Hello!

Thanks for all your gorgeous comments – we really appreciate it! It's totally lovely hearing from you. 

Ten things about my little lady, Ivy:

1. She was born on 30th June. Which for anyone who has ever worked in finance is a terrificly easy date to remember, fortuitous for a third child. 

2. She wasn't enormous, as the midwives had promised. She was only 3.5kg. Which means she's little. Such a lovely thing in a wee baby.

3. We had a long induction (due to high blood pressure) in which nothing much happened, then in the afternoon as Ad and I sat around chatting with the most delightful English midwife on the ward, my waters broke and a shortish two and a half hours later we met Ivy. Cool, hey? 

4. Having had two much longer labours, the physical benefits of a shorter labour are tenfold. Feeling really very well!

5. Ivy is feeding really well and not crazily often (unlike her sister at the same age!) which means we're all getting a bit of sleep and it's all really pretty peaceful here!

6. We were uncertain about how Henry and Tilly would go with an addition to our foursome, but they're very happy to have her in the family. Henry keeps telling me how much he loves 'the new baby' and Tilly is itching to get her up and walking so she can have a wing-man. 

7. We had a picnic in our favourite park yesterday and Tilly probably introduced Ivy (with dramatic gestures) to about sixty innocent people who wandered into her orbit.

8. Ivy has generated an enormous amount of (utterly hilarious) discussion about where babies come from: more on that in another post. 

9. Her favourite place to hang out is up under my chin, like a little marsupial. She smells utterly wonderful, so she can hang out there as long as she likes. I abandoned my sling already and am using a Baby Bjorn to maximise snuggling. 

10. I get to see Adam in action as Daddy of a newborn, again. I'd forgotten how much I adored that Ad. He was the most fabulous labour partner, and is awesome in the middle of the night, or making tea in the morning, or occupying Tilly and Henry for ages while their mother sniffs the top of their baby sister's head under her chin. 

We're all good here. Hope you are too. 

Not quite on normal programming yet, but will jump back in when I can!

Ivy McLaren Walmsley, 1 day old, with her family 

xxx