It got worse before it got better. I caught Jody's bug on Friday and Saturday. Luckily I didn't throw up but it took me right back to my morning sickness days - having to stay stock still to prevent my stomach from bringing up its contents and feeling absolutely horrible all day no matter what. Didn't have an appetite for 2 days either, which didn't help my general state of energy. I also had prickly skin and painful muscles which kept me awake at night. Very odd. Turns out my mum got it on Friday too - although it sounded like it didn't last too long for her. And then it was the turn of my dad and Roj at the weekend. Well at least there's no-one left to pass it on to (and Miles escaped).

We did a zoo trip on Sunday to witness the new monkey walk (not as impressive as I anticipated, and frustrating for Jody who couldn't understand why she wasn't allowed to cross the barriers). There are definite advantages to having shelved Jody's afternoon nap - we can now do whole day trips rather than curtailing our outings by 12:30. We were all exhausted by mid-afternoon though, and came home for a short period where all 4 of us were asleep. Roj left for Rio later and I've been officially coping on my own for most of the rest of the week.

Actually I can't complain. I'm having a great time! Granted sleep is a bit of a luxury but in all other respects I'm enjoying every minute of life with two. I think I expected it to be so difficult that the reality is just one big pleasant surprise! Of course it helps that Miles is so laid back and sleepy and that Jody is so amazing about having him around. She'll definitely exercise a preference for any other adult that's on the scene if I'm tending to him, but when it's just the three of us, she's as affectionate towards me as she always has been. And she's so great with Miles - she puts blankets on him and cuddles him and is sincerely worried for him when he cries. She doesn't even seem to have noticed that there's an extra little person involved in her bedtime routine and certainly hasn't complained once at his interference. It's just amazing!

It also helps that her going-to-bed routine is averaging out at a mere 40 minutes now, and that for the last couple of nights she hasn't woken at all until 6am. Of course I'm up a lot more than that dealing with Miles but I'm happy that she's sleeping better and that I'm not faced with dual demands in the early hours.

All in all I've coped quite well in Roj's absence. Which is good because he's going to be pseudo absent for the next few weeks it seems - working late and coming home knackered, never mind the international trip coming up.

Had a lovely lunch with Pat, Adam and Milo yesterday while escaping nonexistent flat viewings (4 today to make up for it). I completely forgot that Pat's in the middle of a dissertation and Adam's working from home so I completely outstayed my welcome but it was lovely to have some adult company - the time flew and Jody fell asleep within 30 seconds of leaving their flat which is testament to how accustomed she is to [bored she is of] our usual routine.

This is the first week that Jody's done her full 3 mornings at nursery and it's worked a treat. It's not such a long time that I feel I'm abandoning her, and it's not so short that I can't have a proper break. Adding 25 minutes either way to walk there takes its toll, but if we end up moving to Montagu Square it'll be nearer 10 and much less of a concern. Jody seems to really enjoy it. She's delighted to see me at the end of the session but she's full of talk about what she's been up to and the teachers are giving me plenty of positive feedback about her, so I'm happy that she's in the right place. Next thing is to find some baby group things to do with Miles during those mornings so I don't just end up sitting at the computer updating my blog or something!

Off to Shropshire this weekend to wish Maggie a Happy Birthday and (maybe) see my brother and Charlotte fleetingly. Not sure whether I'm going to have to drive the kids up there alone yet (hope not) to allow Roj extra working time, but it's imperative that the drive is done after baby bedtime so it's a definite possibility since we have to be there by Saturday.

Toddler group before that though, and probably more frantic flat-cleaning to prepare for more (painfully fruitless) viewings. I'm starting to think we may have been a little over-ambitious with the asking price. It's only been 3 weeks but when do 'early days' officially finish?

Goodness time flies.

Roj is already back from his crazy trip but has gone straight to work to catch up. He's got two more crazy trips in the next fortnight - the first to Rio and the second to New York (State, I should add). It will be interesting to see how I manage to go it alone.

