Ta.

What a week! This was the week that I went head to head with Paddy over his waking up every hour! And the results are in....

********* Mummy 1 - 0 Paddy *********

Monday he was in a right grump all day. I went to yoga and my Mum had him and even she said he was completely miserable the whole time. He would scream for something until you gave it to him then throw it on the floor in rage then scream for it again - little horror. I couldn't work out what the problem was so ended up giving him a bit of calpol, just in case it was his teeth. As usual, he was up either every hour or every two hours, grrr. Lily had her little friend Madelin over to play and Paddy to a real shine to her! Also, Monday I booked the registry office......FRIDAY 5TH OCTOBER at 2.30PM. Aaarghh! We're really doing it! :@)

We went to Little Ducklings on Tuesday and he had a lovely time! One of the little girls there, Charlie, turned two and had a combined birthinday/leaving do as her family is going back to the UK. It seems that every week another family is going back :@( Anyway, there was party food and blowers and they all had a lovely time! Paddy demolished a big bit of birthday cake and loved it. We went for a long walk afterwards with Maisy while Lily went to the tutor.

I went to WW on Friday and lost 1.9kgs, which I was thrilled with! I've no idea what I did differently this week but long may it continue! I expect I'll have a much small loss next week though, That's usually how it goes with me. Mum joined to (she's in a panic about Mother of the Bride outfits!) and we had a bit of lunch afterwards and found an English clothes shop which sold clothes and underwear in decent sizes. I got a nice M&S bra for 14 euros which I thought was really good. I'm sure M&S bras are more than that back in the UK. Mark arrived Friday night. Mum stayed with the kids while I went to the airport. Lily was already in bed when we got back but Paddy heard the front door close as we came in and started shouting Dada! Bless him! It made Mark's day! We were messing around in the kitchen yesterday and Mark grabbed my boobs and Paddy was sat in his high chair - he was shooting Mark evil look and started shaking his head as if to say 'hands off, they're mine!. We thought it was really funny!

And as for the sleeping....by Tuesday I had gone past the point of exhaustion (and back again) and I just couldn't keep up with this waking for a feed every hour. I made sure he wasn't hungry and had a clean nappy and I just left him to cry. It was awful! Complely heart breaking but, surprisingly, he only cried for 25 mins! I've avoided doing this up until now because I've been so aware of the thin walls and not wanting to upset our neighbours but I thought they it would be better all round of if I let him scream it out of for a couple of nights because they must have been able to hear him waking up demanding feeds too. Anyway, the first night he screamed from 2.30am for 25 mins. I thought I'd got off lightly but the second night he screamed from 4.25am to 5.20am!! It was awful! He finally cried himself to sleep after rattling the bars on the cot, throwing his blankets off, throwing his teddy out of the cot, etc. Touch wood, since then he's slept 10pm til 6am, the following night midnight til 7.10am and last night from 10pm til 9.10am - HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I'm feeling very pleased with him and myself, hard though it was. He does wake up during the night to have a grumble but goes back to sleep after a minute or two! Yay!

This week he's learnt to say 'Ta' and has started making sounds along the line of mama! His appetite has been amazing too! He's now having 4 meals a day becaue I've started giving him supper just before his last boob feed of the day before he goes down. We went out to some Spansh friends for paella yesterday - amazing food which blew the diet right out of the water! Paddy was the star attraction and everyone wanted a cuddle! He didn't stop eating though! He ate olives, goats cheese, tortas, paella with rabbit, and bread followed by a chocolate and lots of water - total glutton! He showed his apreciation by doing lots of clapping and cheering to everyone and showed of his waving hello and goodbye! No wonder he slept so well last night!

Mark went home again tonight but is back again on Friday. We ordered our wedding rings on Saturday! We're both having platinum - he's having a mat platinum band and I'm having a thin rounded type ring. Mine is going to be approx 80 euros - what a bargain!! It's the one I want so who cares if it's a cheapie! Besides which, the engagement and Paddy/eternity ring cost enough so I'm more than happy with my kinder egg wedding ring!! They should be ready in approx 1 week, so that's another job done!

There's so many things that I think I must put in the diary, until i come to write it and then forget! I'll have to try and update more regulaly.Oh, and Paddy is now surfing the furniture which scares me. All our floors are tiled and I'm so worried that he fall straight back and whack his head. Nanny Jo suggested a bicycle helmet!