This is the exact reason why I never managed to keep a diary... I always leave it too long and then wonder if it's worth it!  Thankfully it seems to be acceptable to leave extended periods between updates when you do this on line!

Sam's potty training has been abandoned for now.  He just wasn't getting any better at it.  When he did wee in the potty, it was because I'd put him on there at the right time, and although there were occasions when he did tell me "wee wee", it was just as often because he'd already done it on the carpet.  He also wasn't pooing, and was holding it in for days at a time, before getting really panicky when it eventually had to come out.  He was giving himself a sore stomach so we decided that it wasn't worth doing it yet if he wasn't ready, and put him back into nappies.  Even so, it took him another 2 weeks before he stopped getting hysterical about having a poo, and I'm glad we abandoned it when we did, in case we ended up giving him a permanent complex about it.  We'll try again in the summer, when things have settled down again after number two has arrived.

Since the last update, we have decided on a name for our new little bundle of joy.  He is to be a Benjamin.  Middle name yet to be decided but I quite like George - partly after both the grandfathers but also because it's an acceptable name these days as well.  He's very active at the moment, much more so than Sam, although he is lying in the same position with his head up in my ribs, which I'm sure will be just as much fun in the weeks to come as it was with Sam.  I'm starting to find it uncomfortable to sleep now, and am getting up at least once in the night as he seems to think it's fun to tap dance on my bladder!  I'm 29 weeks tomorrow and I'm pretty sure I've decided to go for a C section, if possible.  Having spoken to a very nice midwife last week, she read my notes and agreed I'd definitely gone through the mill with Sam.  Apparently they try to avoid doing episiotomies at all now as they are so barbaric, and to have one for a forceps birth means a big cut.  She said that she had one natural birth and one c-section with her children, and that I would definitely find a section way less painful than what I went through with Sam, although of course there's just as much chance that it would be straightforward birth this time round if I went down the natural route.  Frankly, if I'm going to be back on my feet by the next day (admittedly not doing cartwheels) I'd rather take the definite option of a section, than run the risk of a repeat performance of two years ago.

Amy seems to be doing well, she finishes work this week and then only has one more week before her due date.  She went to the midwife today and found the baby has an irregular heartbeat, so was sent to the hospital to be wired up for a few hours.  They weren't unduly concerned though, and the registrar said they'd just do a couple of extra checks when she's born but that's it.  Apparently it's quite common anyway.  I'll be interested to see if she goes overdue, and if so by how much, seeing as Mum was late with both of us and I was very late with Sam.

Had to take Enkil to the vet this morning as his scabs are getting worse and worse.  The one on his head is definitely better than when we first got him, but is still there and still bleeds regularly.  We also noticed the other day that he has two on his rear legs, on his hocks, one of which is bleeding (we keep finding blood on the floor) as well as a fair sized one on his front paw and the whole of the inside of one ear, which is raw and weeping.  The one on his ear is especially bad as when it dries out it curls his ear over, until it cracks open again.  The vet said that it's most likely an allergy to something (oesonophilic superficial dermatitis - oesonophilic means to do with white blood cells) but that it's going to be case of ruling things out.  She wants us to change his diet, and has ordered some food for us, which means all the cats will have to have it.  Also it only comes in dry form, which will impress all of them.  She gave him an antibiotics jab and some steroids to help with the sores he already has and also gave me some cream to put on, which has antibiotics and steroids in it too.  I've been trying to clean his ear up with salty water, which seems to have made it uncurl a little.  She also said it could be a flea allergy, so we need to be right up to date with flea treatments.  I got some drops and did all the cats this evening - glad I did as I actually saw a flea on Enkil earlier, so perhaps it's a reaction to their bites.  He's being surprisingly good about being manhandled, and lets me clean him up without struggling much, which is a relief.  Poor kitten.

We had a hilariously fun letter from Birmingham Midshires last weekend, telling us that as the mortgage had now come off its fixed rate, we are going to variable.  This means that our monthly payments go up by £400 a month - ha ha ha!!  I know they have every right to do it and that if we were sensible we'd have kept an eye on rates and been prepared for it, but I do love the way they just say "by the way, next month we want this much extra" without any suggestions of help or advice.  Anyway, we're now in the middle of negotiations with a new IFA, who although is VERY blunt and to the point, seems to know his stuff and is fairly certain he can not only get us a new deal but also incorporate a few of our bigger debts, so tidying our finances a bit.  It still means we'll need to find £300 extra a month but anything is better than nothing and it'll be nice not have any loans hanging over us.  Even if he can't negotiate to include our extra debts, he can definitely get us a better rate, so it was well worth talking to him.  We had 3 estate agents come round today to value the house, the first two put it at £310K, which is very nice to hear since we paid £250K for it two years ago.  The last one reckoned it was worth £350K, which is a load of shite.  He was clearly a muppet anyway, as he was slagging off next door (no2), saying that their place wasn't in as good condition as ours, when Andi and I have both been there numerous times and know that it is actually in fabulous condition, due to the extension and renovations they had done about 3 years ago!  Gotta love these people who tell you anything to make you us their company!  Anyway, details have been passed to financial bods and we've now got to wait and hope it all goes through ok, in the meantime finding the extra cash to cover the mortgage.  Infuriatingly, there seems to be nothing I can do to make any extra money at the moment.  No one will touch me at this stage of pregnancy, even if I did have the energy at the end of the day to go and do an evening job!

Mum and I have decided to go ahead with Wedding Babies, and the website is now up and running.  I've phones about 40 Hants hotels, and sent our flyers and business cards to them.  We are also booking in to do 3 wedding fairs, which I think will be far more productive.  The hotels may keep our details on file in case someone asks, but at the fairs we'll have access to the actual brides themselves.  We have one at Langrish House, one at Marwell and one at Lythe Hill (although that one is in April so Mum might have to do that one herself).  We also need to sort out insurance, which Mum is handling.  As I'm already Ofsted registered, that looks good on the papers, and I also need to sort out my first aid course, as I'm meant to do that within 6 months of starting childminding.

I took on a new little boy the other day, Joshua, who is 11 months old.  He seems very sweet, I think it'll take him a couple of times to settle in and he was a little grumbly on his first day today, understandably.  I may only have him till end of March as his Mum's contract for work runs out then, but she's hoping to find something else after that so we'll see.  It's good for Sam to have someone a bit nearer to his age as well, as he's not too keen on sharing at the moment.

I had another e mail from Debbie in Canada, saying hi and giving me the contact details of Marilyn Del Medico, my half aunt.  I passed the message on to Uncle Glen and he said he will write to her, as he's fairly sure she knows we exist.  She would have been 20 when George came over for a month to see Dad and Glen, and as he said, you'd wonder where your Dad had disappeared to for a month with all his clothes and stuff.  Will be interesting to see what sort of response he gets, if any.

That's it for now.  Will probably update in another month!