In fact that was supposed to start in earnest today as my mum was due to leave at 9 when I took Jody to nursery. Unfortunately those plans were scuppered by Jody's tummy. She's been throwing up every ten minutes since 5:30am, and therefore hasn't made it to nursery or anywhere else. Mum decided to cancel her hair appointment and stick around to help me out, and will be leaving a bit later. Jody is still puking but the doctor (who knows me very well by now) thinks it's probably just a tummy bug that'll disappear in 24 hours. I definitely hope so. It'll be a bit of a challenge to deal with this alone - she can't even hold water down right now.

Meanwhile Miles is much as he's always been. Alternately ravenous and asleep. He's filling out loads - it's already evident in the filling in of the spare skin that he was born with around his knees. He's still hugely laid back and therefore proving much easier to care for than I thought. He's even gone a 4.5 hour period at night without feeding, which bodes well for my own sleep (if Jody's improves that is). He's also starting to be much more amenable to going to sleep on a flat surface rather than a warm body. Two nights ago he spent most of the night on my bed, and last night he was actually in the co-sleeper cot for an hour. Progress indeed. In fact the only issue with Miles is that he's already got a cold. I'm quite astonished as I thought newborns had excellent immunity but it must have snuck in there before he started feeding properly. It makes feeding and sleeping quite difficult and he sounds awfully snuffly, but hopefully he'll mend soon.

The bedtime routine - which I have taken over exclusively even while my mum's been here - has been better than expected but still quite exhausting. Jody's been very good at coping with having her brother take part in the proceedings. In the last few days she's taken between 20 and 70 minutes to put to sleep, and then woken only once each night (for varying lengths of time). To be fair if she's padded into our room any time after 4 though, I've let her crawl into bed and stay there. It just seems the easiest solution.

Looks unlikely that we'll make it to toddler group tomorrow morning, given Jody's bug, but I have high hopes of being back in the nursery routine next week. It's already apparent that I'll need those 3 x 3hour breaks every week, particularly as I have abandoned Jody's afternoon nap in the quest for more night-time sleep.

After disastrous experimentation last weekend with the buggy board, I've ordered a tandem buggy this week which will be usable from about 2 months (Miles) to 3 years (Jody). We hadn't known about this buggy until we ran into one in the playground a few weeks ago, but it's about half the size of the normal horrendous long-vehicle ones, and folds like an umberella stroller rather than flat (which means it takes up about quarter the space). Looking forward to the arrival of that.

Flat viewings continue apace though we've had no second viewings and not much more than a few positive sounds from the estate agents. Early days yet though, we think. I've asked them not to arrange anything for today so as not to be juggling pukey towels and feverish toddlers. Just hoping we get an offer soon - even if it's one we have to refuse - so at least we get an impression of whether it's going to sell. Very trying on the patience.

I'm definitely - in general - finding two babies easier than I thought to deal with. I had obviously built it up in my mind to be quite an ominous prospect. The biggest issue remains Jody's sleep, but I have high hopes of that resolving once her lower molars come through (they're both emerging) and she recovers from the shock of all that's happened in the last few weeks. I'm feeling much more energetic than in the last few weeks of pregnancy, and much stronger already. Even the aches and pains resulting from the birth have mostly disappeared, as has my belly (well, most of it). I can kid myself that I'm feeling on top of the world but I know that sleep deprivation is taking its toll on the length of my temper - which is short at the best of times and almost nonexistent right now. Fortunately I don't find Miles or Jody testing, but I know my mum has borne the brunt of my impatience the last few days and for putting up with that I'm very grateful. It's been a very useful transition to have her around - particularly today while Jody has been so sick - so despite all that I've put her through, I really am happy she's been here.

Amazingly both babes are asleep right now - Jody recovering on the sofa and Miles in his bouncy chair. I almost don't know what to do!

11 days have passed already - it barely seems like 2.

I went into labour at 10:25pm on Sunday 3 April and Miles Michael Taylor was born at 3:37am on the 4th. 3 days early. I'll put the full story up soon. Suffice it to say that it was the homebirth I wanted - an amazing experience - but I'm glad it's all over now!

Miles is absolutely wonderful. He's totally laid back and sleeps most of the time - our standing joke is that he slept through the birth. Even when he's awake he just seems happy to sit or lie there, punching the air with his hands; grey-brown eyes half open. And he's the most content to just snuggle with you. I've never seen such a contrast with Jody who, in case you don't remember, was hyper from the word go.

