beer and skittles since we've been home, which I totally expected (hence my new mantra of the title post!). My milk only came in the day before yesterday so she has been doing what the midwives called a feeding frenzy - wanting a feed or to be settled practially 45 minutes out of every night time hour because she wasn't getting enough each time. So not much sleep was had for the first few days but luckily she is settled during the day so I could catch up on the zzzz's. Last night she was much better, going 2 - 3 hours between feeds so I could actually sleep a bit.

But I haven't exactly bought her home to a safe little cocoon - the builders are busy working away the hardest I've seen them, with at least three different things going on at once as opposed to one thing going on over three weeks LOL! At this stage they think they'll be finished in a few weeks, but the bad news is that they have started on the inside works to connect the existing house to the new extension, so we now have half a lounge room and even more furniture in weird spots that are out of the way of the building works.

To make matters worse my in laws are staying with us for three weeks (despite me emphasing the current state of the house), so we have 4 adults, a newborn baby and a dog in a building zone that has now usable area of the size of a large studio apartment! So I'm a bit stressed out having an audience watch everything I do with the baby, especially since they only want to hold her when she is quiet and hand her back quick smart when she cries, so I look forward to retreating to my bedroom to feed her, it's become my little sanctuary of peace and quiet. We had to dismantle the baby's room to fit the in laws in, so her bassinet and change table are crammed in our bedroom which is all very cozy to say the least!

Oscar the wonder dog has been great though - he lays besides her cot and as soon as she makes a noise he runs over to me and whimpers. Sure beats a baby monitor any day! And he is gentle with his sniffing of her, so I think the introduction has gone well:

You can see in the photo the yellow pair of the pyjamas I made using the BWOF pattern (the wrap around top) a while ago, these pyjamas are an absolute god send for feeding, too bad I didn't make them in plainer fabric so I could wear them out and about! Oh and someone asked me in a comment a little while ago what BWOF meant - it refers to the Burda World of Fashion sewing magazine, obviously you haven't been exposed to the joys of it but you should track down a copy it is totally worth it (and the start of a dangerous obsession).

In response to some other comments, we call the baby just Anna, Mei is just her middle name that will probably be rarely used. No particular reason for the name or family connection, I just like the sound of it and it supposedly means 'beautiful' in Chinese.

And Lisa you're so right about losing the baby weight - I've already dropped 10kg in a week which I'm pretty sure was helped by all the feeding I've been doing (plus the workout of getting out of bed and walking around jiggling the baby trying to soothe her!). Only another 1okg to go to get to my pre baby weight....

Anna's hair is surprisingly a light brown, and not the dark black Chinese hair I was expecting. I know they lose their hair and it comes back different so we'll see what she ends up with, but it will be a real shock if she turns out a red head too!

Sadly all my sewing stuff has been packed up to fit the in laws in the house so no sewing until the works are done, but I am already revising the stash contents and going through patterns for when I can sit down and get cracking at not only baby clothes but new clothes for me - I'm not going to need my suits or heels this year and the wardrobe of a stay at home mum (SAHM) is a whole new challenge for me! I'm going to try to go down Erica Bunker's path and being a sassy stylish SAHM, even if it is only for going to the shops or the doctors!

So excuse me all while I post sporadically for the next few weeks, but I am reading your blogs to steal some of your mojo for when I can back into action....

Anyway must go, I can hear the little angel stirring and pretty soon she'll turn from this to a screaming devil!