Let there be poo…again

Mia has been a little tetchy in the evenings lately. This can be partly explained by the fact that she has not pooed for 4 days.

This came to an end last night when after trumping loudly all day she erupted as she lay on our bed and promptly filled her nappy. And I mean FILLED! This wasn’t the end as she filled the next two nappys as well. The relief on her face was a sight to see and to celebrate she slept from 10pm to 5am :-).

Amy woke up at 5ish with full aching breasts wondering if Mia was okay. I looked over at the tick tocking display on her monitor which looked fine. I then got up to check on her. She was sleeping soundly in a very deep sleep. This was short lived because 10 minutes later she woke up absolutely ravenous ;-).

Jake’s sleep over

Jake had a sleep over at Gabriels last night. I though that maybe this would be a mistake and it turned out to be so. Amy went to collect him and he was in a bad mood and very naughty. When I turned up he was crying and refusing to go down the stairs.

He was exhausted. We were told he went to bed at 7.30pm but I find this very hard to believe. He behaviour was absolutely terrible. He was rude and contrary pretty much the whole day. We decided to go the Nymans Gardens as a treat but when Jake started to play up in the cafe we went straight back home. In the car on the way up he was trying to wake Mia up so on the way back he was placed next to the door.

Back at home he decided he would watch a DVD even though he was told he was not allowed to and then went into metldown. Things improved a little after a bath and while reading his stories. He was in bed just before 6pm so we are hoping that a good rest will transform him back to his lovely normal self.

Sleepover at Gabriels again? Not likely.

Mia one month old

Mia has reached the grand age of 1 month. She is sleeping well during the day but still is having regular wobbles during the evening. Last night we tried leaving her in the cot but comforting her every few minutes. This kind of worked. She would drift off then 15 minutes later would wake up crying.

Carrying her around worked up to a point. Every so often she would brings her legs up to her chest and cry for a few minutes. Then we tried some fennel tea which ‘seemed’ to soothe her. At 11pm she finally settled and then was fine during the night. Waking every two hours for a feed then going back to sleep.

At 4am I gave her a feed so that Amy could sleep. I took her into the loft room so that Amy would not be disturbed. She drank 2 fl oz and then fell asleep on my chest listening to my heartbeat, where she stayed all night!

Development-wise she has started to focus more and is very alert. She has also started to coo and to smile a little, although this is still probably wind.

Bleary eyed

Last night was a little tricky. Mia woke at 2am and had a feed. During the feed she was taking in a lot of air. Consequently she had a bubbly tummy and could not settle. I took her downstairs and made a cup of tea. She drifted off but within 10 minutes woke up and cried. This happened several times. I ended up taking her into the spare room in the loft and settled down to read my book. Within the hour she had fallen asleep. We snuggled up under the duvet. Mia was resting on my chest with her head over my heart. Eventually by 4am I fell asleep.

She woke at 5.30am hungry so I took her downstairs so that Amy could feed her. I crept into bed and hid under the duvet. Amy sorted Jake out when he woke, got him dressed and fed which was great as all I had to do was drag myself out of bed to get him into school.

Ride to Bedfont

My second day back at work. The sun is shining in Bedfont today. It is a little different from yesterday. I battled my way home through snow flurries and energy sapping headwinds. Halfway along Upper Richmond Road I was convinced that something was rubbing against by rear wheel so I stopped and took a look. No, it was fine. The problem was the wind. So I just ate a load of glucose tablets and battled on. Arrived home 2.5 hours later :-(. Continue reading “Ride to Bedfont”

New mudguards

I took delivery the other day of a pair of very swish black SKS P45 mudguards. These mudguards will fit tyre widths 32-37mm. The tyres of the Dew Drop are 37mm so this allows me to put some thinner tyres for the summer commute.
I have read on various forums and websites that installing these on a bicycle equipped with disc brakes is not an easy task. This is because the brake unit is bolted onto the eyelet normally used to mount the front mudguard. The rear eyelet is available but the rear mudguard stay fouls the brake accentuating lever. So what is the solution?

Firstly the front mudguard. The kona fork provides bosses halfway up the fork which can be used instead of the ones taken by the disc brake unit. I screwed the secu-clips stay attachments into place then bent the upper stays by hand and screwed them into place. I then marked them and then used a large hack saw to saw off the protruding bits of metal. The result is a curved top stay which some would say looks a little odd. I have got used to it now :-).

I screwed the bottom of the rear guard into place using the helpfully provided screw hole then slid the mudguard clip into place at the top of the rear seat stay. I then slotted in and tightened the stays into the rear mudguard and then bent the disc-side stay around the brake accentuating lever. The other side mounted normally with no bodging required.

  • New mudguards
  • Front
  • Rear
  • Rear