There are little things about him that look like Jody did, but on the whole he's quite different. He's got masses of dark brown hair which is remarkably thick and even. We're debating whether that will fall out or be the stuff he stays with. He's got no eyebrows (unlike Jody) and more of a chin than she had. Yet there are times that he looks so similar to her it's uncanny. It'll be very interesting to see how he develops - right now it seems he has Roj's colouring which'll be fun because Jody so obviously has mine.

I'm absolutely smitten with him. I had four concerns going into the birth. Firstly the birth itself, which became more and more intimidating the closer it got and the more I remembered from first time. It was hard - unbelievably hard - but also unbelievably worth it (I can say that now).

The second concern was that I wouldn't love Miles immediately - or indeed ever - as much as I love Jody, but that went out of the window as soon as I heard his first little cries. I fell absolutely and totally in love with him right there and then, and that won't change no matter how much he wees and poos on me.

The third concern was how Jody would take to the little intruder, and that too went out of the window at about 3am on the morning of his birth when I was forced to introduce them as she came padding into the bedroom when Roj was out returning the midwives to hospital. She stroked his head so gently and said 'soft' and 'crying' and asked to have him on her lap. And barring some tiny glimpses of minor jealously over the bouncy chair, she's been amazing ever since (we'll see how that one develops when Roj goes back to work next week though).

And the fourth concern is how I would handle the evening routine with a toddler who takes over an hour putting to bed and a baby who, while not demanding, is still totally unpredictable. Since there have been two of us around for the last couple of weeks, I haven't yet experienced this one but if it's the only hassle I have, I can only be grateful. Everything has already been a thousand times easier than I predicted and a thousand times more wonderful. Despite my tired eyes and my saggy tummy and my painful boobs I am absolutely loving it all over again. Fab.

Maggie made a surprise visit the day Miles was born and came in laden with gifts from Hamleys. We were all stumped trying to work out who he most looked like (and concluded nobody!) We've been up to Shropshire for a long weekend too - to introduce him to the rest of the clan. And we've received a million cards from all around. We also managed a brief trip up to Hampstead to say hello at Charlotte's 30th birthday party - great to see the 260 gals and associated others and introduce the little fella. Wanted to visit Camilla on the way up to Shropshire but was so stressed out and behind schedule that we had to bail. Hope to see her later in the month.

Jody started at nursery on Thursday. It was a bit frantic - with one toddler screaming for around 2.5 hours and too many parents sitting in and distracting the activities. If it calms down a bit it'll be great though - I know Jody will enjoy the challenges it brings her (lets just hope it wears her out). I'll be sitting in again next Monday/Tuesday but by Thursday I'm hoping to be able to leave her to it if she seems confident. I'm quite looking forward to the little breaks it will afford me to spend lone-time with Miles (who otherwise tends to be somewhat of a second fiddle) and just to recuperate from Jody's incessant boisterousness.

And just in case you thought we'd been lazing around the last couple of weeks, we've also put in an offer on a 3-bed flat westwards of here and had it accepted, put our flat on the market and had around 6 viewings (many more to come - not exactly the sort of thing you want to be doing when you're looking after two bairns but never mind) and are hoping to get everything finalised in the next few weeks, buyer for our flat permitting. The agents were so optimistic when giving valuations that our place would fly out of the window, but we're already disappointed that it's been so long without an offer (a whole week!). Keep having to persuade ourselves to be patient.

Roj is off on a silly work trip to Johannesburg, Toronto and New York this Saturday for most of the following week, so my mum is coming down here to help out. I'm hoping it will ease the transition into caring for 2 which will start in earnest the following week. I certainly don't fancy the deep end quite yet.

Toddler group term started today and I dragged Roj along so he could finally see what all the fuss was about. Great to see all the usual mums and to chat new babies with those who have two. Toddler groups are a great forum for advice, quite apart from the nicest place to partake of coffee and croissants!

So I suppose the next thing I have to do is put up some better photos of Miles and get down to replying to all the lovely emails we've got from people. Seems like I've had about 5 minutes spare in the last two weeks for that sort of thing, but I suppose that's the shape of things to come. I don't know whether I'll have much chance for blogging in the near future, but hang in there. I'm certainly going to try to, given that this is one of the most important times of our lives.