Naughty Fish!

We have a naughty fish.

After studying our 4 tropical fish over an 8-hour period who reside in a fish tank in Drew's nursery, I can confirm that they are not very different from humans.

1. The male fish go mental when they're hungry
2. The male fish get angry when they can't find any food
3. The male fish annoy the female fish for food
4. The male fish will nip at the female fish if they can't find food themselves
5. The male fish headbutt the sides of the tank, looking for a door to the outside world where there is none...but they keep on searching, just incase they missed one as they are not good at finding things anyway
6. The female fish, heavily pregnant, fend off the male fish as well as have a swim around, keeping fit...multi-tasking
7. The female fish give birth to their young with no help
8. The male fish, hungry and bored, eat the babies
...and so the cycle starts all over again.

We have a particularly naughty male fish who bit another female fish on her fin which has given her dodgy stroke. She goes round in circles a bit now. I don't think she'll be winning any medals any time soon.

To teach the naughty fish a lesson, we bought a fish isolation room which is a white walled box-shaped contraption which sits inside the tank, separating the naughty fish from the rest of the tank. It's a bit like putting a naughty child in the under stairs cupboard...I imagine. I didn't even know the 'padded fish cell' existed. I just happened to see it in the 'problem' section of the fish shop. Yes...they have a 'problem' section. I wonder if Mothercare have a 'problem' section too?? Hmmmm...now there's a thought.

So, you may be wondering how I know all this about our fish and what I've been doing watching our fish for so long.

Well, it started 2 days ago. Drew demanded to be fed double what she normally has. So, rather than the 5fl ozs per feed, Drew was taking the 5floz and about 1.5hrs later, she would scream for another feed. This happened all day and carried on all through the night. I even had to do an emergency visit to Boots yesterday to buy more formula to get us through as we were out all day. In fact, I had to buy more Muslin squares too as I forgot to pack them and ended up borrowing a friends. Lack of sleep definitely makes you less organised and that's SO not like me. I left the house with no muslins, not enough formula, a really bad hair day and I got up too late to walk the dog. Not a good start to the day.

By the afternoon, Drew managed to empty the entire contents of her stomach into her nappy and all round the sides onto her vest and cute little pink outfit. It looked like a yellow highlighter pen explosion! With Mummy also forgetting 'emergency clothes' too, we borrowed a friends baby clothes which I then managed to spill coffee onto. Don't worry, it wasn't hot. New Mummies rarely get to drink their teas and coffees hot. It's fact. It's an acquired taste. You do get used to it.

I was more than happy to see Jerry when he arrived home who took over straight away. I went to the gym and by the time I came home, Drew was bathed, fed and in bed...asleep and our Weight Watchers sausage amd mash was well on its way! I know what you're thinking...

Aren't I good going to the gym!

Unfortunately, our little princess woke for a feed at 10.00pm and then every two hours until 10.00am this morning when I upped her feed to 6fl oz...we'll see what that does. You know, no one tells you how much you should give your baby or how often but I suppose I'm feeding on demand. But you do always wonder...is this the right amount? Am I overfeeding her? Should she be this hungry? Talking with the girls from my Postnatal Group helps a lot. We are always asking eachother 'how much are you feeding?', 'how often is she waking in the night?' It's definitely reassuring to have that support network and we're all pretty good friends now, seeing eachother about 3 times a week for some baby-related activity. In fact, the boys are meeting up next weekend to play golf for the first time since the babies were born. We get to look after the babies while they talk about cars, playstation games and boobs and pretend their swing is off due to an old football injury.

So, today is Valentines Day and I'm shattered. MacDonalds for tea. Small fries though...well I am on Weight Watchers you know!